Over the last weekend I have lost 7 koi and am at a loss as to why. A few
days ago the koi in my pond generally stopped eating, having previously been
ravenous feeders. I tested the water and all tests proved "normal" (ph 8.0,
nitrites 0.1, chlorine 0, ammonia 0) except for oxygen which had dropped to
less than 1ppm. I run with 2 filters dropping approximately 1500 gallons
per hour, two spitters and a fountain running at 250 gallons per hour and
can not understand the low reading. I immediately added an air pump with 4
air stones and continue to run that as well, although the oxygen reading has
only gone up to 2ppm today.

The fish that have died have all isolated themselves from the others, and
been very slow moving, although do evade my attempts to net them, right
until they are nearly dead. I have noticed that all the dead fish had a
heavy mucus coating on their skin making them extremely slimy, and that some
of their scales had become very prominent (I have posted some pictures of my
latest loss on www. ???).

My pond is approximately 2250 gallons with koi, goldfish and orfe. This
only seems to be affecting the koi though. I am in the UK and temperatures
have been very high recently, with the water temp in the pond reaching about
24 C.

Any help as to how to help my remaining fish, as well as how to improve the
oxygen level in the pond would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

John
North East England.

Sorry - forgot to add website address - http://deadfish.mysite.freeserve.com

Just from watching the news I'd suspect temperature. Cooler water holds more
oxygen. Can you shade the pond?




k30a
and the watergardening labradors
http://www.geocities.com/watergarden...dors/home.html

From your pictures and description it sounds like "dropsy". This is a
condition caused by a bacterial infection. Are the fish recently purchased
(in the last couple of months)? Try a google search for fish diseases.
Mike (UK)
East York's


John" wrote in message
...
Over the last weekend I have lost 7 koi and am at a loss as to why. A few
days ago the koi in my pond generally stopped eating, having previously
been
ravenous feeders. I tested the water and all tests proved "normal" (ph
8.0,
nitrites 0.1, chlorine 0, ammonia 0) except for oxygen which had dropped
to
less than 1ppm. I run with 2 filters dropping approximately 1500 gallons
per hour, two spitters and a fountain running at 250 gallons per hour and
can not understand the low reading. I immediately added an air pump with
4
air stones and continue to run that as well, although the oxygen reading
has
only gone up to 2ppm today.

The fish that have died have all isolated themselves from the others, and
been very slow moving, although do evade my attempts to net them, right
until they are nearly dead. I have noticed that all the dead fish had a
heavy mucus coating on their skin making them extremely slimy, and that
some
of their scales had become very prominent (I have posted some pictures of
my
latest loss on www. ???).

My pond is approximately 2250 gallons with koi, goldfish and orfe. This
only seems to be affecting the koi though. I am in the UK and
temperatures
have been very high recently, with the water temp in the pond reaching
about
24 C.

Any help as to how to help my remaining fish, as well as how to improve
the
oxygen level in the pond would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

John
North East England.




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John,

It is hard to do this long distance, but I don't think your fish have
dropsy. These look like KOI with mirror KOI with separated scaling. Dropsy
would be a blotted body and all the scales sticking out from the body of the
fish like a pinecone that has ejected its seeds.

The parameters that your gave were OK, except for your dissolved oxygen.
KOI can deal with 2-3ppm of oxygen for awhile, but 1ppm can be lethal
especially to larger fish. It always seems that the larger fish all seem to
die off first. It is also may be compounded by the .1ppm of your nitrites.
Also you have top remember than you also probably took your oxygen test from
the water surface, where there is depth there could even be less oxygen
present. Ponds, depending on their design and ornamentation and plants
baskets can also stratify in areas even though there is circulation of
water. This low ppm of oxygen and higher temps may have brought on your
situation.

You should strive for at least 5ppm for oxygen concentration.

Unfortunately this could also have been brought on by the addition of your
new fish, and something that they carried that was stimulated by the low DO.
In my opinion 2 weeks is not enough time to quarantine. I quarantine my
fish for 4 weeks, of which one week of that time there are given a treatment
according to the label of the fish med Melafix. The next ten days they are
given an full spectrum antibiotic. After the ten days I leave them to swim
in their new surrounds to finish out the month. Fish diseases can be
carried and then brought on by a condition, and this may be what happened in
your case in addition to the low DO situation.

In any event, get your DO up some more.

HTH

Tom L.L.
"John" wrote in message
...
Thanks to all for your help.

Unfortunately I'm still losing fish, another one died tonight.

I was particularly concerned about the theory that it could be dropsy.
from
what I read this is incurable. Would it then affect all the fish in the
pond? Is there anything I can do?

I did add three new fish about a month ago, but that was after a two week
quarantine period and all three seemed OK, although two have now died.

Thanks again

Any further help would be appreciated.

John,

It is hard to do this long distance, but I don't think your fish have
dropsy. These look like KOI with mirror KOI with separated scaling. Dropsy
would be a blotted body and all the scales sticking out from the body of the
fish like a pinecone that has ejected its seeds.

