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Question: One of my kois is swelling behind the head...a friend said it looks like pine cone disease... i could not find any reference to " pine cone " in your book....my friend said it is a virus... is there any section in your book that covers this and what the prognosis is ?

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Answer: I think PineCone might not be in the index of the book. A "same term" or synonym is "Dropsy" which ought to be in the index.

Pine Cone and Dropsy are dismal cases which rarely survive.
Mastery (testing) of your water quality will usually tell you what caused it. Usually high ammonia accumulations cause auto-intoxication of the fish, and then Dropsy is an eventual result. Other times it is a serious bacterial infection of the kidneys or internal organs. No matter how you slice it, it's serious, and by the time the scales all stand up, it's gone too far.

If you want to try to treat the fish, Medicated food and a stiff salt solution (0.6%) are recommended.

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