Please help, my koi are all sick and I don't know what else to do!!!

[Lana]

Please help me, I'm trying very hard to save my fish and it's not looking good. every winter I bring my 5-10 year old koi fish (about 15 of them) inside and keep them in a temporary pond which is around a 200 gallon pond liner. Never have I had a single problem until recently. My fish are lethargic and laying on their sides on the bottom, then they swim like normal when I agitate them. Fins are super red, every day more and more are laying on the bottom when I check on them. I am noticing cloudy eyes and a fuzzy film on some of them. Water quality was terrible when I checked it a week ago, since then I have done water changes, added salt, stress coat, using stability and added a bio filter. Turned the uv off. I'm testing water daily and all levels are now good, but fish are not getting better. When I first started noticing this, all levels were off the charts. So obviously they became stressed and compromised, and now are having all sorts of other problems. The temp is probably around 60-63. I'd be grateful for any advice, I feel time is of the essence and I'm losing the battle here!!!

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Please post the numeric values of your latest test results. It would appear that your fish a been exposed to high Ammonia levels. This can cause many immediate problems as well as permanent damage depending on levels of exposure. Your fish may or may not get better. The biofilter will not be of much help if you just placed it on-line as it will need to 'cycle' (at least 4 weeks) before any noticeable reduction in Ammonia is realized.
15 5-10 year old Koi in 200 gallons of unfiltered water is a disaster waiting to happen. At this point, all you can really do is hope for the best.
Sorry.

 

[Lana]

Please post the numeric values of your latest test results. It would appear that your fish a been exposed to high Ammonia levels. This can cause many immediate problems as well as permanent damage depending on levels of exposure. Your fish may or may not get better. The biofilter will not be of much help if you just placed it on-line as it will need to 'cycle' (at least 4 weeks) before any noticeable reduction in Ammonia is realized.
15 5-10 year old Koi in 200 gallons of unfiltered water is a disaster waiting to happen. At this point, all you can really do is hope for the best.
Sorry.

Oh man the filter I use keeps the water crystal clear and they are only in this pond through the winter until I put them in the 2000 gallon pond in the spring. Like i said earlier, I haven't lost a fish using this system ever. I don't know what made my water get so bad all of a sudden, but my 60 gallon aquarium with some smaller koi did the exact same thing, so I'm not sure what I did or if it's the crappy water quality here in Michigan. Levels are: nitrate 0, nitrite 0, ammonia: .5, ph: 8. I am using ammo lock and that has been going down. A week ago the levels were out of control. I think what happened is several weeks ago my water got really cloudy and nasty and I assumed it was because my uv light went out in the filter. I put a brand new one in and did a water change and it cleared up. I think I killed off all the good stuff maybe? Should I now put some medicine in there? Someone recommended trisulfa.

 

[Smaug]

Ammonia and nitrates are clear too. Leaving your fish outside is also a better choice. Even when all I had was a good 150 gallon pond I left then outside. Right now I suggest a 50% water change making sure yiu use a dechlorinating agent if necessary . Yiur ammonia levels should always be zero if they aren't then yiu are way overstocked and are not holding a cycle. Yiur water got cloudy from a bacterial bloom,

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Ammonia is more toxic at higher level of ph (I'm not suggesting you mess with the ph, just stating that the ammonia is more toxic)

Maybe you didn't have trouble in the past because the fish were smaller?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Your Ammonia level may be at a tolerable level now, but damage was apparently done when the levels were "out of control". Your fish are, as a result, in a weakened state and open to any and all secondary infections (Parasitic, bacterial and viral). Treating these secondary infections is possible if you can identify what is causing the infection. Just indiscriminately tossing a treatment into the pond may cause more problems than it solves. Regardless, no treatment will reverse the original damage done by Ammonia toxicity, only time, and then only in less severe cases.

 

[Lana]

Ok thank you for any and all feedback here. So if you don't recommend any meds, do you recommend more water changes? More salt daily? Individual salt baths to the worst ones? How long does it usually take for them to come out of this? ( if I'm lucky)
Thank you again very much everyone for your time and advice.

 

[Dave 54]

@Lana May I ask if you have been dong any water changes on your indoor setup this winter and if your filter came from outdoors with your koi did you clean it prior to winter ?
Your problem seems to stem from the amount of fish you have in your 200 gallon holding pond.
You really must remember koi grow each year year on year so what was suitable last year and the years before may not be now.
I have a Canadian koi friend who this year for the first time ever lost koi moved indoors simply because she took her eye of the ball and sat on her lurals , didnt clean her filter and hadnt done any regular water changes .
May I ask you what amounts that have been feeding them please and also what have you been feeding them with [ is it a high protien feed or wheatgerm and garlic feed].

Dave.

 

[Lana]

Hello Dave! Since I first posted, I have done numerous water changes, added salt, added a new bio filter, turned off uv, added stress coat, stability, and an ammonia eliminator. My fish are back to normal miraculously, after constant care and water testing. However, I can not get the ammonia level down no matter what I do. Until recently, all I have ever fed them was green peas. They love them, but now I just learned they can't digest the skin/shell so that's not the greatest for them. I just ordered a decent high protein food for them and will slowly start feeding them as they get better and better. I have never lost a fish due to illness or stress. Last summer I lost 5 to a heron. So actually my count was down from last year! It's a complete mystery to me why things have been so great all along, even when it was more crowded, then all of a sudden my water went to crap. The uv pond filter is plenty big for the size of this pond, and I only use it indoors. I clean the filter regularly. Outdoors is a whole other ball game. Any tricks to get the ammonia under control even tho they seem to be fine now?

 

[Dave 54]

@Lana high protien food will add to your problem as this time of the year they should not be eating as of yet and then you should only be feeding them wheatgerm and Garlic and then only every few days or so until they are ready to go outside again , then only after the temperature is stable above that of 10c for at least a few weeks
The Wheatgerm and Garlic should be fed to them right up to the start of summer and it is only then you should start on the high protien food .
With ponds you really need to give your filters a clean three times a year, late spring, mid summer and late Autumn this will get you through the winter without any problems in the future
You must also make sure the bottom of the pond is clear of all detritus leaves etc only then are you ready for winter.in the pond should you choose to leave them outside next year ?

Dave