Help me please...koi are dying

[sweetbeats]

Still having trouble finding GH and KH tests. :[

Have one more place to test tomorrow. I *do* have test strips that have a “total hardness” test. I was told by the pool and spa store that is the same as calcium hardness. Is that true? Will that tell us something if I dip and test that later today?

 

[addy1]

Still having trouble finding GH and KH tests. :[

My go to it place

https://www.amazon.com/s?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=gh+water+tests

 

[sweetbeats]

The “Total Hardness” of the main pond using the test strip pictured below is between 100ppm and 250ppm...closer to the 100ppm range. I realize that’s a wide swath and the particular measure may not relate to the suggested GH or KH tests...but...it’s something (maybe) for now.



I have one more place to check tomorrow for a GH/KH Kit and if that fails then I’ll be ordering the API GH/KH test kit off of Amazon or the like.

The koi do not seem to be interested in food, though they may have simply been wary...it did look like the medium white one was maybe munching at matter down in the rocks though.

 

[MitchM]

Total Hardness or General Hardness is a measurement of calcium and magnesium.
Carbonate Hardness is different and is a measurement of carbonates.
They are different.
Test strips are pretty inaccurate, the best they will tell you is that you have "some".

Maybe put a piece of plywood over half the quarantine tank to give the fish a sense of security.

 

[addy1]

Maybe put a piece of plywood over half the quarantine tank to give the fish a sense of security.

Good idea!

 

[Lisak1]

You sure are getting a crash course in pondkeeping @sweetbeats ! Kudos to you for continuing to work to save these fish and your pond. And we are all learning as we follow this thread!

 

[sweetbeats]

So the bottom line is I can’t put the koi back in the main pond until we know the GH and KH?

We have some important plans out of town Wednesday through Friday this week...and with my work schedule and other demands, if I can’t find the GH/KH test kit in town here, I don’t have the ability to drive up to Portland and hunt for one.

Still kicking myself for not simply ordering one last week online. Dumb.

 

[MitchM]

It's pretty important to match Temperature, PH and KH before you transfer the fish.
Since you are going away for a few days, I think it would be better if the fish were in the big pond so we'll have to forego the KH.
Over the course of an hour or so today, remove some water from the quarantine tank, and replace it with water from the pond. Try to do it about 6 times, about 10 gallons at a time. At the end of the hour, test the PH and temperature, make sure they're pretty close then transfer the fish to the big pond.
Temperature difference less than 5 degrees and PH less than 0.2 difference is acceptable.
Have a look to see if that discoloration has changed on that one koi. Hopefully it's gotten better.

 

[sweetbeats]

Okay. Will do this after work today, or tomorrow morning. Will still look for and acquire GH/KH test kits because that seems important long-term. Will report back.

 

[sweetbeats]

Well 1 out of 2 ain’t bad.

 

[MitchM]

Great!
Let's some numbers!

 

[sweetbeats]

9 drops of KH test solution...the chart in the instructions indicate that means 100-200ppm.

 

[MitchM]

If that's for both the pond and quarantine tank, go ahead and transfer the fish in the procedure I mentioned before.
I'm interested to know the initial PH difference before the transfer.

Great!
Let's some numbers!

This is what you get when you type then hit post before reading what you typed.

 

[sweetbeats]

The KH is in the same range in the main pond as the quarantine tank...100-200ppm (9 drops of solution for the main pond, 11 drops for the quarantine tank).

The water temp differential between the two is about 3 degrees Fahrenheit...PH differential is about 0.2-0.3...maybe closer to 0.2. Hard to tell because the color is kind of in between the color blocks on the chart for both the main pond and the quarantine tank.

 

[sweetbeats]

The three koi are back in the main pond. They look pretty calm. The white one still flits around occasionally, but he does still have a small area of raised scales from where he abraded it jumping out of the quarantine tank days ago, and he’s still a little rosy colored. Stressed I’m sure. I’ll just keep watching him.

Now on to long-term water quality maintenance systems development. Looking for any guidance to that end.