# missing/torn operculum (gill cover)



## vant (Jun 4, 2013)

just bought some koi fish today but noticed when i got home that one of them had its' operculum (gill cover) missing. i can see its' gill (it looked red and healthy though). is there anyway to heal the fish? will its' gill cover grow back? if it doesn't, does it mean that it will be more vulnerable to disease or become dead? the fish is about 5" long so i think its' pretty young still, maybe one or two years old. 
really don't know what to do, can somebody give me some advice/help?


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## Momobobo (Sep 28, 2010)

It depends on whether the missing gill is from a defect, disease, injury, etc.

In most situations it does not grow back, it does make it more susceptible to illness and disease but it can still live a long, healthy, happy life


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## Canadian_Aqua_Farm (Apr 21, 2010)

I have one like that in my pond. The gill cover never grew back but it has been going strong for 11 years now!


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## Master wilkins (Dec 10, 2012)

Gill covers dont grow back, but its not in too much trouble. Its one really going to be susceptible to physical injury during netting or brushing up against things. Just be careful with it and it should be fine.


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## vant (Jun 4, 2013)

ok, got it. hope it will do ok from now on. thank you for the replies, for now, i'll keep it in quarantine for another couple of weeks and either put it outside in the pond or in my tank instead.


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## vant (Jun 4, 2013)

it died yesterday  guess i'm a bad caretaker. if the guy that sold the koi to me was in surrey, i'm so going there to have a yell out with him. horrible person who can't even catch a fish without scratching the fish. not a good idea to design a pond with rocks all along the edges where small fish can hide in.


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## jhj0112 (Jul 30, 2013)

I'm sorry that you lost your fish.. it is alway tough.. sometimes no matter what we do, fish dies.. that seller should have been more careful though.


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