question

[crazyforponds]

When I discovered my infestation of ICH I called the local pond guy and told him what I had. He gave my husband Aquascape Ulcer-bacterial infection treatment. there are no ingredients listed. After reading your post and investigating further I'm thinking salt might be beter especially since my water is below 50F. The treatrment I got does say its affective above 32F but since its not for parasites I'm worried its not the right treatment. Can't understand the pond guy seems to be knowlegdeable and gives me the wrong stuf but.. Anyway can I still put salt in after this treatment.? How do I do this-over several days or all at once? What able water changes?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

You are correct. That is absolutely the wrong treatment.
Salt will not have any adverse reaction with the medication and, yes, gradually raise the salt levels over a period of 2 or 3 days. Be advised, however, that salt, by itself, at lower temperatures may not exert the full remedial effect that you are seeking. Ich-specific medication is the better choicen your situation. You do need to know the exact volume of your pond before using ANY medications.

 

[Dave 54]

When I discovered my infestation of ICH I called the local pond guy and told him what I had. He gave my husband Aquascape Ulcer-bacterial infection treatment. there are no ingredients listed. After reading your post and investigating further I'm thinking salt might be beter especially since my water is below 50F. The treatrment I got does say its affective above 32F but since its not for parasites I'm worried its not the right treatment. Can't understand the pond guy seems to be knowlegdeable and gives me the wrong stuf but.. Anyway can I still put salt in after this treatment.? How do I do this-over several days or all at once? What able water changes?

If you dont know the ingreadiants of the treatment crazyforcar's and are not happy then dont use it , did you or can you ask your pond guy what chemicals are in it ?
May we ask why you doubted his choice seems strange you suddenly doubt him ?
I agree with Meyer it shouldnt be a problem and besides you need to act quickly , we normally boil up buckets of water and gradually add the required amount of salt stiring it in until everything is disolved into the water then leave it to cool.
Then over the next 48hours gradually add the contents of your buckets around the pond via a watering can, this is to ensure that the salt is spread evenly throughout the pond.Note*(we also do this with treatments finding it the best way to get total pond coverage .
Remember though that after treatment the salt should gradually be removed from the pond by use of water changes

You are correct. That is absolutely the wrong treatment.
Salt will not have any adverse reaction with the medication and, yes, gradually raise the salt levels over a period of 2 or 3 days. Be advised, however, that salt, by itself, at lower temperatures may not exert the full remedial effect that you are seeking. Ich-specific medication is the better choicen your situation. You do need to know the exact volume of your pond before using ANY medications.

Meyer is totally correct in his saying that you need to work out the total gallonage of your pond so you know the correct amount of treatment to use.
We took the step of metering the water into our pond when it was first filled thus we know the exact amount so we know whats in the system thus how much salt or medication we should use on our koi.
Best of luck with curing them

Dave

 

[bettasngoldfish]

I use a salinity meter to check salt levels when I am using salt in my tanks.

http://www.koicarekennel.com/Salt-and-pH-meters/Koi-Medic-Salt-Meter-p-27.html

Note: I did not purchase mine from this site, I am just linking to it to show you what it looks like

 

[CometKeith]

I had ich a few times in my pond. Both times it happened was in the spring and the ammonia levels were high because my pond hadn't cycled. What worked for me was doing frequent water changes to reduce the concentration of ammonia until it cycled. I treated the sickest fish with salt baths. Using this strategy worked and almost all my fish recovered once I was able to improve the water quality. I have never needed to use chemicals to fix the situation and in my opinion most of them are useless. I'm wondering what is going on with your pond in terms of fish and their size and pond size. Are you still feeding them?

 

[Dave 54]

I had ich a few times in my pond. Both times it happened was in the spring and the ammonia levels were high because my pond hadn't cycled. What worked for me was doing frequent water changes to reduce the concentration of ammonia until it cycled. I treated the sickest fish with salt baths. Using this strategy worked and almost all my fish recovered once I was able to improve the water quality. I have never needed to use chemicals to fix the situation and in my opinion most of them are useless. I'm wondering what is going on with your pond in terms of fish and their size and pond size. Are you still feeding them?

Keith its not the big guys that die from ich but the younger fish will die in droves if it isnt taken care off
But well done on the water changes during the ammonia build up , I take it you did something like 20-40% each time or was it less ?

