What's Wrong With My Koi?

In the past couple of weeks I've noticed my 2 koi acting a bit weird. They get really sluggish and stop eating as Mich, sitting towards the bottom of the tank with fins clamped.

I also occassionally see red spots appear on their bodies, not open wounds or anything, just small irritations that go away in a few days. They always seem to perk right back up after a water change however and go right back to eating with vigor and swimming normally.

They are both about 12 inches and I do weekly water changes between 15 and 25 percent. Their current tank is only 55 gallons but I'm going to be moving them to a 300 gallon pond soon. The water teated completely fine other than slightly low Ph around 6-7.

Do you think I should treat them for a bacteria infection or do they need bigger water changes? Or could it be they just need a bigger tank? Any input would be awesome.

 

Can you please list:
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
I bet you have a toxicity problem, 15% a week is not anywhere near enough for koi, especially that large.

 

Can you please list:
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
I bet you have a toxicity problem, 15% a week is not anywhere near enough for koi, especially that large.

Nitrite is 0 and Nitrate is 80. I didn't see anything on my testing strips for ammonia, just Ph, Kh and general hardness.
I did a 50% water change last night as was suggested by someone at my local aquatics store.

 

And the nitrate test is after the water change? So the nitrates were at 160ppm?
And do you happen to have an ammonia test?

 

Yes it was after the water change. The nitrates were 80ppm.
I do not have an ammonia test. I can probably get one though if you think it would be worthwhile.

 

Yes it was after the water change. The nitrates were 80ppm.
I do not have an ammonia test. I can probably get one though if you think it would be worthwhile.

Get apI master test kit bundle 29.99 or so but very worth it 400 tests or so and Very accurate more accurate then the strips

 

Get apI master test kit bundle 29.99 or so but very worth it 400 tests or so and Very accurate more accurate then the strips

Okay, I will order that and see if I can get it overnight. Thank you.

 

My best guess is either nitrate or ammonia poisoning, which is luckily easy to combat
If you can get the nitrates to 40ppm, that would be perfect. Even if they are sick, the poisoning makes it difficult for them to recover from anything

 

My best guess is either nitrate or ammonia poisoning, which is luckily easy to combat
If you can get the nitrates to 40ppm, that would be perfect. Even if they are sick, the poisoning makes it difficult for them to recover from anything

Okay, so just continue doing bigger water changes you think?

 

Okay, so just continue doing bigger water changes you think?

Yes. Also, do you have a picture of the red spots you can show us? There is a red spot disease that affects carp like goldfish and koi, just to rule it out.

 

I don't. They don't have any right now though, I checked them thoroughly today and yesterday to make sure. There's usually just 1 kind of smallish sore, usually on their side. What disease do you think it could be?

 

I don't. They don't have any right now though, I checked them thoroughly today and yesterday to make sure. There's usually just 1 kind of smallish sore, usually on their side. What disease do you think it could be?

Not positive but I think I heard red spots are also from ammonia poisoning but not positive!

 

Probably bacterial, possibly something like HITH, I'd have to see it to give you a better answer though, sorry

 

Probably bacterial, possibly something like HITH, I'd have to see it to give you a better answer though, sorry

I don't think so. Their heads are fine, no sores there just on the sides. I was thinking it might be a bacterial infection of some kind. Do you think it would be a bad idea to treat them with some EM Erythromycin or a general cure medicine? Or would that just run the risk of stressing them more?

 

I don't think so. Their heads are fine, no sores there just on the sides. I was thinking it might be a bacterial infection of some kind. Do you think it would be a bad idea to treat them with some EM Erythromycin or a general cure medicine? Or would that just run the risk of stressing them more?

Right, that's why I said something like it, I don't think it's hexatima (hopefully!). I'd wait a little, Erythromycin can crash the cycle, and general cure is more for parasites from my understanding

 

Alright, thank you. I'll test the ammonia and see if larger water changes help. They seem okay at the moment at least, swimming around and they ate like normal this morning. But thank you for your advice!

 

TLDR all the replies.

small water changes = poor water quality = sickness and diseases.

nitrates should be kept below 40ppm.

the koi are producing too much bioload for a 55G, you'll need to either do 50% water changes TWICE per week, or a 90% weekly water change.

 

TLDR all the replies.

small water changes = poor water quality = sickness and diseases.

nitrates should be kept below 40ppm.

the koi are producing too much bioload for a 55G, you'll need to either do 50% water changes TWICE per week, or a 90% weekly water change.

Thank you, I will do that. Like I said, I'm working on moving them to a much bigger pond setting currently but in the meanwhile I'll definitely up the water changes.