Moved my 4 large koi, from a 3000l holding tank into a 48000l pond. They are happy, however have not eaten anything for the last 7 days.....

In the small holding tank had a specific spot where we ate every morning.....now its just big water.....

any ideas ? Suggestions?

Hi,
Are you happy with the water conditions in you new pond?

How much salt did you add? This should not be too much in a new pond and basically nothing in an established pond. If you have gone over 3kg / 1000 litres they may not like the water conditions.

The move - were the koi stressed at all?
Are there only 4 fish in the new pond?

Where are the fish when you approach the pond? On the floor, at a far corner. Can you observe the koi without them seeing you? Where do they swim?

Do they have a scared reaction to your approach? i.e. darting away? If so do you have bird visiting your pond?

If they are swimming around normally and do not show any abnormal behaviour then I suggest the following -

Every time you walk up to the pond take a few pellets with you. Wait and see if there is a reaction from the koi to your arrival at the edge of the pond.
If they start to swim towards you then throw in a few pellets (two or three pellets) near to where you are standing to bring them closer to you.

Wait and see if they react to the food. If they take a pellet or two each repeat this proceedure - two or three pellets whilst they are swimming near to you.

Repeat evey time you arrive at the edge of the pond - a few pellets, throw in the water near you. Wait a bit.

In summer temperatures they should be responding to you for food - especially in a new pond.

Regards,
Chris

Added quite a bit of salt, when I started up the pond. Think what i will do is swap a large part of the water, lets see if that helps.

Yes they are 4 big ones, and then about 20 very small 8-10cm koi that are hardly seen in that size pond.

They swim around, are still a bit scared when approached and dart away, but then swim past withoutout a problem. they are completely un-interested in the pellets, have tried dropping them in, no interest what so ever. Will try swapping the water, maybe that will help. have borehole water so will try and swap at least 20-30%

Why would the high salt levels cause a loss in apetite?

Feed the new Shogun food!! My fish love the stuff!

sure they do, if I can get them to eat it!

Have you tried adding a bit of garlic to the food? That helps sometimes.... See the below link.
http://www.aquapharm.co.za/catalogue/garlic-supreme/

If that doesn't work try not feeding them for a day or two.

My fish loves garlic. I give it to them over weekends and they go crazy. I have found that the best for me is to add pellets in a plastic bowl(250g) which just covers the bottom of the container, then add crushed garlic (2 teaspoons) and vitamins(in powder form) into a glass of warm water. Stir it with a teaspoon and add to food. Wait until food gets soft them add clay to form a putty effect. Some people will use brown bread instead of clay for the mix but it tends to be messy and I think the clay is a better option.

Have you tested your pH? Borehole water? Leaking cement into pond?
Did you test the amount of salt in water? After a water swap you won’t really know how much salt is left in the pond. Look at Albi’s case – he found 0.1% salt in the drinking water. I think it is best to test all water parameters – that might pinpoint the reason why they don’t eat.

will test the salt soon, need to buy tester...what would teh ideal value be? Pond is running now for about 1 month.
Strange part is small koi not effected

Hi,

So your large koi are swimming "normally" - the little ones are taking your food? The large ones have been moved recently. If they are swiming around normally then I would continue to feed the small ones and wait for the larger ones to start to eat. They must be getting hungry by now.

Again a very few pellets when they swim towards you. Alternatively if they move away to a corner and sulk around there then throw a few pellets over the area where they hang out and see if they will not be attracted to the pellets where they are comfortable.

As for garlic - the problem with garlic is that it makes the koi's breath really gross when you kiss them ...........

Salt and appetite - koi are fresh water fish. I repeat fresh water fish. They live in balance in fresh water. i.e. there is an osmotic balance between fluids, ions and salts between the inside of the koi and the water. A very thin membrane (the skin) seperates the inside of a koi from the water. The gills are a very important part of the transfer of salts to and from the body. The gills are literally on cell thick. This is for the efficient transfer of gasses (oxygen in and carbon dioxide out) and for the ion exchange from the body.

In the event of a disease or medication addition or an irritant (salt) the gills react to protect themselves by adding more layers of cells - i.e. they get thicker. Consequently the gasses and ion exchange becomes less efficient becasue they have a longer distance to travel.

An irritant such as salt causes mucus to be produced as a reaction. Again this has adverse effects on the koi breathing ability.

When koi are stressed (from the environment or disease or being chased around the pond etc ) their osmosis is affected and they begin to loose fluid into the pond - i.e. they begin to dehydrate. By adding salt in this situation you counter balance this dehydration. This is at 1 - 2 kilos per 1000 litres.

Open wounds or ulcers cause a loss body fluids. This can be helped by the addition of salt.

However, in a normal situation (our pond each and every day) when you add salt you upset the natural osmotic balance between the koi and the water. So your koi begin to dehydrate - loose fluids to the water. Think of the reaction of throwing some salt on a slug - it immediately begins to loose fluids out of the body and dies. High doses of salt in a salt bath with koi and parasites has the same effect. You bath the koi until the parasites loose fluids and die. You then quickly remove the koi as they are also dehydrating rapidly. You can observe what happens with salt and koi if you leave your koi in a strong salt bath for a few seconds longer than necesary - they go belly up. Thats the effect of salt on koi.

Without a doubt salt is a very good thing in the right cirsumstances. But just adding salt to a pond every now and again - I really do not like that. It is extremely difficult to get rid of salt once you have added it. Then to contiually keep adding salt - I think thats a big no-no.

Hope that helps -

Regards,
Chris

Thanx for the explenation......started doing water changes. Have emptied about 4000l last night and replaced it, will do the same again tonight...
Hope that cleans the system a bit.....
The big fish are still scared easily and dash away.....think they need some time to settle too. Has been a bit over a week now in their new home

as amatter of interest - how much salt did you add?

Hi,

As a matter of interest, the small Koi would be affected first if too much salt were in the pond.
If Koi was confined to a smaller pond for a time, and then placed into a bigger pond they stress and start to “sulk” but they come around with time.
The small Koi feeding is a good sign, but by doing too much water changes could stress them as well.

PS.
Hold your breath when kissing them!

Thats what I thought too...so changed some more water this morning. Water is fine its borehole and the fish have been in the same water for the last 3 years without any problems. lets see how they progress, have to admit they are a bit on the chubby side, because of teh small enclosure, and now getting some excersise.....

ok, I am not patient.....and now the koi love their food and love eating! Think it was getting used to the new environment.

Good news.

one thing that did help, made a ring out of old air tube about 20cm in diameter, food is floating in that. Instead of scattering all over the water surface.