Dave

 

[Dave 54]

Sounds good to me. I really appreciate all the advice. I took Dave advice and got a drop test kit. Well what I thought was good water quality probably was not. It showed pH 8-ammonia .5/ppm-negative nitrates and nitrates-temp is 40 F. With what little I know, I know ammonia is deadly to fish. Probably the reason for my sick fish. What do I do now. I have two air stones in the pond and have turned off my waterfall.

Brought this over from your other thread crazyforponds
If the treatment recomended had malachite and formalin in it had you added salt with a Ph like that it could easily have become toxic for your fish so you dodged a bullet there .
We need to get your water perameters sorted out and find out why you have high ammonia as well as Ph .
Water changes can be most effective but I'm worried about the fact your going into winter now and dont have the means to do a trickle water change via a dechlorinator unit .

Dave

 

[crazyforponds]

Wou

Brought this over from your other thread crazyforponds
If the treatment recomended had malachite and formalin in it had you added salt with a Ph like that it could easily have become toxic for your fish so you dodged a bullet there .
We need to get your water perameters sorted out and find out why you have high ammonia as well as Ph .
Water changes can be most effective but I'm worried about the fact your going into winter now and dont have the means to do a trickle water change via a dechlorinator unit .

Dave

What about increasing the aeration in the pond? When I bought my air stones I made sure it was for a 5000 gal pond. I also read they are supposed to be placed 1-2 ft below the surface so as not to mix the warm water with the cold. Is this sufficient to provide enough oxygenation? Should I drop them down to the bottom so more oxygenation gets to the bottom of the pond? Should I add another aerator? We will a 20% water change today.

I had ich a few times in my pond. Both times it happened was in the spring and the ammonia levels were high because my pond hadn't cycled. What worked for me was doing frequent water changes to reduce the concentration of ammonia until it cycled. I treated the sickest fish with salt baths. Using this strategy worked and almost all my fish recovered once I was able to improve the water quality. I have never needed to use chemicals to fix the situation and in my opinion most of them are useless. I'm wondering what is going on with your pond in terms of fish and their size and pond size. Are you still feeding them?

My pond is 5000 galoons and I have approx 40 fish. Stopped feeding them a month ago. I have also been reading about fish dips and fish baths. I have one large koi that is in very bad shape.

 

[dieselplower]

A normal treatment for ICH is salt and warm water. Often in the 80 degree range. This shortens the life cycle of the bug. I dont think dropping the air any lower will help. That is a huge amount of water and a ton of fish to be treating. I would consider taking the largest one that you said is in very bad shape inside. You would need to warm it slowly. Someone is bound to point out that it can't be done, but I just did it with 2 Shubunkin goldfish. I realize Koi and goldfish are different but it is possible.

 

[crazyforponds]

Help!!! We did a 20% water change today and added 10 lb of dissolved salt after the water change. Also added decolonization. We finished at 1 pm. I tested the water at 4:30 pm and the ph is 8.4 - ammonia is same at .5 ppm. What is going on? I'm panicked and don't know what to do.

 

[Dave 54]

Wou

What about increasing the aeration in the pond? When I bought my air stones I made sure it was for a 5000 gal pond. I also read they are supposed to be placed 1-2 ft below the surface so as not to mix the warm water with the cold. Is this sufficient to provide enough oxygenation? Should I drop them down to the bottom so more oxygenation gets to the bottom of the pond? Should I add another aerator? We will a 20% water change today.

My pond is 5000 galoons and I have approx 40 fish. Stopped feeding them a month ago. I have also been reading about fish dips and fish baths. I have one large koi that is in very bad shape.

You are indeed correct crazyforponds you could drop the airstones lower but make sure they arent on the bottom of the pond but turn them down a little remember it is winter
Another thing about formalin is in extremely cold water it is heavier than water and would sink to the bottom and remain there, so salt is your best option , you made the right call
You dont want to be sressing your koi out anymore than is necessary so catching them for a salt bath is not an option .
Salting the pond is your best bet at the moment and if you've disolved the salt as I described to you you'll get a good even covering of the pond.

Dave

 

[CometKeith]

Dave my water changes weren't that big. More in the 10-15% range but I constantly did them and it alway worked. I have never had a big problem with ich. As soon as I saw any flashing I would start the water changes right away and make it a habit to do a lot of them in the spring. I don't do anything to get rid of the algae in the spring and even keep my uv light off until my pond cycles because I feel the lagae helps get rid of the ammonia.. I feel the key is to keep the water quality good and that will prevent disease however i keep goldfish and not koi so if I lose a goldfish I am not happy but I know there are lots of babies in my pond and it can take only so many fish. In my opinion you need to treat the cause and not the symptom.