Losing my first koi.

[Telion]

Its been a bit of a sad but ironic night. I am pretty sure we are going to lose one of our koi for the first time tonight.the ironic part is that it was one of the ones I initially didn't want but he (or she) was thrown in as part of a package deal.

Looks like a parasite situation. It isolated itself and was not schooling. Sti ate though. But it has spots on its stomach that look like a result of a parasite. It didn't seem to be doing much flashing but I can see a lot of the wounds either caused by flashing.

Action taken

Step 1. Make the cardinal mistake and not read here first and medicate the whole pond.

Step 2. Isolate the fish
Step 3. Medicate the one si*with melafix and
Step 4 add recommended amount of salt.
Step 5 brush his Go

 

[RobAmy]

Sorry for the troubles, did it survive the night?

 

[carolinaguy]

We feel your loss, but don’t take it too hard. Your fish are not done surprising you with fish loss. Koi keeping is better than goat keeping. Goats are far more creative in figuring out how to die. We have friends who show goats (yes they do that) and have shared their frustration.

So you must, I repeat, must scrape and scope this fish. If you are in a club, the koi health advisor or equivalent can help. If they are trained they can perform a necropsy. You may find nothing, and even that result is valuable data.

If you have rocks in your pond on the bottom, check them for sharp edges. Rocks should be smoothed river rocks to prevent mechanical wounds, especially ventral wounds that open pathways to abdominal cavities. The dangerous fact about ventral wounds is that they usually go undetected for so long that the fish becomes too sick for intervention. The wounds may have begun as mechanical penetrations.

It’s tough to sort out a dead fish, so any photographic interpretation is even harder, but the fukurin, the skin between the scales looks curiously raised. If the fish is scoped, the parasites, if they are the cause, are dead or gone. Parasites only live in association with live fish and die or leave after a fish death. That means your other fish need to be scraped and scoped. I have identified dead gill flukes from a gill clip off a dead koi. Chances are that opportunistic bacteria are still present but they require gram staining to see. When we look for parasites, we use a wet mount and look for movement of live organisms.

So your work to figure this death out is not done.

 

[Somethin' Fishy]

So sorry to hear about the loss @Telion.

There are just so many possibilities as to the cause of this death. I can't tell from the picture whether it was parasites or not. It's like Carolinaguy said, as far as examining it further... But, it is possible, that the stress of being caught and introduced to your new pond, made this fish a great deal more susceptible to just about anything. As you already know, keep tabs on that water quality and keep a close eye on everybody, since that cycle is not yet complete. Keeping in mind, that water temperature, pH, and water movement, all have a hand in how quickly or slowly the bacteria colonize and complete the cycle. Check your ammonia level, as "ammonia burn" can appear quite similar.

I have no suggestions as far as the meds and salt added to the whole pond....

Wishing you the best of luck though. Stay calm and pond on!

 

[sissy]

sorry to hear and sad to say it can happen to any of us

 

[Telion]

Sorry for the troubles, did it survive the night?

Unfortunately, I am not sure I stayed up with it till about 12am but having to get up at 5am I had to leave it in quarintine with medication and air and I didn't want to start my day by going out to see it passed. My wife will be home from work well before me and will see for me. I will need to see what my koi club options are in the area but that is excellent advice. We didn't salt the pond though. But I did put Melafix in it and if my stress coat would get her I will be putting more of that in there. True we are very fortunate so far that this was our only loss so far with the transporting and changing conditions. Thank you everyone. I will keep you posted.

Couple clarifications

4. Add recommended amount of salt to the quarantine container.

5. Brush the body of the fish with a salt paste

 

[Tula]

This koi looks like it has an internal bacterial infection to me. HOW it got it is variable, parasites or wound allowing bacteria to enter the fish, or water quality issues.

Here is an interesting article about Melafix from a a credible source.

http://www.koivet.com/a_melaleuca_tea_tree_oil_koi_wounds_healing.html

I'm glad you're able to treat this koi in a small tank, verses having to treat the entire pond at this time. You may have already mentioned this, but do you have an arisen going in the isolation tub?

I agree with @carolinaguy about reaching out to a local koi club, they can be a wealth of information and are generally interested in helping.

 

[Tara]

hope it gets better.

 

[Telion]

My wife has let me know that it did not make it. I didn't think that it would. But the other fish are doing fine. We will try to get ththe needed testing done as soon as I get off work.

 

[Tula]

Very sorry I'm glad to hear the others are doing well.

 

[j.w]

So sorry you lost your first koi. Hope that is the end of whatever was wrong so it does not pass on to other fish.

 

[Lisak1]

 

[RobAmy]

My wife has let me know that it did not make it. I didn't think that it would. But the other fish are doing fine. We will try to get ththe needed testing done as soon as I get off work.

Thanks for the update. Sorry for the loss.

 

[addy1]

Darn, sorry to hear

 

[Gemma]

Sorry you lost a fish, we all feel your pain!