mossy green patch on side of koi

[damian]

I just recently started stocking my pond (the 5 weeks or so). i did all the water tests (nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, pH, etc) and put in a handful of smaller sized koi and comets (4" and under) about a month ago, and they've been great the whole time.

my cousin had a few older koi raised in an aquarium that he asked me to take, so i incorporated them a few weeks ago. Two of them are fine, although all three seem a bit shy and like to hang out at the bottom (unlike the ones i bought and put in there. they are pretty bold).

one, however, i noticed getting progressively worse. he almost never comes up for feedings, looks really lethargic, etc. When i go out there at night to check on them, he is on his side on the bottom. if I touch him, he'll pop up and swim away. I've been doing water tests all week, and none of the other fish are acting any differently.

last night i noticed while he was lying there that he has a green mossy patch on his side, and i'm wondering if that is a cause, symptom, or contributing factor. A quick internet crash course revealed that it is probably some kind of fungus, possibly in combination with a wound or some other trauma to his scales in that area.

I've read numerous suggestions and suggested products (e.g., forma-green), but I was wondering if anyone here has any specific suggestions. most of what i've read suggests that he will probably die, but i'm hoping to at least try something.

 

[onemean]

sounds like sap . I had a similar problem. see the post that Sandy helped me on. I hope you can stop it quickly. I ended up losing several fish to this. Make sure when someone who is more experienced that me chimes in you have all your water parimeters ready. Do not use the dip strips. Get a good kit and be read to act quickly. Good luck.

 

[Waterbug]

Does sound like it wouldn't make it, like even to the end of the day. What are the water test results?

 

[fishin4cars]

that is a very aggressive form of fungus. best thing you can do is remove the fish and try treating it seperatly. Chances aren't that good that the fish will survive. the sooner you can get it out thye better for the rest of your fish. the one good note is that it usually is contained to a single fish unless all the fish are in a stressed condition. It's very important as mentioned above to know exactly what all your water tests are reading. Good is not a accurate reading. To treat it will be best if you can get the tempatures up to 75-80 degrees and treat with a good fungus medication. In a small 50-100 gallon holding tank it will be much cheaper and easier to treat it and keep the fungus isolated. One thing I would also like to mention. ANYTHING that comes in contact with the fish needs throughly steralized once it comes in contact with the fish. Nets, the treatment tank, anything used during moving the fish, etc. This type of fungus can lay dormant for long periods of time and is usually seen during times when there are swings in tempature in the pond, example usually seen most often in the spring and fall.

 

[Waterbug]

Yes, and I'll just stress the point a bit more...fish have defenses against fungus, bacteria and other things. It's not like the pond never had the fungus in the water to start with, although like Larkin said, now it's grown, no point spreading it around. But when people see the fungus or whatever they want to treat that...which wasn't really the problem to begin with...the problem is why couldn't the fish protect itself any longer. Could be a random thing, could be something affecting all the fish and this is just the first fish to present. Just treating the end problem can be like chasing your tail.

 

[mtpond]

This morning when I went out to check the fish in my pond, I saw one of my large goldfish didn't look right. When I looked at it I thought it was the string algae on it but as I looked closer it looked more like fungus. I pulled it out of the pond and sure enought thats what it was. The only thing I had on hand was maracyn and I thought it had to be better then nothing, so I added it to the cantainer that the fish was in and then started to surf the net. Most of what I read said to scrape the fungus off. YUMMY! So I took a cotton round (if you don't know what that is its a round flat peice of cotton that you use to take makeup off, finger nail polish and what ever). Anyway the fishes skin started coming off. But it would not come off completely so I quit. Thinking maybe tomorrow if it makes it I might have better luck. I then put iodine on the wound. It is really cold out and I'm thinking about bringing the container in and maybe make it better for the fish. The temp of the pond is fluctuating so bad the last couple of weeks. Temp can be 58 and drop to the 40's. Haven't check the temp in the container but I thinking it is pretty cold, anyway it feel like it. Heres a picture of what it looked like when I took it out of the pond.

 

[Waterbug]

Goldfish and Koi immune systems slow at colder water. At 60F it's only at about 20% strength. So raising the water temp in the tank is good imo as long as there's an air pump. They can also handle water warming better than moving to colder.

 

[mtpond]

Yes I agree. I ended up putting an air supply into the container and a small heater. Don't know what tommorow will bring but i'm ready.

 

[j.w]

Wishing you good luck on the fish getting better mt

 

[mtpond]

Fish seems to be doing good this morning. Lots of energy. Not sure what I'm going to do with the skin on its sides. Guess I'll see if I can clean it up more, wish I felt comfortable with cutting it off. I need to change water. Turned the heater off in the fishes container and will pull some water out of the pond and will let it set and hope it warms up some.

 

[j.w]

Glad it seems better. Don't know about cutting the stuff off the fish unless you really know what you are doing.

 

[mtpond]

The skin and what was left of the fungus fell off one side of the fish tonight. Tomorrow I will put more iodine on the fishes wounds and hope that the skin on the other side will also fall off.

 

[j.w]

Good news!

 

[addy1]

good luck with your fish! sounds like you might be on the road to recovery.