Yesterday I do a big waterchange of about 15%, open up the sand filter and clean it out (thousands of mozi larvae inside...is this normal?) added some koi clay and put in 20kg's of salt.

So I leave it be and carry on with other things, so about an hour later I walk past the pond, have a squiz and see eberything is ok, go around to the bank of the house and spend some time on the pool. So after that is done I walk back around the house and see my dog looking into the bushes behind the pond, so I look and I see something very wierd looking.

As I get closer I see it's my 40cm sanke in the flower bed just lying there. So I run up, grab it and put it back into the pond, faced him towards my venturi to get the bubbles and water flowing thru his gills. Felt him come round in my hands so rubbed some of the dirt off him and steered him around abit more and let him go.

He sank down to the bottom, keeping upright and stayed there for a couple of minutes. My other fish were arouund him and seemed to be nudging him about and then he started to swim around quite gingerly.

He still had a fair amount of dirt on him, he's one eye was still dirty. His right pectoral was very red as well as his tail fin, also notices blood spots on his back. Woke up this morning and he's carrying on as if nothing happened.

He often likes to jump but my net stops him, can only imagine the force he must have jumped at and that he obviously managed to catch the net square inbetween the holes.

Anyway, thats as bad as it's been for me since I built this new pond in august, so still gather myself kind of lucky.

Just think the sanke was unbelievable lucky that I just happened to be walking past at that time, if not then he would've been a gonner for sure.

I know my staffie's would have loved playing with him.

well i tell you if it was my stafie that koi would not even have got dirty and it would have been lunch well done on getting him around awsome,

yeah.....i'm just lucky that I was in the garden, cos when I am my staffie's follow me everywhere.....if I wasn't then wasabi and soy sauce would have been a requisite on the menu!!!!

Clif,

Quote :

open up the sand filter and clean it out (thousands of mozi larvae inside...is this normal?)

What you saw are Chyronomid larvae (Bloodworm), and it are quite normal to find them inside your sand filter.
Small snails often are within the filter as well.



If Koi “jumps” it is a sign of some or other irritation, normally cause by parasites or a water condition.

Hi Pieter,

I know exactly what bloodworms look like and these I'm almost 100% sure are mosquito larvae. On my waterfall I have alot of algae forming, this past week I was doing some work on one of my returns under the waterfall and when I looked at my waterfall I saw hundreds\thousand of larvae, these look exactly like what I found in the sand filter and both I'm 100% sure are mozi larvae, would bloodworms ever breed on a waterfall with flowing water??? Also is it a problem that this is happening on my waterfall. I was leaving the algae to grown there as I thought this would make the pond have a more natual look.....your view on this please???

Just that when I looked at the larvae they were dark grey, not the red of the bloodworms so I'm almost really sure that it's not bloodworms.

My sanke I have seen jump a few times, none of my other fish have ever done this, only the sanke, but before he would hit the net and just go back in, I have red that koi, like normal dam carp jump instinctively, that that's what they do. I had tests done on 2 of my big fish 2 weeks ago and they all showed zero parasites on the tests.

I am adding another 25l Ultra Zap bio filter onto my system next week that I have bought from cam0 (buying), going to keep the 15lt and just add an additional 25lt on......guess more is better than less.

Was checking my sanke out and it appears he has a few splits on his tail fin and dorsal fin, will these just heal on their own or what plan of action should I take?

Dankie Oom

well some of my koi were also jumping i went and invested in a microscope bought living jewls book and turned myself into a biologyist and found Epistylist parasites, on the koi that were jumping all othere were clear, funny i knew exactly which would have and it was only the 2 out of 17 that had it, or that i found it on, saw no othere parasites i treated the water with Malachite green and Formaline and not a single fish has jumped again, will check the koi again in a few days to make sure they are clean, will start with the garlic now just to be safe,

If your koi jumps you have a problem.
I have never in 10 years of being in the hobby seen Epistylist on a koi.
It is not a common parasite.

Cliff,

Mosquito larvae will never survive in a sand filter! They are floating larvae.
Chyronomid larvae can..............If put under a microscope you will be able to see the little red there is

http://southafricankoi.11.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=149&highlight=bloodworms

If the fins are not split right up to the body, they should heal in time.

Regarding the Epistylist, I like Jaco never seen it.
Check you water parameters and the Sanke for any parasites.

Jaco wrote:

If your koi jumps you have a problem.
I have never in 10 years of being in the hobby seen Epistylist on a koi.
It is not a common parasite.

I agree, that was the first thing I told Angry when he phoned me. Have never seen it on any of my fish, but according to his description, it was epistylis.

Pieter J de Villiers wrote:

Mosquito larvae will never survive in a sand filter! They are floating larvae.

I agree, herewith a photo from Albie showing the difference.

well after my 3rd treatment yesturday, i did a scrap on my koi today and still found the parasites had a good look this time and i might have been wrong the first time it might be skin fluke (Gyrodactylus) i only have the one koi book living jewels and in there, the pic fluke is curled up but when it stretches itself out it looks like the Epistylis, so i think i was wrong with my first obsevation, hope i did not do any harm by treating for the wrong parasite will get the stuff for skin fluke tomorrow, do you have any pics of skin flukes so i can compare

I had many dead Koi and tried many things (important to find out what is causing the problem)

After a lot of stress ( to me and not only the Koi) I found flukes on the Koi. I took Jaco;s advice and added Seponver plus. Since then I had no Koi losses. Thanks Jaco, Koi happy now and can sit back and enjoy the hobby ( till next time with a new problem at least) No side effects and one treatment only. Within hours your Koi will smile and be happy for ever after

Hi Shawn, herewith skin fluke:



For further info, see under the parasite heading: https://koionline.forumotion.com/parasites-f35/skin-fluke-t273.htm

Seponver Plus kills it quite easily, you can get it from me if it is fluke.