Flukes disease?

[dan7146]

Hi everyone.

I built a pond back in September last year and introduced koi and goldfish into the pond - a total of 15 fish. The pond is around 4000 litres in size.

Everything was going swimmingly until fish began to die one by one - mainly the goldfish. I am now down to 10 in total. The fish that died all appeared to have a slime on them with cotton wool like deposits on their body. This led me to believe that they were suffering with a fungus. I did administer a fungal treatment to the water in between the fish dying but this doesnt seem to be helping as a couple more died after the treatment.

I am now worried about the fish as they are now all beginning to seem rather lethargic. One of the larger koi also has an ulcer on it's back which I have tried to treat. The fish are all sitting at the bottom and are very quiet. Having done a bit of reading I have come across Flukes disease and a lot of the symptoms of this seem to match with the fish behaviour.

I haven't tested the water, which remains clear, but there is quite a lot of green weed on the sides and bottom of the water. I will be purchasing a tester kit soon to test the Ph levels etc but am after any other advice that may work.

The fish are still feeding but not on the surface.

Any help would be appreciated as I am still a novice in this field.

Thanks.

Dan

 

[koiguy1969]

i'm not an expert..but,the fsh with the ulcer should be treated and isolated in a hospital tank... you might reference this post : http://www.gardenpon...-fish-medicine/ you may find your answer(s). microbe lift, (among others), makes a good antibiotic food...you may want to feed the entire pond, at least as a preventative aid to spreading.

 

[dan7146]

Cheers for the post koiguy.

I had my water tested - which was fine - and then took one of the fish to a koi supplier. A skin scrape was conducted and revealed a bad Flukes infestation. I'm now in the middle of treatment but have since lost two more and I envisage further casualties. The fish have been knocked for six but hopefully I will be left with a few fluke free fish at the end. At least I'll know the tell tale signs in future.

Does anyone know if blackbirds are a serious source of flukes? We have a blackbird that baths in a little pool at the water return and the koi suppliers told us that they can be the source but they believed it was more likely present on fish that we had bought. The last thing I want is further problems.

Cheers.