Why on earth is my pH this high?

[C-Note]

I was thinking that, @CometKeith . Wanting more lilies for added shade, beauty, and all the benefits.

Bad morning... I woke up to find our Aka Matsuba dead at the bottom of the pond. Water parameters = picture perfect. Skin scrape shows nothing. I put some gill tissue under the scope as well... nothing! He had been hanging near the surface with his pectorals clamped for days. We had done a Prazi dose, feeding medicated antibiotic food, and perfect water quality. I am seriously at my wit's end, because I don't know what else to do or look for! I feel like I've been as pro-active as possible, but while trying not to "mess with nature" too much. I'm not trying to "fix" the water which is clearly not the issue. I am trying to gently resolve daily pH swings that could stress the fish by adding shade (and will add more plants).

 

[Tula]

Oh no, I'm so sorry ! Hopefully @Dave 54 can help, or you could also post this on the koi forum I shared with you. Do you have enough aeration in the pond....adding more, can't hurt. Again, I'm really, really sorry....so sad

 

[C-Note]

@Tula I think I have enough aeration. 2 waterfalls and 4 large air stones. Any more aeration and it would be like a jacuzzi tub! We put up 3 large sun shades... hoping to make it a bit more difficult for algae to thrive. I'm heading out now to search for more water lilies, too. As frustrating as it all is, I will stop at nothing!

 

[bettasngoldfish]

C-Note Did this all start after adding the two new koi to your pond?

 

[C-Note]

C-Note Did this all start after adding the two new koi to your pond?

Yes... of course. Ugh. And go figure, the new fish have NO signs of stress, illness, disease...

 

[Tula]

What magnification did you do the scrape and scope at? I've heard it can be hard to see costia...think that's what it's called. I'm not sure I'd add anything to the pond right now, till you get an idea of what you're dealing with. Plants can bring stuff in also.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

oh boy, That's what I was afraid of.....And yes, it is possible for the new fish to "be fine" they can have a low number of parasites that they have become immune to but when your other fish were exposed they became ill.

Maybe try scoping one or both of the new guys to see if you can see anything (even though they may not appear ill they could have carried something in that you are not picking up on the other scrapes)

 

[C-Note]

Okay... I was able to see 2 bits that could be costia at 400x magnification. They were red, and bean-shaped. Crap. So... salt?

 

[bettasngoldfish]

you can try salt but costia can be resistant to it. formalin may be a better choice.

 

[C-Note]

Ordered... arriving tomorrow.

 

[Skydog]

How'd this turn out, C-Note?

 

[sissy]

Hope it all worked out .I don't bother with white foam on the pond water as long as it does not smell or look green .It can be from lots of aeration in the pond combined with the waterfalls and spawning fish

 

[C-Note]

How'd this turn out, C-Note?

Hey @Skydog ... pH is pretty stable between 7.5-8.2 still. I added baking soda daily and got the KH up to a better level. Now (because it can never just "be okay" in my pond), the nitrites are up. This is a first! I've always tested zero for ammonia, nitrites, and phosphates. So.... we've been doing daily water changes to try to stay on top of it, which then defeats the work I did on raising KH. I can't seem to win.

Everything I know about nitrites is that they come from decomposing organic matter, which we have practically NONE. My hyacinths were yellowing and suffering, so I reduced the quantity a bit just in case. We vacuum poop and sludge from the bottom with each partial water change, plus I have a small army of large trapdoor snails doing their job.

Thoughts... because I recently did the 3 day treatment of MG&F for Costia, is it possible that the treatment killed the good bacteria in my bio filters, and now it's just "sludge," and putting nitrites into the pond while it starts a new cycle? The MG&F treatment specifically said NOT to bypass filters, which leads me to have such thoughts. Anyway, I cleaned them a bit and added bacteria boost. I don't know any methods of reducing nitrites besides water changes, and that is getting truly exhausting and expensive!

 

[C-Note]

Hope it all worked out .I don't bother with white foam on the pond water as long as it does not smell or look green .It can be from lots of aeration in the pond combined with the waterfalls and spawning fish

I agree. My "foam" wasn't really foamy. It's just bubbles from the aeration.

 

[Skydog]

Sometimes I think the best thing to do is to just back off, and let things sort themselves out. I remember reading a story about an avid gardener that had exhausted all his knowledge on a plant and it still wouldn't bloom. In desperation, he pitched it behind the potting shed, onto the compost heap. Several weeks later, he went to get some compost, and there lied the plant, in full bloom! My gardening store guy calls it, "killing with kindness".