Help, Help!!!!!

[SamMag]

I was changing the water in my pond today and as normal to clean the bottom w/o harmng the fish i removed them and put them in a cooler filled with their pond water, then as normal i dgradually change the water in the cooler with waer from the tap (well water) in intervals so that the fish regulate to the temperature of the water that the pond will be when i fill it back up. Hwever as the other fish looked fine on started to slow its breathing and eventually it was laying on its side with labored breathing!!!! I dont know what happened, he i sstill breathing but they are far and few between. I now have him isolated.


Whats wrong!?! and What should I do!?! this has never happened before.

 

[SamMag]

Please help if you can

 

[SamMag]

Well...when i went to check on the little guy he was not breathing, he died. Im not sure what happened but it is a sad tme. My family thinks i should replace him but im concerned about bringing in a diseased fish since i have no quarantine tanks, the fish that are in my 450 gallon pond rigt now were all purchased together so i knew there would be no chance of disease this far down the road, which leads me to beleive something else killed my poor koi. Stress maybe? from the somewat sudden change in temperature of his water?

 

[DrDave]

SamMag
Please add your location using the User CP at the top of this page.
Did you have an aerator going while they were in the ice chest? You didn't mention how many, what size and how much water the ice chest had in it.

 

[koikeepr]

Hmmm.... when you do a partial water change--you DO NOT need to take the fish out of the pond. First of all, it stresses them to be chased, caught and moved.

Next, how much water are we talking about that you changed? It sounds like a lot. When you see muck or debris on the bottom, you can grab a net and scoop it out if need be. But in a pond with good water quality and filtration, there shouldn't be much muck anyway. Typically, what many of us do is vacuum out any debris once or twice a year. But you don't need to yank your fish out of the water to do this, or for any reason other than if the animal is sick and needs direct attention.

Do you have filtration in this pond? why are you needing to clean out the bottom? When you are putting your tap water back in, are you declorinating it?

Please describe your water changes to us.

 

[DrDave]

He mentioned well water in his first post. I'm also wondering why the move although that is not the issue here.
I wonder if there are rocks in the pond causing the muck build up.

 

[SamMag]

Thanks for the replies. let see where to start
-Koi fish are relatively small id say 5-6 inches from mouth to end of the caudal fin.
-The ice chest had approximately 40 gallons of water in it (Fairly large chest) with an air pump. 6 fish in the chest
-I performed almost a 95% water change as I normally do this time of year in order to scrub up the pond of debris before it gets too cold
-There are no rocks on the bottom but there was an excess of mulk from the vary severe rain/thunder stroms we had about 2 weeks ago.
-Pond is lined with rubber pond liner, in-ground
-The pond itself is roughly 450 gallons with no filter but a circulation pump that pulls water from the verybottom f the pond to the top of a rather long series of waterfalls
-As already stated we have well water, and yes it has been tested by myself and proffesionaly and was deemed acceptable for fish.
-To reduce stress when netting fish i typically put in some food allow them to and net them as they eat and put them into a bucket filled with water to transport them to the ice chest. I try to keep it so they are never out of the water.
If you need any moreinfo. just ask.

So what do you guys think?

 

[koiguy1969]

build a filter!!! no filtration is your big problem! youd find alot less muck on the bottom with a filter....your making your fish swim in their own toilet. continue like you are and you'll find your gonna loose fish "at your own hand" or should i say"lack of hand!!"

 

[koikeepr]

I have to agree with koiguy. If you had a filter, you wouldn't need to do those massive water changes, clean out muck or move your fish. Koi are monster poopers and they need filtration. If you need to drain and scrub a pond, it does mean something has not gone right.

Even tho you are feeding the fish to catch them, the catch is still highly stressful to fish and affects them all the same. Again, you should not be catching koi in nets unless there is a medical issue or some other emergency.

Please search for doc filter on this site, or review the construction area and you'll see many photos about how to build a simple bio filter out of a barrel.

 

[koiguy1969]

yep, what your doing is sucking in their poop... basically running it thu a blender as it hits the pumps impeller and sending back a poop soup..to settle on all pond surfaces. then fester and toxify.

 

[DrDave]

For a temporary home, I do not reccommend feeding them. They will do fine for a week if necessary. Shippers do this so the Koi don't contaminate the water in shipping. That prevents premature water failure in a small container.

All the other advice is sound.