My biggest koi , approximately 20" long, has been lethargic for a couple of day. Today he is laying on his side, breathing, fins moving occassionally....I've increased oxygenation with a 2 nd pump and added an aerator. I've got him resting in a big net so I can examine him. Right side looks normal. Left side has some discoloration...grayish/red at the gills. The right fin looks ratty, possibly injured? I've got several other koi/goldfish that look to be hanging out under the falls. It has been hot for several days, humid...going to check water quality. Water feels cool to touch. Any suggestions? Really worried
Urgent! Sick koi!
- Thread starter Kimmlind
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TheFishGuy
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we dont know any deatails about your pond setup, or how long youve had it, or when you got the fish, or where you got it, if you could provide some deatails, and possibly pictures of the pond, that could help us a lot wtih providing accurate information
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j.w
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Hello and welcome. Agree with above! How big is your pond? How many koi do you have?
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I built this pond 12 years ago. It has the one big koi, approx 20", and about 15 smaller koi. It is approx 12 feet long and 10 feet wide. It is 3 feet deep at the waterfall and 2 feet deep everywhere else. The fish have been purchased from a local pond place and the last addition was a year ago. I did my spring clean out about a month ago and had no issues. The big koi was lethargic last week but really took a turn for the worse yesterday....laying in his side. I test the water and ammonia is way high. Nitrates are normal. I treated with API stress coat last night. Still high this am. I only feed once daily. It's been hot and humid here in NC so yesterday I added a 2and pump and 2 aerators...
Smaller fish look fairly good....swimming around. The big koi still looks bad, on side, find move. No thrashing or indication of suffering. I am considering changing 50%of the water....maybe putting the large koi in an aqaurium....I have a 10lb pail of Para salt, but I have never used this before. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated
GET YOUR FISH OUT OF THE WATER . get them to a hospital tank. Then work on the pond get it stable. and return them to the pond but becareful this time of year the temps can make a small tank boil keep it in the shade
Ok. Should I treat the hospital tank water with anything specific? I have some para salt as well as some neutral regulator
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I don’t know what a spring clean out means but the biological filter has been destroyed. It’s a tough situation. You cannot use your pond water in a hospital tank as it’s the ammonia that’s killing them. They need to get out of the ammonia ASAP.
I’d recommend getting Ammo Lock from API if it’s available locally and most pet stores may not stock it in pond quantities so call first. If you have to order it do so and as @GBBUDD said, get them out of the pond ASAP. Please check back in on a regular basis with your progress.
https://apifishcare.com/product/pond-ammo-lock
Oh how sad! And I'm sorry to say that your pond is too small for that many fish of that size. I know you said you've had it for 12 years, but your fish have continued to grow and now you've reached "the tipping point". The bigger fish will be affected first, but eventually the poor water quality will affect them all.
You've gotten some good advice above, so I will wish you the best. But ultimately you need to consider re-homing most of these fish if they have a chance to survive. You simply cannot hope to keep ahead of the waste that big koi will create in a pond that small. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...
You've gotten some good advice above, so I will wish you the best. But ultimately you need to consider re-homing most of these fish if they have a chance to survive. You simply cannot hope to keep ahead of the waste that big koi will create in a pond that small. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...
Sorry i am not in any way a expert of treatments and i would not like it if i took advice from the amount i know. I will say start right can't hurt it helps to promote a healthy skinon fish. and in a hospital tank you should be able to get an exact number on gallons of water and how much medications you need to use. I was sick to my stomach e the entire time i was treating my pond i have not a clue how many gallons i have it's somewhere between 12,000 and 14,000 gallons. if your local koi dealer cant't help you it may be time to put a few miles on your car and go talk to another dealer. bring them a water sample and a fish if it's not to far that way they can do a scraping and possibly even treat the fish when you go
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Update. Got the fish out and did water changes x 3 and used ammo lock until the ammonia level came down to barely detectable. Unfortunately my big koi did die. Thankfully the other fish, all much smaller seem to be doing well. I dosed with some bacterial additive this afternoon. So now the pond has got 2 pumps, 1 huge biofilter, a smaller biofilter and 2 aerators going. It's been in the 90's for the last week and no changes in the forecast. I thought the pond (between 1500-2000 gallons) was adequate for the number and size of fish I have. I've seen smaller ponds with much larger koi in larger numbers that seemed to be doing great. Did I see somewhere that recommended 1 koi per 1000 gallons? Anyway, I'm adding more floating plants as well and will certainly be monitoring and testing water quality much more frequently!! Again, thanks for the prompt responses and great advice!!
The general rules for fish stocking always seemed silly to me. As there is a huge difference in waste output from a 1’ to a 2’ or 3’ fish.
Seeing A lot of fish in smaller ponds doing well could be due to a variety of variables. Like having a massive filter system to deal with the waste in a DKP, or the fish haven’t been in the pond for very long. Either way the pond keeper is pushing their luck and giving themselves very little room for errors.
Adding more planTs of any type to the pond especially ones that grow quickly will help greatly in your water quality, as they will consume the nutrients created from the fish waste. Floating plants like water lettuce and water hyacinth are quick growers, also can add water cress, water celery, forgetmenots, between the rocks at the pond edges (just put the roots of the plants in the water and they will take off)to help with nutrient consumption, as well.
I agree with everything mentioned and will just reiterate reducing the number of koi in your pond, will help greatly and make it much easier to keep your water quality up.
Seeing A lot of fish in smaller ponds doing well could be due to a variety of variables. Like having a massive filter system to deal with the waste in a DKP, or the fish haven’t been in the pond for very long. Either way the pond keeper is pushing their luck and giving themselves very little room for errors.
Adding more planTs of any type to the pond especially ones that grow quickly will help greatly in your water quality, as they will consume the nutrients created from the fish waste. Floating plants like water lettuce and water hyacinth are quick growers, also can add water cress, water celery, forgetmenots, between the rocks at the pond edges (just put the roots of the plants in the water and they will take off)to help with nutrient consumption, as well.
I agree with everything mentioned and will just reiterate reducing the number of koi in your pond, will help greatly and make it much easier to keep your water quality up.