Whats wrong with my kois?

like a week ago I caught this baby catfish from a man made lake in this community. since it was small I put it in my fish tank thinking it would help clean it. after about 1-2 weeks of having the catfish in my tank I noticed one of my koi got some kind of infection on its lip and tail last night. today I bought melafix for it and just mow noticed that another kois upper fin is slightly damaged and my baby koi has some orange/yellow spots, and the female seems a little bloated/bigger or maybe its pregnant (not sure) and has been hopping out of the water or something kuz occasionally I hear a splash from my tank and today I saw the female do it, and shes also swimming so her side slightly touches the gravel once in awhile, as if shes got an itch or something. and one of my friends who put a few catfish in his tank also said that his fish grew some spots. so last night I flushed that dumb catfish. anyone know what's going on with my kois? sorry for the long post, just kinda worried about my kois.

 

you have kois in a tank? are they real young ones or is it a real big tank?
new fish need to be quarantined for 2-3 weeks and it's generally not good to introduce 'nature' to a tank. It sounds like a parasitic infestation may have been introduced from the koi behavior. Parasite Clear is a med for that & can usually be found at most pet stores.

 

What's wrong with YOU! Please tell me that you did not take a fish from a lake, man made or not, immediately put it into an established tank without quarentineing it, and then when they didn't get along, you killed the catfish. In a very harsh way, I might add. There are bacteria in uncontrolled bodies of water that home aquarium fish are not able to defend against. Just a tip, NEVER put wild fish directly into a home aquarium. And if the wild fish is causing a problem, you can't just kill it. It sounds like the catfish was beating up on the koi. Do you even know what type of catfish it was?

 

well all my kois are dead now, and didnt know itll do some **** kuz ive only been taking care of fishes for like 3 months. and I didnt kill the catfish, just flused it down the toilet alive. also I didnt think it would beat up on my kois kuz my kois were like 5 inches long and the catfish was like around 1 inch

 

Flushing the catfish down the toilet IS killing it. No matter what Nemo said "all drains don't lead to the sea(or water )" Fish who are flushed die a horrible death in ammonia ridden dump water and if they do make it to the treatment plant there are horrible amounts of chemicals added to the water to "clean" it for human consumption. Now you know not to flush anymore fish
Fish in the wild are exposed to many more bacteria and diseases and build immunity over time. Aquarium bred tropical fish (and most are) have not had the opportunity to build resistance to those same disease.
Koi get to be very large fish and need to be in a pond usually and unless you can run a huge tank for them the pond is best.
Carol

 

What's wrong with YOU! Please tell me that you did not take a fish from a lake, man made or not, immediately put it into an established tank without quarentineing it, and then when they didn't get along, you killed the catfish. In a very harsh way, I might add. There are bacteria in uncontrolled bodies of water that home aquarium fish are not able to defend against. Just a tip, NEVER put wild fish directly into a home aquarium. And if the wild fish is causing a problem, you can't just kill it. It sounds like the catfish was beating up on the koi. Do you even know what type of catfish it was?

Though you're mostly right, your beginning statement was pretty hostile. An attitude like that will often put people on the defensive, making them less willing to accept advice.
Again, though, you're mostly right.

well all my kois are dead now, and didnt know itll do some **** kuz ive only been taking care of fishes for like 3 months. and I didnt kill the catfish, just flused it down the toilet alive. also I didnt think it would beat up on my kois kuz my kois were like 5 inches long and the catfish was like around 1 inch

I'm sorry that your koi died. That sucks. Unfortunately, there was probably a combination of two issues. I counted at least 4 koi in your tank, at an averate of 5" apiece, that's 20 inches of koi plus one inch of catfish. Bottom dwelling fish like koi and catfish aren't clean fish. They produce far more waste than other fish of the same size. I usually figure on needing around 7 times the space I would for other fish of that size with koi and goldfish, meaning you're looking at around 140 gallons for the fish not to be stressed (and these fish would have grown far beyond 5" over the years). If they're stressed, this means that they will get diseases easier.
Then the catfish introduced those diseases, and they got sick. It could also be that the catfish was bullying them. Though it was smaller, it lived in the wild, and needed to defend itself. Further, some catfish have poisoned barbs (bullheads, for example), that may have injured the koi if the koi were bullying the newcomer.
I don't agree with the idea that wild fish never go in a community tank, though it is probably illegal in your area. For example, MN DNR rules state that only a child 16 or under may take fish to be kept as pets in the home. If you are going to do it, however, I would suggest a several month waiting period.

I'll get to flushing fish in a moment.

Flushing the catfish down the toilet IS killing it. No matter what Nemo said "all drains don't lead to the sea(or water )" Fish who are flushed die a horrible death in ammonia ridden dump water and if they do make it to the treatment plant there are horrible amounts of chemicals added to the water to "clean" it for human consumption. Now you know not to flush anymore fish
Carol

EXACTLY!
And, if for some horrible reason, your waste-treatment plant doesn't do this to the water, and the water ends up in natural water sources, you could be infecting an ecosystem with an invasive species. (In this case, I would also move, or only drink bottled or rain water, and never, ever eat fish from the river ).
Many hardier fish, such as catfish, have an arsenal of weapons to help them breed in adverse conditions. Some have the capability of carrying fertilized eggs for long periods of time, some are capable of switching genders (so even if two females of the same species end up in a river, they could eventually begin populating it), and some are capable of reproducing asexually.
There is one type of Asian catfish that has been released in Minnesota as a gamefish (which is what manmade ponds are often stocked with) that has become a severe danger. These things grow really fast and really big, so they're great fishing, but they also love jumping out of the water. It's only a matter of time before someone on a speedboat takes one to the head and dies.

Sorry about the rant. I'll get off of my nature-loving soapbox now.

Again, sorry about your koi. I love mine and can't imagine how I'll react if he dies.

 

oh ****, I reallly thought that nemo **** was true. well my kois 2 were around 5 inches, one was 3 and oen was like 2. and ya I knew it was a small space but I just liked kois and couldnt put a pond outside so I thought id keep em in my room. only fish left is my algae eater now

 

Don't get me wrong, I have a koi in a 29 gallon tank right now. He's a butterfly koi (they tend to be smaller and grow slower). As he grows, I am replacing his tank. As soon as I can find a place for it, though, I'm going to have a 200g+ tank for the cost of two pirate-captain coats. (A friend has a tank laying around, and my wife likes sewing, so we made a deal)