Butterfly koi in quarantine pond, sick or depressed?

[NewPondWhoDis]

So, in an effort to be a responsible fish owner, my husband and I dug a small (120 gallon) pond to quarantine new or sick fish in.

I had two koi in there, a butterfly and a doitsu. I intended to keep them in there for a month, but I noticed that they started hiding a lot more, and would only eat if I wasn’t around etc.

Upon closer inspection, I saw that the butterflies fins were ragged and red, but the doitsu looked perfect. I know that butterfly are usually first to show issues... but I took a leap and put the doitsu into the main pond.

I did this mainly because I love her so much (she is the first of my fish to have taken a koi crunchie from my hand) and I was afraid of her being “brought down” by what is making the butterfly fish red. That, and I had read that some of the treatments/medications are not safe for scaleless fish.

I was happily surprised that she fell right in with the fish in the big pond and was schooling with them and eating like she wasn’t doing in the quarantine pond. She looks super happy.

Meanwhile, butterfly fish is in quarantine with salt. The salt level is about 0.23.

I got a close look at her today, and her fins are looking better, but she is still hiding and not eating.

I am torn between
- leaving her in there with the salt.

-putting her in the big pond and seeing if she perks up like the doitsu

-doing enough water changes to the quarantine pond to get rid of the salt and then treating with something else and then putting her in the big pond

-putting her in the big pond and then putting a scaleless fish safe medicine in the big pond to ward off anything she may be bringing with her.

Does anyone have any opinions of which of these I should do? Or maybe another opinion I haven’t said here?


I attached photos of her in case that if helpful.

Also, the water parameters are:

Temp: 73 f
pH: 7 (although I find that this fluctuates more than I would expect)
kh: 40
Gh: 180
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: .25, which is higher than usual, but it was 0 when I started noticing this
Phosphate: 0
I changed 33% of the water a couple of days ago to lower the salt from 0.3 to 0.2, but then I added a bit more salt, so now it’s about 0.23

thank you for you any help you can give me!

 

[Tula]

I'm not sure how to advise you. From these pictures the fish doesn't look too bad.....I only see some pink streaks in the tail fins, no ulcers etc. , unless I'm missing something. Not eating and streaked fins could be from the stress of being in this tank, it's small and there are no other fish to school with.

Hopefully others will chime in with advice. I do think in the long run, this fish will fare better in the pond......if it's not sick.

 

[NewPondWhoDis]

thank you! He did have a friend until the day I saw the pink streaks, so I don’t think it’s from being lonely.

I feel bad that he is lonely now, but I want to do the right thing. I have him some Melafix and did another water change.. I’m hoping he perks back up in a couple of days and can join the rest of the guys.

I am bummed to hear that the size of the quarantine pond could be his problem. I would of course never keep many fish in a pond this size, or full grown ones, but I thought this would be ok for a month at a time for a couple of small koi.

I will have to re-evaluate in the spring I guess. Our ground is all shale here so digging is not easy. I don’t think I can convince my husband to dig me a third pond in one year!

thank you for the advice! He seemed perkier already today after the Melafix went in.. so maybe he will seem sufficiently healthy to go in the big pond soon?