Koi developing black spots/dots?! PIC

[leet13]

I am HOPING its due to the cooler water temps or something environmental. I moved all of my fish indoors and I am able to get a real good look at them all. Basically its the one that is all orange in the attached pic... These black dots/spots are freaking me out. My husband noticed it right away while it was in the tub waiting to be put into the basement "pond"....

Today while feeding them, I noticed it looks like there are now some gray spots on its head next to the black dots. I pet the fish lightly on the head and did not feel bumps. It ate normally and is swimming normally too. I tried to google this and from what I saw could be hikkui (or spelled hikui) but this fish is not very old (bought June 2012 in an aquarium store). It is one of the two fish I have had the longest (which isnt really all that long). I really hope this is not contagious. All of my other fish are looking very healthy and I do not see any change in the other fish like this one.

 

[Waterbug]

Here a site that covers the possibilities very well.

 

[capewind]

Is it possible to still test the water they were in outside? I am specifically curious of the ammonia level. No expert by any means, but took in some fish in June that came out of a bad situation, and several had similar black dots... I assumed ammomia burns were the cause (with these fish, the gills were also affected, so while we thought ammonia related, treated for gill fluke as well to be safe).

 

[leet13]

THANKS for the link, Waterbug (I bookmarked it)!!

capewind- I couldnt test the outside pond... but I had tested the inside one. Levels for ammonia are .5 or 1.0... I did a 40% water change and tested it again then just added some stuff for reducing ammonia (my husband went and bought it and I had forgotten the name... Top Fin brand). I also cleaned everything out that I could. I also added some beneficial bacteria. I will keep checking the levels everday.

What threw me off was only one fish is showing these spots...so I thought it was an individual issue (parasite or some infection)... hopefully I caught it soon enough.

 

[Waterbug]

This time of year more than ever when dealing with ammonia it's kind of important to test water temp and pH too in order to find out how much toxic ammonia (free ammonia NH3-N) you have vs relatively safe ammonia (ionized ammonia NH4+-N). Your test is probably for Total Ammonia. Here's a table format that graphically shows the difference. But for lower temps you need a calculator like this one. You may find you have no problem, while trying to deal with a non-problem can cause real problems.

Another issue is that ammonia converting bacteria slow down a lot as temp drops. Adding more just gives adds more waste to the system,

Also, the nitrite converting bacteria is inhibited at only 0.1 ppm of free ammonia. So adding more of that to a system that actually has high free ammonia also adds waste to the system. In general I think bottled bacteria is not good for ponds because it's rarely needed and can be harmful.

 

[capewind]

I may be wrong to feel this way, but I dont trust the bacteria in a bottle. Maybe I am too under educated here, but while it SAYS to jump start a system, I am more afraid that it will impede the growth of natural bacteria in the system. I'm guessing your hubby got something like ammo-lock (or equiv), which I dont trust either LOL. I am horrible about not trusting chemical means. On the rare occasion I see the ammonia start to rise in the basement pond (from over crowding it), we just do water changes (10-20%) every other day til it is back to zero, which is coming from the outside pond.

 

[fishin4cars]

Capewind, I differ in opinion when it comes to beneficial bacteria, BUT I agree 100% in, If you don't trust how or when to use a chemical, in most cases, It's better to not use than use. Wish far more newbies would read and follow this rule as well.

 

[capewind]

Capewind, I differ in opinion when it comes to beneficial bacteria, BUT I agree 100% in, If you don't trust how or when to use a chemical, in most cases, It's better to not use than use. Wish far more newbies would read and follow this rule as well.

Probably a bad analogy, but I toss these items into the same catagory as many human medications. People are so fast to pop a pill then let their immunity system do its job. A little bit of patience, and our ponds will develop their own good bacterias... bad filtration or over crowding causing ammonia spikes? well, water changes til the system can stablize itself.

 

[Waterbug]

I think bacteria in a bottle can work, but the limits are so often ignored by pond keepers that I think in our hobby it hurts more than helps for 99% of cases. And there's the issue of pond products having a really poor record for selling dependable products imo. In aquariums there is a much better record of good products and a better understanding of how these products can and should be used. And also in waste water treatment they buy bacteria by the train load, they understand how to use it.

 

[Dave 54]

Try the microbe-lift range of bacterai etc you simpply cannot beat them

rgrds

Dave

 

[leet13]

I also have some all season pond bacteria coming (from an online site)... i used the Ammonia stuff (top fin)... that my husband got. I am still reading .25 or .5 in the pond. colors look kinda same. PH is 7.5 Water temp is 68. He got me something called Koi Vitality or whatever it is in the green bottle (tetra pond brand) but I dont really need that.... He also bought some more water conditioner for when I do water changes. I was going to let this go another 2 days then just start some water changes again...

Yes, the use of chemicals make me a bit uneasy. I just dont know what else to do. I did a few water changes... one day was 30% change and the following day was another 30% change. after each of those the water still tested .5 for ammonia. I know that some stuff will bind the ammonia but it will still be detectable in a test. the test I have is one I got off of amazon. crap, i forgot the name of it too...... looks like i am terrible with names.

i will go down in a few mins to test everything not just ammonia.

 

[leet13]

Here are the results-

PH 7.0 to 7.5 (not sure because it looks like both somehow)
Phos 1.0