Can Toad eggs cause Koi death?

[pamann]

I have a good size Koi pond and have healthy Koi that I've kept for four years now. Yesterday, a Toad laid a string of eggs throughout my pond and today one of the Koi is dead; I found it floating this afternoon. I want to protect the 6 remaining and want any information about Toad eggs and Koi dying. Will eating the eggs cause them to die? Should I remove the eggs from the water? I've seen the others eating around them and wonder if I'll be seeing more die. The one that died was a beautiful pure white metallic butterfly Koi. The rest are all butterfly Koi. Please help, any answers will be appreciated.

 

[capewind]

Have you tested your water to rule out water quality issues?

 

[jeffery]

my koi have been eating toad eggs all year and seem to be doing grate .

 

[pamann]

Yes, I did test the water after I saw the dead fish and it's fine. After I eliminated that I wondered about the eggs. Thank you for the idea, but that was my first thought as well.

 

[pamann]

Thank you both, Jeffery and Cape! I just read that some Toad eggs are slightly toxic. I've never heard of this before. I'm still not sure about this, but I don't know what to think. One source said it could be a problem and another site said Toads lay eggs all the time in Koi ponds without problems. Has anyone seen this problem before.

 

[capewind]

Which tests did you do, and what were the results?

 

[pamann]

Tests for pH, alkalinity, total hardness, nitrate and nitrite. Ph was 7.6. All tests were excellent. No problems there. I bought a test kit from a local store right away.

 

[Dave 54]

Didn't think they would eat toad eggs or their tadpoles but if you say they do .
Are you ure they were toad eggs not some sort of toxic newts eggs ?

rgrds

dave

 

[pamann]

Yeah, they were Toads. My husband found them around the property and put them around the pond and then took pictures of them.

 

[fishin4cars]

I've read that toad eggs can be slightly toxic to koi as well. But honestly, I seriously have my doubts. I've had koi and ponds for many years and every year toads lay eggs in the pond. Even right now there are toads laying eggs as we speak. I've also got several tadpoles swimming in the pond with over 25 koi most being between 1-5 years old and most being butterfly. Have you had toads in the yard before and have you ever seen them in the pond in the past?
I've also read that newts can also produce toxic eggs, But we don't have newts here that I have ever seen so I can't remark about them.

First thing I thought about was water quality as well.
Not much to go by here to work through. I see the P.H. but no other results so I can't determine anything there, I don't see anything but a good size koi pond, a little more specific's like actual pond size and the size of the remaining fish would be helpful as well. Temperature, if anything has been added to the pond recently or anything major change, such as lots of rainfall, new plant additions, a filter cleaning, where the pond is located all may help trigger someone in to thinking outside the box for something else.

 

[gardengimp]

Where are you located? By chance someplace with a over abundance of rain recently? Was the fish you lost the biggest in the pond?

 

[BlueOrca]

I have a good size Koi pond and have healthy Koi that I've kept for four years now. Yesterday, a Toad laid a string of eggs throughout my pond and today one of the Koi is dead; I found it floating this afternoon. I want to protect the 6 remaining and want any information about Toad eggs and Koi dying. Will eating the eggs cause them to die? Should I remove the eggs from the water? I've seen the others eating around them and wonder if I'll be seeing more die. The one that died was a beautiful pure white metallic butterfly Koi. The rest are all butterfly Koi. Please help, any answers will be appreciated.

My aunt had a similar situation, she just lost 5 of her 6 koi in the last few days (stopped eating, stayed on the bottom). She has had this pond for 10 years, all koi were 8 years old, 15-20 inches, biofilter and tons of plants. The only variable from this year to the past years is she has hundreds of toad tadpoles this year and from reading this post I wonder if there is something to tadpole toxicity........

 

[BlueOrca]

Just to add, it is also likely that this army of toad tadpoles ate a substantial amount of the good bacteria coating the pond liner and pots and then excreted more ammonia than the now bacteria depleted system could handle sending an ammonia spike that weakened the Koi........(my aunt does not have a water test kit) so we will never know. :skull:

 

[pamann]

All of my Koi died before the eggs hatched. I contacted a local Koi breeder (we are in the South) and he confirmed that smaller Koi under ten inches are definately subject to the toxicity of toad eggs and recommended not replacing the Koi until I can assure that toads will not have access to the pond again. Since it's an inground pond and he recommended a raised pond to keep Toads out to avoid their laying eggs, I guess I am out of luck for the time being. He did say Larger Koi, over 1 foot are probably not affected as badly. I'm thinking that some of you guys who say their Koi eat eggs must have larger ones. Anyone with smaller ones should look out for the stream of eggs in the pond and remove them, if possible as soon as you see them. This has been a very sad but valuable lesson for me.

To blue Orca, I'm sorry your aunt had a similar fate with her Koi. The symptoms are just like the ones of mine that died. When you have them for many years, it makes it very hard to lose them all to natural occurance like toad eggs.

 

[shakaho]

Do you live where there are cane toads?

Toads and toad eggs of poisonous species like the cane toad can be toxic to humans . Few animals try to eat toads, toadpoles, or toad eggs since they taste very bad. My fish gobbled tadpoles until the toads found the pond, then they stopped eating all tadpoles.