New Koi Question:

[Marshall]

I was given 6 koi (all under 5" long) this morning by a man who is a regular visitor and donor to the rescue but the problem is their health is not too good and there is a lack of data on the cause. What happened was a pet store close to his house was closing down their fish department in order to be a cat/dog only pet store and therefor all the fish were on sale. The koi were $1.99 each but I think the process of the store rapidly selling off all the fish and shutting down the system has caused some type of illness. The problem is there is no way to get the water sample to see if that may have caused issues. Right now they are in a 250 gallon stock tank for QT until I figure out what is wrong with them. The symptoms are lethargy and sitting on the bottom of the tank only moving very slowly but not often. A few of them will sometimes fall over on their side and lay that way for a few minutes. As far as the water quality they went into is good. It is the same well water all my creatures live in and the tank has been established and running for about 3 months with only plants in it. The PH is 6.5, Ammonia was 0.01 first test and then zero the second test which was roughly 13 hours later. The nitrite is zero. Water temp was 61 F last time I checked and the ambient temp was 57 F. If anyone has any tips on what to do to better the chance of their survival please share. Also is it possible that because of the fish being sold so fast that maybe this induced an overload of stress? Thanks for any help everyone.

 

[sissy]

I keep ph at around 8 for koi .How about oxygen .Can you get medicated food .

 

[Smaug]

Doing any thing about pH is pointless unless you can keep it at that point. The biggest thing is stability and keeping any ammonia and nitrites at bay. No point in any meds either as yiu don't know what you are treating for. Just keep the water stable and we'll oxygenated, feed very sparingly as all you will accomplish with feeding to much is having dirty water.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I was given 6 koi (all under 5" long) this morning by a man who is a regular visitor and donor to the rescue but the problem is their health is not too good and there is a lack of data on the cause. What happened was a pet store close to his house was closing down their fish department in order to be a cat/dog only pet store and therefor all the fish were on sale. The koi were $1.99 each but I think the process of the store rapidly selling off all the fish and shutting down the system has caused some type of illness. The problem is there is no way to get the water sample to see if that may have caused issues. Right now they are in a 250 gallon stock tank for QT until I figure out what is wrong with them. The symptoms are lethargy and sitting on the bottom of the tank only moving very slowly but not often. A few of them will sometimes fall over on their side and lay that way for a few minutes. As far as the water quality they went into is good. It is the same well water all my creatures live in and the tank has been established and running for about 3 months with only plants in it. The PH is 6.5, Ammonia was 0.01 first test and then zero the second test which was roughly 13 hours later. The nitrite is zero. Water temp was 61 F last time I checked and the ambient temp was 57 F. If anyone has any tips on what to do to better the chance of their survival please share. Also is it possible that because of the fish being sold so fast that maybe this induced an overload of stress? Thanks for any help everyone.

Based on the information provided, the only prudent course of action is..no real action at all.
The pH is somewhat lower than most fish ponds and is at the lower limit of the suggest range of 6.5 - 8.5 for aquatic habitats. But, it is what it is. Any attempt to raise the pH may only exacerbate the stress that the fish have been under. Keep the QT well aerated and stable. Koi are tough fish. Given time (days) to adjust to the new water quality parameters they may very well completely recover. If not, well you tried. Do not feed at this time!

 

[Dave 54]

What can you describe to me Marshall ?
Are the koi looking to have a build up of mucus on the body and around the gill casings are they also looking emaciated ?
If so I would hazzard a guess that your koi are suffering from either skin or gill flukes though care must be taken in identifying which first off
Koi that suffer these types of flukes will roll over on their side like you are describing can you take some photo's for me please Marshall

Dave

 

[callingcolleen1]

Fish are usually stressed and sickly from some pet stores to begin with. You will have to "baby" them and hopefully they should get better.

 

[Lynette]

Hi, try feeding them benionite green Clay. They are bottom feeders and the clay keeps them really healthy