I have 6 koi indoors for this winter that I got March of this year. I tested the water and ph is at 6.5, amonia/nitrate/nitrite at 0 although phosphorous is like 10+ppm but have never been able to get lower. I woke up this morning and noticed my smaller butterfly koi doing some twirls that looked like flashing, but not rubbing on anything and almost perfectly in the middle of a 500 gallon indoor box pond. I notice some of the others do it random times, and it only lasts a couple seconds of so. Have a video of 2 different recordings for watching if needed, the first part was the fish doing the action and then the second part I feed them and watched their actions for about 30 minutes.
flashing or having fun?
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sissy
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looks like a little frisky business to me .Did they see you and then start doing it as they could associate you with food or they want to make babies .Just watch they don't jump out of the tank when they get going .That's the thing with fish in tanks they don't know seasons .Did you leave the lights on or turn them on and they know it means food ,fish learn fast
It was around 930 this morning without them seeing me. They are always more active with lower light I notice, but I do have that full spectrum light above the lilies I turn on during the day. I have never seen them do it when they have noticed me, I just happen to be coming down the hall and just sat off to the side to watch them. Between that one and the larger white/black one they do like to hop out of the water where the aeration bubbles are at, but its at the center so no worries about them falling out. Just making sure, because about 2 weeks ago, forgetful me let the ph level get to around 5.5 as I noticed them laying in the corner for a couple of days. After correcting it, they got cheerful again.
I take it by indoors your taliking about a Poly tunnel yes ?
For now just keep a weather eye on it koi are at their weakest come early spring might be an idea to give it a scrape and put the scrape under a microscope this should tell you if your starting with a parasite problem or not .
Have you been feeding all winter may I ask and at what temperature is this QT fasility at please?
Dave
For now just keep a weather eye on it koi are at their weakest come early spring might be an idea to give it a scrape and put the scrape under a microscope this should tell you if your starting with a parasite problem or not .
Have you been feeding all winter may I ask and at what temperature is this QT fasility at please?
Dave
sissy
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I feed my fish garlic mixed in there food early spring to help there immune system
It's an indoor crate I made for some large RC planes I shipped here from overseas. I threw a liner in it and secured some straps around it to reinforce it, holding around 500 gallons. Water stays between 60-65 degrees. I still feed them regular temp food 2-3 times a day.
sissy
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What are your ammonia levels .You would need a good filter since you feed them that much .I only feed my fish 3 or 4 times a week but then they do have good muck on the liner to eat also .
It's at zero to .5 after about 2-3 weeks following a small water change. Usually try to do one around 2-3 weeks, but sometimes has to wait with the temperature. I ended up building this stuff inside to get them growing bigger instead of pausing for the winter. Not sure if I'll do it again next year, but I am in the process of a larger pond build when April comes around.
Hi House. When I hear that someones Koi are behaving badly, the first thing I tell them to do is to make a one third water change from the bottom of the pond. Flashing can be cause by high ammonia content or they might just be having fun or jumping for a bug. Atmospheric pressure changes in the weather can also cause flashing.
When I first started out in the hobby (1982), I used to use test kits all the time. We used to bring our Koi inside for the winter until the 13,000 gallon pond was built. One day I was checking out the Koi and found that in one pond the Koi were happy go lucky and swimming all around but the pond next to it had Koi that were sitting at the bottom of the pond. I got quite upset and brought out the test kits. In the pond where the fish were happy go lucky, the readings told me that they should all be dead. In the pond next to it, the kit told me that the water was perfect and yet the Koi were certainly not giving me that impression. So, the first thing I did was to make a one third water change from the bottom of the pond and I stopped feeding the sick Koi for about five days. A few days later the sick Koi were back to their happy selves. I hadn't made a water change in a while and I hadn't cleaned the filter in a couple of weeks. The bio-media that I use doesn't get covered in sludge because of a pre-filter but light brown particulate does find it's way around the bio-media. So, I would remove the bio-media and swish it around in a bucket of pond water and then put it back into the filter. I also have a great bio-filter system and if anyone is interested in looking at it, I can try to put it in here.
Hugs, Lorraine
When I first started out in the hobby (1982), I used to use test kits all the time. We used to bring our Koi inside for the winter until the 13,000 gallon pond was built. One day I was checking out the Koi and found that in one pond the Koi were happy go lucky and swimming all around but the pond next to it had Koi that were sitting at the bottom of the pond. I got quite upset and brought out the test kits. In the pond where the fish were happy go lucky, the readings told me that they should all be dead. In the pond next to it, the kit told me that the water was perfect and yet the Koi were certainly not giving me that impression. So, the first thing I did was to make a one third water change from the bottom of the pond and I stopped feeding the sick Koi for about five days. A few days later the sick Koi were back to their happy selves. I hadn't made a water change in a while and I hadn't cleaned the filter in a couple of weeks. The bio-media that I use doesn't get covered in sludge because of a pre-filter but light brown particulate does find it's way around the bio-media. So, I would remove the bio-media and swish it around in a bucket of pond water and then put it back into the filter. I also have a great bio-filter system and if anyone is interested in looking at it, I can try to put it in here.
Hugs, Lorraine