I was just about to post the message asking for help because I could not find any symptoms for just a swollen red mouth. Until I stumbled upon someone on the web that had a koi with a rock stuck in his mouth since the symptom was the koi could not shut his mouth. Unfortunately with that case the owner did not notice the rock until the koi died.

Once I saw this I ran to the tank to pick up the fish to see if he had something stuck in his mouth and sure enough he had a huge stone in there. I went to the garage and got a pair of needle nosed pliers and luckily was able to gently pull it out with any additional force or stress to the poor fish.

Now with that being done I added melefix to the tank since his mouth is very red and irritated. I noticed him laying on the bottom of the pond a couple of days ago so the stone must have been in his mouth for at least a few days without him being able to eat.

Now my question is what else can I do to ensure full recovery? Did I do the right thing by adding the melefix? Should I put him back in the pond now or wait until he recovers?

Thanks in advance for your help! I have had koi ponds for about 7 years and seem to always battle when they get sick and I really would like this koi to live.

I have posted photos on my website so you can get a better idea of what I am explaining.

Thanks,
Jason

It’s a good thing I know a little thing or two about this or my fish would be dead if I relied on the zero responses from this forum.

The good news is that after the redness and swelling went down I moved the koi into the main pond from my sick tank.

He is doing great! He is back to normal!

I usually am in the pool forum but I will check in here to try to help since nobody else is.

Sincerely,
Jason