Good news: all my koi seem to be back to normal now, abiet still a little shy but actually coming up to greet me (or just expecting food =P). Thanks for the help. I have some Baking soda to experiment on...gonna add a bit each time to see how it goes.
My koi are acting strangely scared
- Thread starter Tsuska
- Start date
That's grand.
What was your KH level?
What was your KH level?
fishin4cars
True friends just call me Larkin
You need a good test kit, a decent test kit can cost about the same as a decent pet quality 2 year old koi. get a high quaility or a large koi and the cost of a test kit is a fraction of the cost of replacing just one koi. Not only does it help you to know what's going on with your fish but it's the first thing many experienced members are going to ask if you ask for help. There is a reason that one of the first things someone will ask is what is your Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH and Hardness, both KH and GH, water temps, and size of your pond and how many fish and what size is in your pond. I would estimate that more than 50% and probably closer to 80% of all problems start with water condition issues. Many many Koi keepers that keep high quality koi will tell you, keeping the water prime/pristine is the most essential part of raising a high quality koi. Also getting the water back into it's safe operating range for the species being kept should always be the first step before trying to treat any fish with ANY medication. There is a difference between safe operating range and prime or pristine water. pristine water Grows fish faster, healthier, more likely to breed and raise fry, and less prone to diseases, safe water is the range in which a fish can live and be treated.
Knowing what the water is and what it should be should be something of REAL importance if you want to keep Koi until a ripe old age.
Knowing what the water is and what it should be should be something of REAL importance if you want to keep Koi until a ripe old age.
And I assume no ammonia test either. Now you're ready to start adding baking soda? What did you read about pH buffering?
The combination of not testing KH or ammonia and a tiny bit of info is an excellent way to kill your fish. Buffering pH is pretty easy and pretty safe, but it does take a little bit of knowledge, a little bit of research.
There are 2 main dangers for adding baking soda.
Ping pong pH
Add a little baking soda and pH goes to 8. A little while later the buffering is used up and pH crashes back to 6.5. Might not kill your fish, but it could.
You just killed a bunch of algae with the UV and that algae is decomposing right now, which will produce acid...using up the buffer.
Ammonia
Ammonia becomes more toxic at higher pH and higher temps. So if you have an ammonia problem you're about to turn a problem into a disaster.
The combination of not testing KH or ammonia and a tiny bit of info is an excellent way to kill your fish. Buffering pH is pretty easy and pretty safe, but it does take a little bit of knowledge, a little bit of research.
There are 2 main dangers for adding baking soda.
Ping pong pH
Add a little baking soda and pH goes to 8. A little while later the buffering is used up and pH crashes back to 6.5. Might not kill your fish, but it could.
You just killed a bunch of algae with the UV and that algae is decomposing right now, which will produce acid...using up the buffer.
Ammonia
Ammonia becomes more toxic at higher pH and higher temps. So if you have an ammonia problem you're about to turn a problem into a disaster.