Utsee is a 4 pound, 20 inch female Shiro Utsuri that developed sepsis around the middle of March.  I did several injections.  Nuflor, Baytril and Azactam, and she did not seem to be improving.

On Tuesday March 26th we drove her to NCSU in Raleigh (a 3 hour drive one way) where Rich and I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Greg Lewbart who specializes in reptiles and aquatic animals.  Blood was drawn for culturing. Biopsies of the fins, gill and body proved negative for parasites.  Several biopsies done by me over the previous weeks that  had also proved negative. All fins were bloody and both pectoral fins had splits that I am thinking came from her sitting on the bottom of the pond.  Both eyes were clouded over.  Water parameters were normal (0) in all cases.  Total alkalinity was 120 an pH was 8.0. Salinity was at .02

At the clinic she was injected with Ceftazidime 20 cc. And I was advised to re-inject every 72 hours for a total of 5 injections  

Not seeing any improvement after 3 injections Dr. Lewbart advised me to inject Amikacin using .17cc. This was done on April 3rd.

Salt in the pond was brought up to .30 as per instructions over a 2 1/2 day period.
 

Today we moved Utsee from the main pond to a spawning tank.  I did not want her to get beat up by all the males in the pond if she should spawn there.  So I put her with a smaller male for spawning purposed.  She came through with flying colors and lots of eggs.

While she is not 100% better she is way on the road to recovery now!  Here are 2 updated pictures of her.

Most of the fungus has come off, exposing the redness underneath.  Utsee was injected with .75cc  Baytril today.  I did note that her eyes are no longer cloudy and are now normal looking.  I am taking this as a sign of healing.  The tank she is in has undergone a nitrite spike and I felt it was in her best interest and the other fish in the tank to return her to the main pond.  The water in the main pond has warmed to 80* now.  This after noon she was active and alert and schooling with the other fish.  She fought aggressively for her share of the food.

Not much improvement as far as I can see. As per advice of Dr. Johnson and Dr.Greg Lewbart she was injected today with .75 cc of Baytril. Although I don't think she can see, she is eating earth worms and occasionally some Sho Koi fish food. After 2 weeks of waiting ,the blood culture was negative on bacteria.

These pictures were taken on April 5th after deriding with hydrogen peroxide and a cotton ball. She was also given her 4th injection of Ceftazidime.20 cc

About 2 hours after injection she went to the bottom of the pond where she laid on her side, breathing shallowly. I then made a call to Dr. Greg Lewbart at NCSU.  We discussed putting her in a bag of water and oxygen and floating her in the pond.  We then decided to leave her be and not stress her any further by netting and bagging.

This morning  April 5th she is swimming upright and does go sit on the bottom of the pond by herself for brief periods. Dr Lewbart also advised me to hold off injecting on April 6th so  that she may recover from the stress of yesterday.

Up until 3 days ago she had been eating first medicated food and then Sho Koi.  Then she stopped eating. She would join the other fish when they were feed but did not eat.  It was almost like she could not see or smell the food as she gasped at the food.

I did drop 2  big earth worms near where she was resting on the bottom and she ate them heartily.
 

These pictures were taken at NCSU on March 26th.  They show anesthetic, drawing blood from the caudal vein and general pictures of  Utsee

6 days before the trip to NCSU. 

The pictures below were taken when I first noticed something wrong with her.

Rich and I  and the pond fish would like to thank every one for the love and prayers while she made her recovery. MANY THANKS Drs. Lewbart of NCSU and Dr. Erik Johnson (my good buddy) of Marietta, Ga. for their help and support!