Lost my first Koi, and I don't know why.

[Paddletrucker]

I came home from work this morning to find a dead Koi:frown: It was lying on it's side at the bottom of the pond. The weird thing is that it didn't have any scales on it.

The other 12 Koi appear to be OK and are swimming and eating. The one that died looked fine yesterday. My worry is that the other Koi may have something, too, and I only have a day to figure it out. We're just coming out of winter here, and are getting ready to start putting plants in the pond. I'm thinking that, in light of finding our koi dead, I may need to put off the plants and salt the pond.

Have any of you ever found a dead fish without any scales?

Any ideas would be helpful. I'll be leaving for work (I'm a truck driver) for a couple of days, but my wife will be here when she's not at work. I'd really like to do something today, though, in case more of our koi have whatever killed the one I found dead this morning.

Thanks in advance for any ideas or suggestions.

 

[koiguy1969]

are you sure it wasnt a scaless koi? doitsu is a scaless breed.....that said you may want to keep watch for any signs of trouble with the rest of them...good luck.

 

[Paddletrucker]

No, he had scales yesterday morning and didn't appear to be shedding them.

 

[fishin4cars]

What size Koi was it? I've seen small fish that have died that were picked clean of scales but I'm talking 2-3" fish. If your fish was over 8" I would be watching all the rest of the fish VERY closely. Losing all the scales is not something I have heard of before, But it could simply be that most got picked off after the fish died. Coming out of winter for fish is tough, I've been reading about fin fungus, Egg bound, and the skin mucus getting some infections in early spring as fish start becoming more active. I can't think of anything predatory that would cause this. I know the feeling well when one die's the first thing you start looking for is will it get the others, First thing you should do is a water change, IMO, dilute the possible ammonia produced when the fish died and also that will reduce nitrates as well. Once a 20% or so water change is done add your salt. I wish you the best, keep us informed,

 

[sissy]

could the other fish have atacked the dead fish as I have seen fish in stores where live fish are picking at dead fish .Not sure but could that happen with koi too

 

[evesta]

I'm sorry I was thinking the other fish ate the scales off the already dead fish since they are starving this time of year.

 

[Paddletrucker]

I think you are right. The fish most likely died during the night and the others cleaned the scales off of it. Now, I just hope that whatever got that one doesn't get the other 12. At least they all look good and are swimming and active.

It looks like my next move is a 20% water change, a really good filter cleaning and back wash (I do that every week, anyway) and salt the pond.

It's just a little discouraging. We've hade some of these fish over 11 years and this is the first one we've lost. I guess it happens, but this was one of the younger fish at only a little less than a foot long.:frown:

 

[Paddletrucker]

OK, well I'm having trouble remembering how much salt to add. I've got a 5500-6000 gallon pond and it seems like I added 20lbs. DOes that sound right? I know when we did it (we've only done it once before) that it seemed like a lot to me.



And thanks a bunch to everyone for the help. I really do appreciate it.

 

[fishin4cars]

I add at a rate of 1 cup per 1000 gallons but I read on another thread the koiguy posted he uses 1-1/4 cup per 100 gallons. That sounds like a lot to me but I know a good salt bath does miracles for them when stressed!

 

[fishin4cars]

Also, I know on smaller fish that they will pick at the scales of a dying fish. I would still wonder a little about them cleaning all the scales off of a fish that large that guick but if they are quite a bit larger it's very possible. I'm not sure but I kind of think that that may be mothers natures way of suppling calcium back to nature. I may be totally wrong on this but I know scales are made up of calcium similar to our finger nails. So it may just be natures way of starting to do it's natural thing.

 

[koiguy1969]

the fish can handle more than the 1&1/4 cup per 100gals...this amount is for the benefit of the plants...they have a much lower tolerance. in my basement pond with no plants i go 2 - 2&1/2 cups. this is "rocked salt", not granular.

 

[DrCase]

You might try 1 cup per 1000 and see how they are doing tomorrow if there is still a problem you can always add more