Hi, Does anyone have experience using dyes to find parasites on a microscopic scrape of a kois mucus layer?

I hear that it greatly enhances the ability to find them.

Why am i asking...

My kois are flashing very badly. They swim and will easily flash 3 times 1, 2, 3 straight after one another. They are literally standing que to flash the bottom drain lid.

I have caught the once that flash the most and have done a physical inspection on them. Checked for any goga like fish lice or anchor worm that might be on them. I checked the fins, the mouth....no luck. I did a microscopic scrape and again I could not find anything on them and so did a PP dip with 10 of my 12 kois 3 days ago. The other 2 dont fit into my PP dip bowl of 60cm. I checked the water and all the parameters seem fine but they continue to flash. My brazillian pepper tree has in the last 2-3 weeks started to drop tuns of those little yellowy flowers in the water. I take atleast 300g worth out every day. The flowers are anything from 2mm-5mm and block my skimmer and sand filter up daily. Could this be irritating them?

I came outsise tonight and my one shiro utsuri that has snow white shiro and a very thick skin that usually does not show stress - the best of all of them has a pink skin with veins standing out....due to stress naturally. I caught him and did 3 scrapes. One on the belly and two just behind the gills....I cant find anything under the microscope.

My microscope can handle 40x, 100x, 400x and 600x.

So i would really appreciate some advice. I must be missing the parasites or something else is irritating them.

Hi Wayne,

It is not uncommon for koi to flash a bit, especially after a meal. Yours sound to be doing it too much.
From past experience I have always just done a pp treatment when I see my fish flashing too much or I do a bact away treatment and it usually clears.
I would certainly considder adding salt to at least 4kg per 1000 lt. and stop feeding for a couple of days, to take care of the stress at least.
Have you had a look at their gills is all well there?. You have not perhaps fed some whole wheat bread have you? aparently that gets stuck in the gills and will also make them flash to get rid of it.

as far as your tree droppings go I dont know, cant you place some shade cloth at an angle over the pond to catch this. Or even cover the pond comletely till the flower dropping is over.

Just trying to help, go back to the basic things.
Best of luck hope it clears soon.

Thanks Neville. Ek wil nie onnodig die hele dam PP nie. Dit maak die filters dood.

Blykbaar is daar 'n spike in ons "local" minusiplae water se PH. My PH meter gaan nie hoer as PH 8.2 nie. My PH lesing is hoer as gewoonlik, dit is gewoonlik hier by PH7 en vanaand was dit PH8 maar ek het nie daaroor gepanic nie....maar die feit dat die PH hoer as P 8.2 kan wees selfs miskien PH9 is 'n probleem.

Ek sal die PH moet gaan toets met 'n beter meter. Dit kan miskien die flashing veroorsaak.

Wayne, ek twyfel,
die PH sal n bietjie hooger wees in die laat middag. Jy sal maar more oggend moet check. Hoekom check jy nie jou kraanwater nou nie en as dit reg is doen n paar % water change.
Maar ek voel jy moet die stress levels af bring want dit sal net ander probleme veroorsaak.

Is jou airation goed op die oomblik.

Ons staan winter se kant toe as jy n probleem het sort dit gou uit voor dit koud word anders wil niks lekker werk. Hierdie is n goeie tyd van die jaar om n pp te doen. Bypass maar die filters.

Ek gaan more sout kry vir die dam...vir die stress.

Airation is baie goed. Ek stoot 220l lug 'n minuut in met air pumps en daar is ook 'n waterval, venturi en 'n water jet.

Ek gaan die PH toets van die water maar my meter is nie goed genoeg nie.

My fish are better today. The one that was so stressed is back to the normal pure white skin. There's still the occasional flash but not as bad as last night.

I have now after checking the kois added 100kg Salt into my pond. That will give me 3kg per 1000l roughly. This should help them to chill.

I checked my pond water and its PH9 and up. New test kit only goes upt o PH 9.2

There is something very wrong with the local tap water. The PH is through the roof but the TA is only 20. How does that work? Surely there must be some relation between the TA (Total Alkalinity) and the PH. I am not sure when the water changed. I replace about 6000l a week on my pond and ontop of that i do a automatic topup of about 120l of water a day.

Hi Wayne,

If only I could send you some of my borehole water at PH 4 to 5 we could solve your problem easily.
Now is the time to be very carefull. Just dont add any chemicals to change it. If you test your supply water now does it read ok? If so I would just carry on doing further water changes regularly like evry 8 hrs.but so as not to give the fish PH shock. I would also check that municipal water all the time. Remember to top up your salt as you add new water.
Dont rush it just do everything slowly.
Not sure but think you should leave a mist sprayer on like all night.

Hi Neville

Ek het besluit om vir nou niks aan die water teverander nie. Die visse lyk my is nou meer gewoond aan die PH so ek wil nie nou lol nie. My vrees is vir sondag wanneer ek my filter en water change doen. Dan vervang ek so 3000l water. Ek sal dit PH van die kraan water eers moet toets....maar wat doen ek as dit tehoog is?


Note to self....invest in a electronic PH meter.

Ja Wayne hulle is nie so duur hulle was onlangs op bid or buy, baie bilik geprys.

Oorweeg maar om kleiner maar meer water changes te doen.
Sterkte ek hoop dit verdwyn net so vinnig as wat dit gekom het. Seker nou een of ander kort haar wat nie die skaal kon lees by die water werke nie.

wayneb wrote:

Hi Neville
Note to self....invest in a electronic PH meter.

Hmmm ... bad note ... bloody stuff is as temperamental as can be ... I nearly killed my whole collection due to one of these ... and if I may say so ... a TOP OF THE LINE model.

Neewat ... ek het maar weer die ou drup botteltjies nader getrek en toe is dinge sommer gou weer onder beheer.

Hi Colyn,

ek dink nogal jy is reg ek het ook.

Wonder wat gaan aan met die land se water. Het vanoggend my kraan water gemeet en pH is 9.1. Dit was nog altyd 8.2 maar is skielik 10keer hoer. Is amper te bang om daarin te bad want mens weet nie wat se versteekte dinge daar nog skuil nie