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Old 14-07-2003, 02:44 AM
RichToyBox
 
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Default need help to identify eggs in pond

Bruce,

Koi and goldfish both are egg layers. It sounds as if there was a spawn,
but from your post, I doubt that it was the koi. Koi usually aren't old
enough to spawn at 13". The koi would have lost most of its size during the
spawn, not gotten bigger. The female koi will look really skinny following
the egg laying. The act of spawning by koi, (I don't know about goldfish)
is very violent. The male will be pushing and shoving the female against
the sides of the pond, plant baskets or anything else, and you will think he
is trying to push her out of the pond, no simple nudging. Usually for the
first two or three days they eat the eggs as fast as they can. Between the
milt from the male, which is nearly pure protein, and the additional load of
eating, the ammonia level will go very high and burn the gills if not
treated. The fish staying under the waterfall may be showing the signs of
ammonia burns. Check the ammonia and if it is high, add amquel to bind the
ammonia into the non-toxic ammonium. Since the filter changes the ammonia
to nitrites, the nitrites will also go very high, and cause suffocation, by
causing brown blood disease. Check the nitrites and if high, add salt to
get a 0.1% salt level. Don't feed until all of the eggs are gone or
hatched, such that you don't see them. I suspect the spawn was the comets.

Good luck.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"Bruce" wrote in message
...
Hello, one of my 13" koi has been looking pretty fat in the belly area.
For the last
24-36 hrs one of the other koi has been following nudging this one fat

koi.
My question is, do the koi lay live fish or eggs? The reason is that
there are
a thousand 1/16" eggs stuck to my plants, pumps, some rocks and I was
wondering
what the deal was. I also have 4, 5-6" pond comets in this 700 gallon

pond.
Can anyone hazard a guess?
Thanks for any info.
Oh, the fish seem to be hanging right near where the waterfall cascades on
the rocks, all side by side and facing the falls. Are they there because
I have low oxygen?
A 1/4 water change didn't seem to make a diff.
Bruce
ps, remove SPAMNOT to reply off list.