Koi color faded overnight - cause?

[digginponds]

nice of you to offer to help diggin!

Hey what are pond lover's for.........

 

[CountryEscape]

Oldhead, that's a great close-up of whatever it is, but it's not what I had. For instance, the spell check puts a red squiggly line under your name, thinking it might be incorrectly spelled ... THAT's what they looked like. That bright of red and squiggly little dudes. Maybe 1/2" long at most, probably closer to 1/4.
OK, this morning and tonight water tests, side by side:
This morning Tonight
Nitrite .50 .25-.50
Nitrate 0-5 ppm 0-5 ppm
Ammonia 0 .25
KH 8 11
PH 8.4 8.4
GH (didn't have kit) 15

So, Diggin, are things ok in my pond, or is there something I need to be doing to help things out? I did not feed my fish this morning, and only fed probably enough for each fish to have 2 pieces of food tonight. LOL

 

[fishin4cars]

Country, Do you have crushed oyster shell in your pond? If not next time you can get to a feed and seed center geta 5# bag and put them in some type of netting sock so that water can flow through it, you can also use crushed coral or dolomite if you know someone that has had a old saltwater tank. Your not in desprate need so no big hurry but you'll be wanting to get the harness up. Winter is coming and leaves die, that can cause the PH to drop. Lower hardness and buffer levels and ph can fall. Oyster shell or coral will dissolve and this will slowly raise the level and keep the PH more stable.
Feed light or not at all for a bit and watch those ammonia and nitrite level drop down. Going through a little new pond syndrome, Nothing to bad. I've seen worse!

 

[CountryEscape]

Fishin, I actually do have a sock of oyster shells in the bottom of my skimmer, and also 2 bags in my filter. But, they have been there since the get-go, getting close to 2 months now. Maybe I need to refresh them? When I moved the filter, I did not spray off any gunk on the filter media, wanting to make sure the bacteria had a good hold on things before cleaning too much. I can easily backwash now, so if that may help, too, I can do that tonight. Do you think that I should replace the oyster shells I have with new, or simply add more? Thanks again.

 

[CountryEscape]

Here are my levels this morning:
Nitrite .25
Nitrate 0
Ammonia .25
KH 9
GH 14
PH 8.0

I'm at least not getting worse on any of the levels, and now I'm seeing how morning tonight time can vary.

 

[fishin4cars]

They actually look much better! This evening will tell a better tell. On the oyster shells, don't swap them out, they are still just as good as new, Simply rinse them in a bucket of pond water and work them around a little, when they get covered in algae and gunk they don't breakdown as well, just make sure that water can flow across them as the more water flowing across the shells the better they breakdown. One thing about oyster shells, they only need to be replaced when they completely dissolve which can be quite a while. Might be a good idea to do a backflush but don't disturb the filter media itself, Just let the water backflush and remove what drops off and out. Also be sure and clean the skimmer box as often as needed so there isn't a bunch of gunk in there. that gunk breaks down fast when there is a lot of water movement, this can make the good bacteria in you filter have to work harder as it's breaking that waste down (plant matter, bugs, etc that are caught in it) along with fish waste. the more big stuff you can remove out the better the system runs.

 

[CountryEscape]

OK, here are all the tests, and I'll put the 2 days a.m. tests side by side, and the 2 days night tests side by side. Seems the nighttime tests are closer to the same, which makes sense.

8/2/11 a.m. 8/3/11 a.m.

Nitrite .50 .25
Nitrate 0-5 ppm 0
Ammonia 0 .25
PH 8.4 8.0
KH 8 9
GH 14

8/2/11 pm 8/3/11 pm

Nitrite .25-.50 0
Nitrate 0-5 0
Ammonia .25 .25
PH 8.4 8.4
KH 11 12
GH 15 15

So, to me, things seem to be pretty stable, varying little. I will rinse out the oyster shells in the big filter container (I think I have at least 2 bags maybe 3) and the one in the bottom of the skimmer in the morning. I have plenty more, so will fill the other 3 "knee highs" with shells and put them under the waterfall also in the morning.

