What is an egg-bound female?
Being an egg-bound female fish is a condition which causes your fish to retain her eggs in her ovaries.
The longer that your fish is affected by this affliction the more eggs get stuck in the ovaries and are unable to be released.
This is sometimes caused by the fact that the ovaries are not mature enough for reproduction. In order to rectify this, time and ideal conditions are required. This should, in the ideal world be completed prior to the eggs being released. If the ovaries are not fully developed, then your fish may be affected by egg binding. Fish are usually between two and three years of age before they start to produce eggs.
The male fish would ordinarily help with the releasing of the eggs, in normal reproduction by colliding with her sides to help her to expel the eggs, however if your females health is compromised she may be too frail to cope and handle this ritual and this can very often lead to her death along with the death of her eggs.
When a female fish lays eggs she can lose up to twenty percent of her overall body weight. This is largely due to the number of eggs which a female can produce in one reproductive cycle.
If your female fish fails to shed her eggs, this ca cause her eggs to die and breakdown within the body. Which can lead to additional illnesses such as internal bacterial infections which can be fatal to your fish.
Identification and diagnosis.
In order to accurately diagnose a female with egg binding the pond medic will need to observe all of your livestock to ensure the assessment is the most accurate as physically possible. After the observation, your female fish will undergo a physical solo examination, this is where she will be briefly separated from your pond and will be thoroughly checked over to ensure that the egg binding is the only condition she is suffering from or if there are additional problems that also need addressing.
Symptoms of egg binding include:
Causes of egg binding
The environmental factors of your pond can trigger a female fish to become eggbound. This will primarily occur if there are serious fluctuations in the setting. Such as temperature changes or a large decline in oxygen.
However, there are additional factors that can cause a female to retain her eggs:
Is Egg Binding contagious?
No egg binding is not contagious.
Treatment
If you suspect that your fish is suffering from egg binding, please seek help immediately as this condition is life threatening.
The pond medic will identify and diagnose an adequate treatment, and this must be followed in order to relief any pain and discomfort that your fish is suffering from.
Some people may suggest manually encouraging the fish to expel her eggs by gently applying pressure to the fish. Do not try this. If this is done incorrectly this will result in the death of your fish.
If it is at all possible raising the temperature of your pond slightly, can help to alleviate a small portion of the stress that your fish is suffering from and can, in some cases, help the fish to spawn her eggs.
A salt bath, under the instruction of the pond medic, can help to relieve some of the pressure too.
Lastly a course of antibiotics may be required if it is suspected that a bacterial infection is occurring alongside of the egg binding.
Prevention
In order to prevent future instances of egg binding there is little that we can do.
However, the slight changes that we can make are:
Please note that whilst most female fish may spawn their eggs regularly, it is possible for female koi fish to live the entirety of their lives without ever laying an egg, with no complications to their health.
