alral1988

HELP PLEASE!!! in the past week weve had 3 koi die and our nice 12" koi has been acting very funny for a week or so. we noticed today one koi has big spots on it. theyre not small little white ones like ICH, this is a big spot where its scales seem to be coming off or getting infected. weve been changing a small percentage of the water each day but to no prevail. weve got a 1000 gallon pond with several koi and goldfish. any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

ATKINSON

I sorry to hear about your koi. Im afraid I cant help you but I hope they get better.

Shawnie

oh no!!!! im sorry you are loosing your babies....have you done a test of the water parimeters?(ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates?) can anything get there to get them ? (cats or other animals)

alral1988

weve tested the water and the pH and alkalinity are a little high but everything else is perfect. the pond is open however we think they contracted something from some koi tht we bought from our LFS because one of them died a week later and when we took it back we found out there koi were under quarantine. so were going to stop by there later see what was wrong with them and hopefully get some treatment from them

Shawnie

what were the readings for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates ? can you post them

sirdarksol

Whatever happened, it is really important to keep the nitrate, ammonia, and nitrite as low as possible.

If the fish are developing bald patches, my first guess would be either a bacterial or fungal infection.

How you treat this may be affected by how many fish seem to currently be infected. If there are only a few, you may want to set up a quarantine "tank" made out of a wading pool. You could treat the pool with a broad-spectrum treatment (look for something that treats both bacterial and fungal).
You could also treat the pond with Melafix. This will likely help protect the rest of the fish from developing a full-blown infection.

If a lot of the fish are infected, it's probably best to just treat the entire pond (if you can get a bunch of filter media and put it in a Ziplock bag in the fridge, that could help you restart the cycle when you're done treating).

alral1988

according to the test i did both nitrates and nitrites were at 0 and it doesnt give the ammonia

Shawnie

are you using test strips? ammonia is an important test needed and can cause loss of scales and sores if its high...

sirdarksol

Agreed. I hadn't thought about that.
If you don't have an ammonia test, it would be a very good purchase. I'd suggest getting the entire freshwater test kit, but you can get just the ammonia one for under $10, I think (this does a hundred or more tests. The price per test ends up being less than it is for the strips).

gremlin

Does it look sort of like this? What is the water temp in your pond? What is the current average day time temp in your town? How many hours of direct sun does your pond get?

If it looks like this picture, then your fish are sunburned. This happened to me a couple years ago when I did a major clean out of my lilies. I had to rig a shade with a piece of siding since I had too few plants to shade my fish. I caught it in time and was able to rescue all of my fish. I rigged the shade and treated with melafix to prevent any infections. Do you have any pics of your fish?

Attached Images

04-15-07_1305 sunburned goldfish.JPG (50.5 KB, 58 views)

aquarist48

Good morning. Hate to hear that you're having fish loss. Some great information above concerning ammonia, nitrites and nitrates and the need for an API Master Test Kit (liquid not strips). Too, the possibility of a sunburn is something I would not have thought of. Thanks Gremlin! Too, I don't know what type of area you are in but is there any way that snakes or turtles maybe even opossum getting into your pond and trying to nibble on the fish? Just some food for thought. Best of luck and I hope you can solve the problem soon. Please keep us posted.

littlebird2

alral1988,
I am probably way too late because I see your Koi were sick back in July, but I use Melafix and Primafix made by API. It's in royal blue bottles. These are the best things I have found for Koi and Goldfish. Use them together. I have saved several fish with this. Get the 16oz bottles because the 8 oz are way diluted and a waste of money for a pond. I also put aquarium salt in the pond too as directed when one gets sick.

Another tip for fish that jump out.... Even if you find one that looks dead. Put it back in the water, holding it right side up pull the fish backward to open the gills and start the water flowing through. keep moving it back and forth until the fish starts to revive. I have saved several fish this way. That is my own little fish saving trick but it really works unless the fish is just to far gone. I have found Koi covered with dirt that surely looked dead but they are swimming in my pond now.

Lucy

Hi littlebird welcome to FishLore

As you noted, this thread is pretty old and I'm sure the situation has been resolved.
The OP didn't return and answer the questions of the last posters.

littlebird2

Hi Lucy,
Yes, the Koi either made it or didn't by this time. I figured if the op should read my reply she will know what to do next time. A couple of posters did mention the Melafix so maybe she saved her fish.

Thanks for the welcome!

Beverly

Lucy

I sure hope she did
One of our members had wonderful results using melafix on her goldfish that was attacked by a cat.
I beleive it was Gremlin (one of the posters above)

However since several members are currently looking for help, it's best not to bump up old threads.

I hope you'll post some pics of your pond, we'd love to see them.
For now, maybe post them here: Members Fish Tanks
I think I might request we have a photo section for ponds since several members have them.

Be sure to introduce yourself here: [url=http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/welcome-fishlore/Welcome to FishLore[/url] so our members can give you a proper welcome!