The parameters that your gave were OK, except for your dissolved oxygen.
KOI can deal with 2-3ppm of oxygen for awhile, but 1ppm can be lethal
especially to larger fish. It always seems that the larger fish all seem to
die off first. It is also may be compounded by the .1ppm of your nitrites.
Also you have top remember than you also probably took your oxygen test from
the water surface, where there is depth there could even be less oxygen
present. Ponds, depending on their design and ornamentation and plants
baskets can also stratify in areas even though there is circulation of
water. This low ppm of oxygen and higher temps may have brought on your
situation.

You should strive for at least 5ppm for oxygen concentration.

Unfortunately this could also have been brought on by the addition of your
new fish, and something that they carried that was stimulated by the low DO.
In my opinion 2 weeks is not enough time to quarantine. I quarantine my
fish for 4 weeks, of which one week of that time there are given a treatment
according to the label of the fish med Melafix. The next ten days they are
given an full spectrum antibiotic. After the ten days I leave them to swim
in their new surrounds to finish out the month. Fish diseases can be
carried and then brought on by a condition, and this may be what happened in
your case in addition to the low DO situation.

In any event, get your DO up some more.

HTH

Tom L.L.
"John" wrote in message
...
Thanks to all for your help.

Unfortunately I'm still losing fish, another one died tonight.

I was particularly concerned about the theory that it could be dropsy.
from
what I read this is incurable. Would it then affect all the fish in the
pond? Is there anything I can do?

I did add three new fish about a month ago, but that was after a two week
quarantine period and all three seemed OK, although two have now died.

Thanks again

Any further help would be appreciated.

the heavy mucous coating is their slime coat gone very bad. this is due to toxins in
the water and or parasites. you need to catch one and do a physical.
http://users.megapathdsl.net/~solo/p...ue.html#Jo_Ann's_Fish_Physical
paying close attention to gill color and level of "gloppiness". that you have
nitrites suggests something has happened to kill your biofilter, perhaps spraying
insecticides, or something washed into the pond. you dont have dropsy. those are
normal scales for doitsu koi.
your temp is not too high, that is not what is eating up your oxygen. if there is
thick mulm or organics on the bottom OR you have pea soup right now, perhaps that
could use it up, but toxins in the pond can also suck the oxygen right out. stressed
fish will then get monster infestations with parasites.
1. drain the pond down to get the fish out, and if the pond bottom is thick with
crud, move the fish out to a kiddie swimming pool with aeration put it in the shade
and cover to keep em from jumping.
2. salt dip the fish ONLY IF their gills are bright cherry red as you take them out
of the pond and put them into the kiddie pool.
http://users.megapathdsl.net/~solo/p...se/disease.htm
3. refill the pond with temp matched water, you dont want to cold shock them.
4. add salt 0.9 lbs per 100 gallons. as you put them back into the pond do a 10
SECOND peroxide dip before returning them.
5. 24 hours later use a formalin type treatment if the fish arent acting
significantly better.
Ingrid


"John" wrote:

Over the last weekend I have lost 7 koi and am at a loss as to why. A few
days ago the koi in my pond generally stopped eating, having previously been
ravenous feeders. I tested the water and all tests proved "normal" (ph 8.0,
nitrites 0.1, chlorine 0, ammonia 0) except for oxygen which had dropped to
less than 1ppm. I run with 2 filters dropping approximately 1500 gallons
per hour, two spitters and a fountain running at 250 gallons per hour and
can not understand the low reading. I immediately added an air pump with 4
air stones and continue to run that as well, although the oxygen reading has
only gone up to 2ppm today.

The fish that have died have all isolated themselves from the others, and
been very slow moving, although do evade my attempts to net them, right
until they are nearly dead. I have noticed that all the dead fish had a
heavy mucus coating on their skin making them extremely slimy, and that some
of their scales had become very prominent (I have posted some pictures of my
latest loss on www. ???).

My pond is approximately 2250 gallons with koi, goldfish and orfe. This
only seems to be affecting the koi though. I am in the UK and temperatures
have been very high recently, with the water temp in the pond reaching about
24 C.

Any help as to how to help my remaining fish, as well as how to improve the
oxygen level in the pond would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

John
North East England.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

dropsy is no longer incurable.
http://users.megapathdsl.net/~solo/p...ame.htm#dropsy
your fish dont have dropsy. Ingrid

"John" wrote:

Thanks to all for your help.

Unfortunately I'm still losing fish, another one died tonight.

I was particularly concerned about the theory that it could be dropsy. from
what I read this is incurable. Would it then affect all the fish in the
pond? Is there anything I can do?

I did add three new fish about a month ago, but that was after a two week
quarantine period and all three seemed OK, although two have now died.

Thanks again

Any further help would be appreciated.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Thanks to all for your help.

Unfortunately I'm still losing fish, another one died tonight.

I was particularly concerned about the theory that it could be dropsy. from
what I read this is incurable. Would it then affect all the fish in the
pond? Is there anything I can do?

I did add three new fish about a month ago, but that was after a two week
quarantine period and all three seemed OK, although two have now died.

Thanks again

Any further help would be appreciated.