I need urgent help in respect of my two Orfe s - here are the details - I have a 1000 gallon on pond / approx 5000 litres - I have five fish - which are 1 koi - 2 goldfish -2 Orfes - on Sunday March 1st I noticed the 2 Orfes lying on the bottom of pond on their backs - I immediately cleaned the filters ( last done October ) the other 3 fish totally ok no problems - next day I tested water - med reading of ammonia so I immediately did 50% water change & 20% the next day - p12 days later the pond is clear of ammonia and nitrate however one Orfe spends most time at bottom of pond on his back the other one just sits near surface right way up plus he has pink blotches on him - can anyone advise me what I should do next as its heart braking to see them like this - do I change water again of clean filters again - I'm at a loss - if anyone can advise I would be most grateful indeed
Help needed urgently
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Can you take them out and put them in something else .Maybe it is a lack of oxygen .Not sure what your weather conditions are .Oxygen may stimulate them
Nick how are things weather wise in Surry at this time my friend ?
We now need to go through protocol sorry about ths but rules are rules what test kit is it that your using API or Tetra Pond test kits, and what are your following readings Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and Ph.
Next do you have aireation on the pond ,are your filters running and can you give me the curent water and air temperatures were you are ?
I note you cleaned your filters in October , did you also remove any dead leaves from your pond prior to the onset of winter ?
Can you tell me exactly what you are seeing with your orfe i;e do they have a white sheen to them are they breakng out in red blotches etc , sorry about all the questions but we need to know the ins and outs of your pond etc to give us an idea of what is going on in your pond .
Going back through your other posts quite frankly scares me as your breaking alott of rules such as QT'ng your fish (not)
Problems with a koi not disimilar to this post.
You need a QT fasility , hopefully by now you have either dug one bought one or hae converted a large container into one?
But we are here to help and help you we will .
Dave
We now need to go through protocol sorry about ths but rules are rules what test kit is it that your using API or Tetra Pond test kits, and what are your following readings Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and Ph.
Next do you have aireation on the pond ,are your filters running and can you give me the curent water and air temperatures were you are ?
I note you cleaned your filters in October , did you also remove any dead leaves from your pond prior to the onset of winter ?
Can you tell me exactly what you are seeing with your orfe i;e do they have a white sheen to them are they breakng out in red blotches etc , sorry about all the questions but we need to know the ins and outs of your pond etc to give us an idea of what is going on in your pond .
Going back through your other posts quite frankly scares me as your breaking alott of rules such as QT'ng your fish (not)
Problems with a koi not disimilar to this post.
You need a QT fasility , hopefully by now you have either dug one bought one or hae converted a large container into one?
But we are here to help and help you we will .
Dave
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Hi Dave thanks for taking the time to reply -I'm using am API tester also I took a sample to local Aqatics shop on Monday & they said waters fine ammonia / nitrate etc are now ok but they were not on & around 1st March so I got the local Aqatics shop to come up & he tested water & said ammonia is present & immediately did 50% water change and told me to put by aireators back in pond - all this around 3rd March - in answer to your other questions I try and get as many leaves out of pond in winter as possible - I did not run aireators in winter but are on now - the pump & filter are Oase 20000- regularly cleaned April to October - last cleaned on March 3rd filters always running 24/7 - as I look at oarf - one is lying on its back at bottom of pond - the other is still near the fountain but he has red blotches other one no red blotches - should I do another water change or filter clean or both ? The other 3 fish - 1 large koi & 2 goldfish are 100% ok - the air temp is about 8 during day but 2 at night - water temp I don't have thermometer - any advice you can give would be much appreciated thanks - I'm am running the aireators 24/7 to keep pond oxygenated
The problem I have at the moment Nick is I need a good photo of your orfe it could well be that its suffering from costia or it may be something else entirely , did the guy from the shop make any suggestions to you at all as to what it might be ?
Costia can be active from 2c up to 29c the problem is that the treatment for costia would most probably kill the orfe off i;e Malachite and formalin , you could well try tea trea oil i;e Melafix and see how things go from there but I need a really good description of your fish before I say ok use this or that.
Is there a white sheen on the3 fish as well as the red blotches
Dave
Hi Dave - I will post a picture tomorrow - the guy from aquatics shop said the problem was ammonia in water and Orfe s suffer more than other fish - since I did the water change one Orfe spends 90% on its back at bottom of pond - the other one sits below fountain but has red blotches - other 3 fish all ok - so this problem has only affected the orfs and not the others - as I said I am now running aireators - I don't know what to do next - but I need help and advice as its heartbreaking to see these beautiful fish in such distress - hope you can advise me on what my next action should be - Thamks
Hi Dave - I will post a picture tomorrow - the guy from aquatics shop said the problem was ammonia in water and Orfe s suffer more than other fish - since I did the water change one Orfe spends 90% on its back at bottom of pond - the other one with red blotches sits right way up under the fountain - I'm really at a loss what to do next - the other 3 fish are all ok - not affected in any way - but I can stand by and watch these two beautiful fish suffer so any advice on what I need to do next would be gratefully received thanks Nick
As I said Nick a good photo speaks a thousand words dont panic I've already given you the tools to use should it be a case of costia what I cant understand though is the ammonia build up there shouldn't be any until you start feeding not at the temperatures we are at .
Nick you havent been feeding them have you ?
Dave
Nick you havent been feeding them have you ?
Dave
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How are you cleaning your filter media?
Also what is the pH of the pond water?
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Look Nick with or without photo's from what your descriptions of the orfes symptoms are I'm 99.9% sure that this is more than possible a case of costia i;e the lying on the bottom the other being near a source of air.
I dont want to see this spread to your other fish so we need to get on top of things sharpish,
You've had the ups and downs of extremes of temperature in Surry of late which is a sure fire way of bringing costia on and that treatment needs to start straight away least you loose your orfe..
So personally my friend and I dont like to do things this way unless I'm 100% sure, "I'd go ahead and treat."
Normally if you had a microscope I'd ask you to take a scrape of the fish or at least taken a look at some hgh resolution photo's for us to take a good look at.
I've made the call go for it but remenber to use Melafix as orfe dont tend to do well under Malachite and formalin check with the fsh shop owner to be "doubley sure" of my call on this then go ahead and treat.
You may or may not turmn them around but at least you know you have tried
Remember to turn off your UV-C if its on for the duration of the treatment of your orfe .
Dave
I dont want to see this spread to your other fish so we need to get on top of things sharpish,
You've had the ups and downs of extremes of temperature in Surry of late which is a sure fire way of bringing costia on and that treatment needs to start straight away least you loose your orfe..
So personally my friend and I dont like to do things this way unless I'm 100% sure, "I'd go ahead and treat."
Normally if you had a microscope I'd ask you to take a scrape of the fish or at least taken a look at some hgh resolution photo's for us to take a good look at.
I've made the call go for it but remenber to use Melafix as orfe dont tend to do well under Malachite and formalin check with the fsh shop owner to be "doubley sure" of my call on this then go ahead and treat.
You may or may not turmn them around but at least you know you have tried
Remember to turn off your UV-C if its on for the duration of the treatment of your orfe .
Dave
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