Petsmart baby koi keep dying

[Lisa k koi]

Please clarify..... We asked for the numbers for your test results. What are your ammonia and nitrate numbers -- "great" doesn't tell us anything. And did I miss nitrites? And I hope that was a misprint and your pH isn't really 2!!!! That isn't compatible with life!

We usually recommend doing water changes when any results are off, rather than adding additional chemicals. When you clean your filter, be sure to use dechlorinated water (or pond water). What kind of filter do you have?

And 2 handfuls of koi food twice a day still seems like a lot, esp if he isn't eating it, which is why I suggested scooping out the uneaten food.

You should always quarantine any new fish, no matter where they come from, even if they come from koi shops/breeders. Do you have anyone who can do a scraping of your fish for a microscopic exam? Symptoms are helpful, but the best way to tell is looking for the "bugs" under a scope. Maybe someone else on here can tell something from your pics (thanks for posting those).

Ammonia was 0. Nitrate 0. How do you quarantine a new fish? If we decide to get a full size fish from a Koi breeder (which is where we got this full size one) how is his pond different than my quarantine tank vs. my pond? Is the quarantine to have them be alone? If so, what is the purpose? Thanks for more input.

 

[Lisa k koi]

How much food do you scoop out after you feed?

I hadn't been scooping it out, but am going to start doing this.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

The purpose of quarantine is to minimize the risk of introducing a pathogen into your pond that your current fish have no immunity to. By quarantining new fish you are allowing any latent health issue that they may have, whether parasitic, bacterial or viral, to manifest and be appropriately treated and neutralized before the new fish is introduced to your pond. This is primarily for the protection of your current fish.

 

[Lisa k koi]

If you get a full size Koi where do you quarantine them? Also, what if you buy 2 full size at the same time? Do you need to quarantine them separately?

 

[Mmathis]

Ammonia was 0. Nitrate 0. How do you quarantine a new fish? If we decide to get a full size fish from a Koi breeder (which is where we got this full size one) how is his pond different than my quarantine tank vs. my pond? Is the quarantine to have them be alone? If so, what is the purpose? Thanks for more input.

When you quarantine (QT) a fish, you are basically keeping it separated from your other fish for a period of time so you can observe it for / and treat for any diseases or parasites that the new fish could be carrying. Other people here can explain it better. And you can do a search on GPF as there have been many good threads about QT. Opinions will vary as to the length of time, but bare minimum is 4 weeks. Some people never QT and get by fine, but it's a ticking time bomb. But you have to keep in mind that changes will stress your fish. Stress can lead to illness. An apparently healthy fish, under stress, can become ill. And I say "apparently healthy," because you can't look at a fish and say it's healthy just because it looks healthy. Which goes along with what @Meyer Jordan has been saying about the new fish coming from a different tank environment where the water parameters may have been different.

I hadn't been scooping it out, but am going to start doing this.

Do you know how much food was being left uneaten? Maybe that's a better way to phrase that. IOW, is any of the food being eaten at all? You should only feed as much as your fish will eat.

 

[Lisa k koi]

Honestly I feel like he doesn't eat anything. He ignores what we put in the pond. I haven't seen him eat for over a year since we got him.

 

[Mmathis]

Honestly I feel like he doesn't eat anything. He ignores what we put in the pond. I haven't seen him eat for over a year since we got him.

Is there a lot of algae in the pond? I don't know about koi, but GF graze on algae. But that does seem strange, as I thought all fish were little piggies! He has to be eating something......

 

[Lisa k koi]

I have to think there is a lot of algae in the pond since there is so much green coverage (trees) and we're in Portland OR where EVERYTHING has algae on it. We have to powerwash the driveway once a year because of the algae build up. I'll be honest we had a large GoldFish for 4 years in the pond and never fed him before we knew anything about how to take care of them properly.

 

[Lisak1]

Out of curiosity - if your fish never eat, why do you keep feeding them?

 

[CometKeith]

Lisa K. I'm guessing your water parameters are poor and your big koi adjusted to it. It may be ph or something else. I'm guessing your ph may be higher than 8. Also the fact that you don't see your fish eating is not normal. It may be the chemical you are adding is doing something to your water. I would avoid adding any chemicals and do some gradual water changes. Typically good water equals healthy fish. I would suggest not to add any more fish until you are confident your water quality is improved. Also it's possible that the tank at your Petsmart has bacteria and the fish are getting sick in the tank. It's a lot easier for pet stores to scoop out dead fish than clean their tanks. You could try another source for your fish. My oldest fish was from Petsmart more than 7 years ago, but not all the fish I got from them fared well.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

What kind of food are you feeding? How old is it?

 

[morewater]

I have to think there is a lot of algae in the pond since there is so much green coverage (trees) and we're in Portland OR where EVERYTHING has algae on it. We have to powerwash the driveway once a year because of the algae build up. I'll be honest we had a large GoldFish for 4 years in the pond and never fed him before we knew anything about how to take care of them properly.

Your driveway most likely is covered in pollen, rather than in algae.

 

[Jane Ross]

we have a full size koi we e had for 2 years. His partner was taken by a raccoon. We've scared the raccoons away with a good hosing and they don't seem to be coming back. We bought 2 baby koi from petsmart and they both died within a week and a half. Bought 2 more and one just died a week in. Pond is well oxygenated with a fountain. I feed them once a day with 2 handfuls. I clean up all the keaves and pine needles on the pond everyday and we put that enzyme stuff in once a week for the leaves on the bottom of the pond. We e added full size in the past but only lost them to raccoons. Thoughts on what the babies keep dying?

We had the same problem with raccoons.. best way to avoid this is gettin a NET to cover the pond if you can… hope it helps too.

 

[Lisak1]

Always weird when a new member pops up answering a question that's 8 years old.

 

[Mmathis]

@Jane Ross This is an older thread. I don’t think the OP is still around, but hello and welcome!