With this heat, the algae floats to the top all day and goes into the skimmer, and I had forgotten to clean out the basket yesterday, and tonight it was FULL! By morning, the pond looks gorgeous, as all the floating stuff has sunk again, I guess.

What are your thoughts now with my numbers, Fishin? Any suggestions that I can do by tomorrow? Otherwise, will be next week before I'm back, and have to hope my "help" that will be here taking care of things will do a good job at cleaning out the skimmer basket, but I have to say she will do just fine.

 

[fishin4cars]

You could do a small water change other wise give a light feeding before you leave, and if you have a sitter get them to check the skimmer basket. I think it will be fine and if not fed for those few of days everything looks like it should balance pretty well. I would again like to see your GH and KH a little higher but it's no where near a level of that great of concern to be away a few days. That you can work on little by little when you get back if the oyster shells don't bring it up on there own.
How do the two fish that were changing colors look? No redness in fins and still active?

 

[CountryEscape]

I just fed 1 tablespoon of food, and they hogged it down! LOL Didn't feed them yesterday at all. The two fish are still very actively eating and swimming. No other fish are losing colors. All seem very healthy, I don't see any redness in fins or anything. Water is clear, so unless it was a very minute thing, I would see it. I sit and watch the fish for long periods of time usually. So, I think they will be good to go! I added 3 sleeves of oyster shells, all within the waterfall area. I'll let you know water parameters when I get back. Thanks for your help, Fishin!

 

[fishin4cars]

Your welcome, be safe and enjoy your trip.

 

[digginponds]

Glad things are working out .safe trip,bro!
It funny ,well not funny ,but one of my Goldfish,is fading,his orange has all but gone.Know I have had this Goldfish for 9 years.He seems ok,nothing unusal with him or any of the other fish...
Pic one normal picture of the fish [far upper left] my left lol.
Pic 2 fading orange ............

weird stuff going on this year w/ weather

 

[addy1]

The weather has really been weird, breaking heat records across the country.

 

[CountryEscape]

Diggin, this concerns me now that you have a "fading" fish! This is my first year having a pond, so all sorts of things may be causing it, but you having one fading??? Around where I live, the sprayer planes have been spraying the corn fields, which literally surround my 6 acres. Something new must be chewing on the corn, and now I wonder if that has anything to do with this fading color problem. I actually took videos of the sprayer going directly over my house on July 25, spraying the corn on 2 sides of my "yard", although the corn is probably 200 yards away from my pond. My Boston Terriers and beagle have been sneezing really bad this year, NEVER known dogs to sneeze so much, so wondering if the sprayed chemicals may be causing that allergic reaction. I guess we'll all just have to wait and see how everything pans out.

 

[DrDave]

It could be stress. For example, just taking a Koi from a pond and putting into an aquarium causes the the color to fade. The lack of UV from the sun and stress both contribute to this loss of color.
Maybe they were attacked by a GBH or Raccoon.

 

[addy1]

Diggin, this concerns me now that you have a "fading" fish! This is my first year having a pond, so all sorts of things may be causing it, but you having one fading??? Around where I live, the sprayer planes have been spraying the corn fields, which literally surround my 6 acres. Something new must be chewing on the corn, and now I wonder if that has anything to do with this fading color problem. I actually took videos of the sprayer going directly over my house on July 25, spraying the corn on 2 sides of my "yard", although the corn is probably 200 yards away from my pond. My Boston Terriers and beagle have been sneezing really bad this year, NEVER known dogs to sneeze so much, so wondering if the sprayed chemicals may be causing that allergic reaction. I guess we'll all just have to wait and see how everything pans out.

I have lost all my corn, some to deer, some to dryness, but most of the mature ears to those darn stink bugs, they have poked holes into the kernels right though the husks. That may be what they are spraying for.