ok yeah they should be good in that tank for while. i wouldnt worry about the temps too much, just as long as they dont get close to freezing. these are cold water fish
NEED HELP- KOI NoT DOING SO GOOD!
- Thread starter 5_fish_in_a_pond
- Start date
Yes, they should sell kits there, and if not, I'm sure they wouldn't mind ordering one for you. And I'm glad to hear you're ammonia is at zero, i was scared when you said "about right". The salt will definitely help, and you should start to see results fairly soon. Keep in touch, good luck!
just as a stupid question, the tank is filtered, right? When I used to work at petsmart, we had a few pondowners who would bring their stock in for the winter. Most of them never used filters until their fish started dying and they came in for help. Anyway's, one of the first things I do with a sick fish is a water change. It's amazing how often that will help spunk them up a little. Koi can be fairly intolerant of salt, so you might want to limit the amount you put into it.
Cloudy eyes can sometimes be the result of bacterial infections, so if it doesn't clear up soon, you might want to try some medication for that.
Cloudy eyes can sometimes be the result of bacterial infections, so if it doesn't clear up soon, you might want to try some medication for that.
thanks for all the help! the tank is filtered and has a bubbler going in it too. Hopefully the salt will help, but if not, what medications would you recommend- i would like to keep some on hand just in case. I also checked the nitrate and nitrite levels- both are 0. if all the chemistry is seemingly right, how could the fish have gotten sick?
The stress of moving them could have weakened their immune system. Are they behaving normally? If they are, I wouldn't worry about it too much.
Sometimes cloudy eyes are symptomatic of what is called opercular ulcerations. these can be caused by bacterial or viral infections of the epidermic layer. A medication that contains methyl blue or malachite green should clear these up. Another possibility is stress causing the production of "slime" to increase. As the slime nears the surface of the slime layer, sometimes bacteria will colonize it, eating the excess slime, and can lead to dull looking patches on the skin, and cloudy eyes.
In other words, try to reduce the fishes stress, add something to the tank to provide some cover if necessary, and wait it out. There are many things it could be, but at this point none of them seem life threatening.
Sometimes cloudy eyes are symptomatic of what is called opercular ulcerations. these can be caused by bacterial or viral infections of the epidermic layer. A medication that contains methyl blue or malachite green should clear these up. Another possibility is stress causing the production of "slime" to increase. As the slime nears the surface of the slime layer, sometimes bacteria will colonize it, eating the excess slime, and can lead to dull looking patches on the skin, and cloudy eyes.
In other words, try to reduce the fishes stress, add something to the tank to provide some cover if necessary, and wait it out. There are many things it could be, but at this point none of them seem life threatening.
umm the thing is that, when you have a koi in a pond, i dont dink it matter if it gets very cold.. becuase in japan, the top layer of the water turn into ice.. my friend dad is a koi expert and he has a 8000 gallon pond in his backyard and has around 12-15 grand champs in his pond.. he leavin it outside with no problem.. but as kzimmerman said, you problem did stress them out.. the koi knows when it is hot or cold, if it cold , they tend to stay at the bottom of the pond and not move.. but salt should do the work.. but i dink it was ammonia that gave it cloudy eye. i had kois before, but i had salt n melcalite green in handy.. but GOOD LUCK w/ them.. let me know if u need more help, i can ask my freind's dad for advice
Its been a couple of days since i did the salt thing- and the fish still hasn't perked up at all, it may be safe to say he has gotten worse. The fish still has a cloudy eye, but now is laying on one side at the bottom of the tank and pretty much is acting like a stroke victim! Should i give the salt some more time or is it time to try something else? (removing him from the other fish, medicating, ect.)
If the salt cures your problem it is going to take a few days - 3-5 I would guess. I would definitely be doing some serious water changes. Some water needs salt, some doesn't. If you haven't used salt in the past I woudl check with your local pet store. Usually they seem to have one person who truly knows koi.
One time when I bought new filters, I thought I was using something for nitrates, but it turned out it was bio-balls which do not help with nitrates. Make sure you have the correct media in your filtration system.
Good luck - my husband thinks my attachment to our fish is unnatural but koi are different - they have personality!
One time when I bought new filters, I thought I was using something for nitrates, but it turned out it was bio-balls which do not help with nitrates. Make sure you have the correct media in your filtration system.
Good luck - my husband thinks my attachment to our fish is unnatural but koi are different - they have personality!
I think we need to be a bit more thorough here.
Do you have a heater at all?
How deep is the pond that you have to move the koi?
Have you observed them expelling poop yet?
If the pond is at least 3 feet deep and over, then you do not need to "winter" the koi indoors. Anything shallower though, can indeed freeze most of the water and potentially kill your fish.
Moving the fish from extremely cold climate to indoor room temperature is very stressful. The process must be done gradually.
You are correct by not feeding your fish at that temperature. When the temperature keeps falling, so does their metabolism and the food may not be expelled in time which could potentially produce anaerobes that is fatal to fish.
Do you have a heater at all?
How deep is the pond that you have to move the koi?
Have you observed them expelling poop yet?
If the pond is at least 3 feet deep and over, then you do not need to "winter" the koi indoors. Anything shallower though, can indeed freeze most of the water and potentially kill your fish.
Moving the fish from extremely cold climate to indoor room temperature is very stressful. The process must be done gradually.
You are correct by not feeding your fish at that temperature. When the temperature keeps falling, so does their metabolism and the food may not be expelled in time which could potentially produce anaerobes that is fatal to fish.
Sounds like a drastic change in enviroment has really stressed them out. I had this happen recently when i had to move my fish to repair my 120g. the back and forth moves really affected 2 of my fish, plus having to cycle half my filters. I wasnt able to do enough water changes at first and they got bad. I added a little salt, did almost daily water changes and added aeration. They are doing better now and everyone is noticeably livelier so i am going to keep that extra aeration going. One of my fish got the cloudy eye thing you mention and was lethargic as well. interestingly enough one of my goldfish got a big zit looking thing on his side. it was gross but that is now going away as well. No idea what it is but its almost gone now. Good luck. let us know what works, i really encourage the aeration increase in addition to whatever you do.
