Out of ideas...please help!

[Shellysue]

Hello. I need some help, please my koi, Ron, has been acting strangely this last week and I am very concerned about his abnormal behavior. Oddly it is just Ron showing symptoms and not my other two goldfish. Here's some background information.

We moved to a new residence aug 9th. Prior to the move we upgraded from a 29gal to a "new" currently used 55 gal. We set the larger tank up at new residence, transferred (approx) 60% of gravel and set up with a new filter system. We let the tank run for about 1 1/2 weeks with the fish that came with the tank to help with the cycling...some neons and one goldfish who we kept. . We added our fish and the filter from the smaller tank. Everyone seemed so happy to have more space. Now, this past Monday I noticed Ron's dorsal fin was clamped down and he stayed towards the bottom of the tank. Tested water...nitrates a little high but still in the safe zone (I won't lie... I use the strips from our local pet store. After doing some research I've seen that these can be unreliable but it's what I have available). Did a 25% water change. The next day he moved from the bottom to the corner of the tank about midway up it... Staying there vertically. Thought maybe it was swim bladder because he's really aggressive at the surface when he eats. Decided to try the pea thing... He wouldn't eat them. He would put it into his mouth and spit them out. So I decided to stop feeding for a couple of days and try the pea thing again and did another 25% water change the next day as nitrates still a bit high. He has now moved towards the top of the tank...dorsal fin still down and just stays there. He'll swim when you watch him for a bit but that's about it. He still is eating food. No weird discoloration that I can see, no red in the tail, no fungus wont clean gravel...Nothing. I'm at a loss.

He is normally a very active fish... Him and Tyler my goldfish always swam together... Now Ron just stays in the corner..I have brought Tyler back from the brink of death twice ... Once from a horrible fin rot and once from a nasty fungal infection. It's weird because my two other goldfish aren't showing any signs.... One would think that if its a water quality issue others would be showing signs right ?Please help.

Here's my current water parameters:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrates: around 10 ppm... Was closer to 20 on Monday but have been doing pwcs..
Nitrites: 0
Ph: stable in morning and night at 7.6
Kh: 180 ppm
Gh: 100ppm

We have a 55 gal tank with two marineland 30gal filters running.

Any input would be appreciated. Sorry I'm a bit long winded... Just wanted to give a detailed account of current situation

 

[dieselplower]

I really don't have an answer but I was worried for your fish before I even read this thread. I read your introduction thread where you said you had 2 goldfish and a Koi in a tank and red flags started flying. Are you able to get a liquid drop test? I know they are a bit of an investment but I have found it was worth it.

 

[sissy]

I really don't know much about fish tanks but what about you water besides testing it does your city water have stuff in it or are you treating it .Maybe he wants a koi girlfriend .How much air and there are medicated foods also .Maybe try that .

 

[Shellysue]

We did move to a new city... But I've heard the water is better here. I treat the water with a dechlor before addition. I will look into medicated food and drop tests. Plus we have two bubble stones running in the tank..

I know about the two goldfish and one koi in a tank not probably being the best. I was hesitant about it when we set up the new used tank... The third goldfish came with the tank when we purchased it... and I couldn't find anyone who wanted it... And I wasn't going to flush it... It was way too cute

I have thought about setting up a smaller tank for the third goldfish to see if maybe that helps...

 

[Mmathis]

Sounds like you have a good handle on what's going on with your fish, and you obviously care about what happens to them. You can have an ideal set-up, where everyone is doing fine, but just one little thing can upset that balance and can cause problems. Even something like adding a couple of new fish, or the stress of moving [even though it was to a larger tank]. It's so hard to say what goes wrong sometime, but usually, the "cures" are the same: more room, cleaner water, more aeration/filtration/water movement, avoid over-crowding [ie=too many fish], avoid over-feeding, water changes, frequent testing....

Depending on what your city water contains [chlorine vs. chloramines], check to be sure your de-chlorinator will remove "chloramines." It's something I never thought about until I noticed a consistently high ammonia level in a QT I was running. I checked the tap water, and it contained a fairly high ammonia level [chloramines break down into ammonia, or something like that].

And yes, if possible, get the liquid test kits. Be sure they are not expired, though [date should be on the pkg.]. Test strips can give inaccurate readings [but, they can also be fine.....]. If I had a "sick" fish, and my water tested OK, I think I would try a different test, repeat the test, etc. IOW, I wouldn't necessarity trust the results. You might want to keep a log of your results.

I agree with Diesleplower about the "red flags," as I thought the same thing. A 55 gal. tank is kinda small and not ideal [though I think you already know that], but probably doable as long as you don't add any MORE fish and keep LOTS of filtration/aeration. Water changes are good, and if your koi doesn't bother them, plants might help, too [they use the nitrates up].

If you still have that 29 gal. tank, could you set it up as a quarantine tank and separate Ron for a while and see how he does? You said that there were some other fish that came with the larger tank. Cart before the horse, but were those guys quarantined? BTW, how big is Ron?