hey fellow koi keepers..

yesterday some of my koi started to lay down at the bottom of my pond.. this is the first time they are doing this ever since ive had them. they are not flashing crazy but they seem to be swimming against the side. then go and sit at the bottom again at this 45 deg angle. not head up rather on the side. if i try and catch them they swim away just fine.

1 could this be fluke..?

2 my bio filter after winter or what?

3 I did clean my setteling chamber on past thursday the 20th sep
and did about a 30% water change.???

4 and then the golden question??? I added some new koi the day after to the old stock. but i did not quarintain for 21 days coz of space and funds. could these new guys have brought in some thing.????

they were all good untill ysterday.. all the new koi seem just fine but the older stock is now doing this alying down at the bottom. a added 1kg of salt to every 1000L of water today.

I dont have a micro scope to take scrapings.. any help please guys

The ph is 7.7
the temp 17
the amonia 0.0
and the nitrites at 0.1 witch is a bit high but still in the ok. its been like this for a year..

Thanx a stack

Hi Mic.

You can bet your bottom dollar that the new fish have brought the problem in, you must invest in a Q T setup A S A P. Back to your problem, the new fish have brought something into your pond that has affected your older stock [ hope for your sake not KHV, ] your best bet at the moment is to identify the cause, so you need to do a scrape as soon as possible, call a dealer in your area or call someone with a microscope, if you do a shotgun approach and get it wrong , you will loose all your fish. Or call the dealer you bought your fish from.

Also salt at 1 kg per 1000 litres will do no good at all, you need at least 3 to 5 kgs per ton.

Call someone ASAP . Once you identify the cause please give me a call and I'll tell how to treat.

Regards,
Costa.

Hi Michael,

Forgot to ask , where do you stay.?

Hi costa I stay in PTA hanx a stack for your help..

We dont really have any good koi dealers in my area..

any sugestions?

Hi Michael.

Is it possible to take 2 fish to your local vet for a scrape?

i geuss that would be good.
we live close to onderstepoort vet. maybe I can ask them..

Ill even drive out to you if posible?

Thanx for your effort costa.. I really appreciate it alot

Can one do the scraping at home and take it to them, or would you recommed take 2 of the fish?

Depending on the size of the koi the symptoms described sounds alot like costia but without a microscope with 400x magnification one cannot be sure.

Lying slightly on its side on the pond floor with fins clamped is usually a sign of costia on small fish.

Does anybody know of a call-out service in Cape Town (Brackenfell) or somewhere I can take a fish to to have a look at.

My fish are flashing a little, it might be the post-winter bio filter that hasn't kicked in, other than the flashing they are perfectly happy.

Hi guys.. so my fish are still not good.

the fins at the bottom are now a bit red.. and pulled back..

They again had their chow today

and I also took the koi out to onderstepoort were the super friendly ppl did a scrape for me and guess what they could not find ANY thing..

Ive called Costa so many times today and I thank him so much for his very kind service and help every time I rang that side.

The plan now is to go to Costa in the morning and he is going to help me in giving it a bash to get these koi better.


THANX A STACK TO COSTA.. I would recommend him to any one.

oe ja did a 25% water change to get rid of the salt to prepare for the dose to come..

Wayneb, the fish that are affected are all atleast 3-6 years old and between 30-50 cm?

Thanx guys

Hi Michael,

It's a pleasure, hope we can sort your problem out.

Dewald wrote:

Does anybody know of a call-out service in Cape Town (Brackenfell) or somewhere I can take a fish to to have a look at.

My fish are flashing a little, it might be the post-winter bio filter that hasn't kicked in, other than the flashing they are perfectly happy.

Dewald there is no one around that i feel confident in recommending. I am not a health expert but i am close to you. Check your Total Alkalinity. You can use a normal swimming pool kit. The kois do have a tendency to flash after rains.

wayneb wrote:

Dewald wrote:

Does anybody know of a call-out service in Cape Town (Brackenfell) or somewhere I can take a fish to to have a look at.

My fish are flashing a little, it might be the post-winter bio filter that hasn't kicked in, other than the flashing they are perfectly happy.

Dewald there is no one around that i feel confident in recommending. I am not a health expert but i am close to you. Check your Total Alkalinity. You can use a normal swimming pool kit. The kois do have a tendency to flash after rains.

Thanks Wayne, I've never tested my alkalinity, will do so this weekend. I also got hold of a used microscope, hopefully I'll learn something from that.

Cool so I made my early moring drive to Costa on friday he welcomed me at like 6:45 no problem. Showed me around and shared a stack of info that likely took him a good time to learn "Man does he have an awsome setup." Thanx Costa..

He gave me some formulan and malchite green mix he made up, for next to nothing compared to some other places around. so ive dosed my pond and now all i can do is complete the dose and see how it goes..

Ill keep this topic updated

Dewald wrote:

Does anybody know of a call-out service in Cape Town (Brackenfell) or somewhere I can take a fish to to have a look at.

My fish are flashing a little, it might be the post-winter bio filter that hasn't kicked in, other than the flashing they are perfectly happy.

Hi Dewald, we don't do call outs anymore but you are welcome to bring two fish to enable me to do a scrape and take the matter from there. I have all the typical medicine on the farm and it is only a 30 minute drive from Brackenfell.

Admin wrote:

Dewald wrote:

Does anybody know of a call-out service in Cape Town (Brackenfell) or somewhere I can take a fish to to have a look at.

My fish are flashing a little, it might be the post-winter bio filter that hasn't kicked in, other than the flashing they are perfectly happy.

Hi Dewald, we don't do call outs anymore but you are welcome to bring two fish to enable me to do a scrape and take the matter from there. I have all the typical medicine on the farm and it is only a 30 minute drive from Brackenfell.

Thanks Paul, I'll see how it goes. I've added salt last Friday and doubled the flow through my bakki and they seem better.

Would a 35cm fish be fine in a big cooler box for 30 minutes?

The best way to transport fish is to put the fish in a bag filled with water just enough to cover the fish. this way the fish wont go crazy and stand a chance to injure itself. and fill the bag with air and close with elastic band. then you can put the whole bag in a box or something

Dewald wrote:

Admin wrote:

Dewald wrote:

Does anybody know of a call-out service in Cape Town (Brackenfell) or somewhere I can take a fish to to have a look at.

My fish are flashing a little, it might be the post-winter bio filter that hasn't kicked in, other than the flashing they are perfectly happy.

Hi Dewald, we don't do call outs anymore but you are welcome to bring two fish to enable me to do a scrape and take the matter from there. I have all the typical medicine on the farm and it is only a 30 minute drive from Brackenfell.

Thanks Paul, I'll see how it goes. I've added salt last Friday and doubled the flow through my bakki and they seem better.

Would a 35cm fish be fine in a big cooler box for 30 minutes?

A fish or two of that size in a plastic bag with no oxygen is fine for at least 1 hour depending on the temperature.

With oxygen it is fine for at least 24 hours if fairly cool.

On my last impot from Japan, the fish travelled for 52 hours in a plastic bag.