Lost 1st koi to ich

[New to Koi]

We live in Canada and our pond is at 42 c and the koi are down for the winter. I noticed white areas on a koi and suspect it is ich. I just removed him from the pond, he was floating on his side. I understand you can not use medications in a pond at this temp. Am I now going to lose all our koi? This is our first year with them and all was going so well.

 

[morewater]

Hope for the best.

Make sure that the pond is aerated for the winter, that there is gas exchange and start treating in the Spring.

You didn't give a location in Canada. CSIS secret?

Dave should chime in on this one.

 

[New to Koi]

We live in Canada and our pond is at 42 c and the koi are down for the winter. I noticed white areas on a koi and suspect it is ich. I just removed him from the pond, he was floating on his side. I understand you can not use medications in a pond at this temp. Am I now going to lose all our koi? This is our first year with them and all was going so well.

Vancouver Island

 

[New to Koi]

Hope for the best.

Make sure that the pond is aerated for the winter, that there is gas exchange and start treating in the Spring.

You didn't give a location in Canada. CSIS secret?

Dave should chime in on this one.

TY morewater

 

[morewater]

Dave54 is your guy for this topic.

He's a Koi battlefield medic. He'll respond to this thread. Keep your eye on it.

Even though he's British, and we're mere Colonials.................

 

[New to Koi]

Thank-you very much, I will watch for the British Medic.

 

[Dave 54]

From what your discribing it may well be more than ich can you tell us if your pond was prepped for the winter months i;e did you clear out all dead leaves from the bottom of your pond give your filters an overall etc
Can you give me all your water perameters ammonia nitrite nitrate Ph please , I know its questions but we need to know them to give us an idea as to what may be going wrong in your pond at this present time.
If the koi is still alive do you have a fish tank you can keep him in and filtration as well because if we get him cured there is no way he can go back in your pond s its too cold, now that he is out raise the water temperature of the tank you have him in at a degree per day till you get an inside temperature .
Next can you either take a photo or can you discribe what you are seeing please ?


Dave

 

[Dave 54]

Oh I forgot to ask what is the depth of your koi pond and how many gallons imperial do you have New to koi ?
You need a depth of 4.5 ft bare minimum 5ft is best for koi , do you have a water fall on your pond if so have you switched it off and turned the air to you pond to a bare minimum again this is important..
How many other koi do you have ?

Dave

 

[New to Koi]

Hi Dave, Thank-you very much for getting back to me. The Koi I removed was laying on it's side and didn't move when I netted him out. The pond is about 7 feet wide and over 5 feet deep, no dead leaves and two waterfalls, we were told to keep the waterfalls going so that it wouldn't freeze up. All filtrations are clean and the UV lights have been turned off. We have also turned off the ionizer which we installed due to an algae bloom earlier in the year. We now have 11 Koi. Sorry but the koi has been disposed of . I was told it was either pox or ich and that pox would not kill it. There were white patches the size of a dime and small white spots on it's body. I have made contact with a koi farm in our area and they are going to send someone out tomorrow to take a look. What can a person do if it's a big NO to medicate in the winter? Thank-you kindly.

 

[Dave 54]

If it is Ichthylobodo necator or costia using its other name then you'll need to get a scpe done , do you have your own microscope , if not ask the koi people to come with theur own but it would be a good idea to get your own at a future date .
I've done a thread about taking your own scrape on the forum for koi if you are interested plus theres a good one by @Mmathis you can read :-

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/microscopes-and-scrapes.11108/

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/microscopes.11894/

Ich is an external parasite active from 2c up to 29c or as you colonials like to say 36f to 84c and can survive in both its free swimming stage and on the host .
On a scrape it looks like a misshapen circle with a double tail and in is free swimming stage it will come up as a vigorously moving spot .
If spoted early costia can easily be eadicated but oon younger koi it can develope very quickly and result in heavy losses it normally becomes a problem due to enviromental factors such as poor system maintenance , poor water quality and last but not least changes in temperature which I believe has come about due to you keeping your waterfalls running thus superchilling the pond .
A general off the shelf parasite treatment should be employed or use Malachite and formalin but because of the temperature I doubt this is going to be possble if your pond has gone bellow 11c .
Should this be the case salt can be used and is generally good for costia at all temperatures and can be added at adose rate of ),25-0,5oz per gallon, if you dont have medicated salt it shouldnt be a problem use cooking salt from the supermarket , its cheaper to buy and works out at around about 75p per three Kilo's , I keep a tub of about 20 kilograms of cooking salt ready for use in the pond or our QT unit when we have sick or new koi in for a period of QTing which should nmally last 8 weeks before your koi goes into the main pond.
Keep us posted on the results of the scrape your koi dealership should do for you before deciding on what treatment to use .
Koi pox is the least of your worries if it is then as soon as your pond goes up in temperature again above that of 19c in the spring early summer it will disappear completely .
For your interest weve also posted a thread on koi and fish health books that Val and I have in our Library your more than welcome to looking at it and taking a few titles Authors and those all important ISBN numbers from it so that you can buy your own books and put your own library together :-

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/our-fish-koi-health-library-with-reviews-of-each-book.10498/

I hope this helps you weve been koi keeping some 27 years now and will hopefully be doing it in another 20 years or so .

Dave

 

[Meyer Jordan]

We have also turned off the ionizer which we installed due to an algae bloom earlier in the year.

Leave this device turned off. Copper is extremely toxic to ALL aquatic organisms not just algae.. All research indicates that, because it is a bio-accumulate, it acts quickly as an immunosuppressant, for all fish including Koi and Goldfish. This makes them susceptible to infections and diseases that they would normally fight off.
You may find this link very informative-
http://ripplesinc.blogspot.com/2011/12/are-pond-ionizers-safe-you-be-judge.html

 

[Dave 54]

Leave this device turned off. Copper is extremely toxic to ALL aquatic organisms not just algae.. All research indicates that, because it is a bio-accumulate, it acts quickly as an immunosuppressant, for all fish including Koi and Goldfish. This makes them susceptible to infections and diseases that they would normally fight off.
You may find this link very informative-
http://ripplesinc.blogspot.com/2011/12/are-pond-ionizers-safe-you-be-judge.html

Very interesting indeed Meyer I've never acctually played with the idea of using an ionizer on the pond now I think we wont be bothering to buy one
Dave

 

[dieselplower]

Do whatever Meyer and Dave say best of luck with your fish.

 

[Dave 54]

New to Koi what did your koi people say when they came to visit you today and have the answered your questions to your satisfaction , most dealershps are good and will visit because after all its in their best interest to keep your repeated custom ?

Dave