What killed Snow White?

[Johnnie]

1 of my 8 koi was killed by some sort of red virus/bacteria by the tailend (see pic). What kind of bacteria killed my koi?

I've examined the remaining 7 koi closely, and they seem OK:fingersx:

 

[fishin4cars]

Sorry to say but the only true way to figure out is to have the skin scrapped and look under a microscope. Looks more like severe ammonia or some type of toxin poisoning by the pic. But if you say the rest look ok, I'm with you that it must be a viral or bacterial infection.

 

[HARO]

Johnnie; Try Googling "Bacterial hemorragic septicemia". I've seen this condition in aquarium fish, usually brought on by poor water quality. John

 

[Koilady]

Hi Johnnie. It looks to me like it's Septicemia. How are your other fish doing? This fish could be an indicator fish, just meaning that if this fish is in this condition, the other fish might get the same thing.
Normally, any time I see fish like this, I get the pond owner to make a one third water change from the bottom of the pond to remove excess toxins which could be causing the fish to get sick. You might have too many fish in the pond or a bio-filter that's not large enough for not only your pond but your fish.

Yours Koily, Lorraine

 

[Johnnie]

Hi Johnnie. It looks to me like it's Septicemia. How are your other fish doing? This fish could be an indicator fish, just meaning that if this fish is in this condition, the other fish might get the same thing.
Normally, any time I see fish like this, I get the pond owner to make a one third water change from the bottom of the pond to remove excess toxins which could be causing the fish to get sick. You might have too many fish in the pond or a bio-filter that's not large enough for not only your pond but your fish.

Yours Koily, Lorraine

Update...
Thanks guys for all your responses. My remaining 7 koi has done well so far, no negative stuff pops up :fingersx:.

A test shows no toxin in the pond water :fingersx:. , but I still need to change some water because of the extreme heat wave :lol: in my neck of the woods.

 

[sissy]

your ph if I see right is low ,looks yellow and that is 6.0 .I keep mine at at 7.5 to 8.0 and it has worked great for my pond .I sometimes go towards the 7.0 but never below 7

 

[sissy]

Is that ammonia one dark green .

 

[stroppy]

if that is the ammonia like sissy thinks too, then thats way to high you need to do some water changes to dilute it

 

[Koilady]

Hi Johnnie, I quit using test kits over 20 years ago because many times the readings were incorrect. I usually now let my fish tell me how they are feeling. Also, if you are going to remove water from the pond to make a test kit, it's a good idea to take the water from the bottom of the pond because that's where toxins congregate.I'm glad your other fish are doing well. You might want to do more water changes and maybe add another bio-filter to your pond to make sure that you have enough filtration so that this doesn't happen again. Addy put a diagram and some pictures up here on the site if you would like to see how the one we use works.

Your's Koily, Lorraine

 

[Koilady]

Hi Johnnie, I quit using test kits over 20 years ago because many times the readings were incorrect. I usually now let my fish tell me how they are feeling. Also, if you are going to remove water from the pond to do a test, it's a good idea to take the water from the bottom of the pond because that's where toxins congregate. I'm glad your other fish are doing well. You might want to do monthly water changes from the bottom of the pond and maybe add another bio-filter to your pond to make sure that you have enough filtration so that this doesn't happen again. Addy put a diagram and some pictures up here on the site if you would like to see how the one we use works.

Your's Koily, Lorraine

 

[jupiter1]

Johnnie I googled the API color chart , the one your using . Looking at the viles I would say the first one on the left is ammonia which looks good . The second one on the left is ph whick looks high. The third from the left is nitrites which is also good and that seems right given the ammonia is good . The last one (red) looks like nitrates and it looks like it's very high . Pegged or off the scale .

Thinking the high PH and nitrates is what caused the problem and I would look into correcting those ASAP . While the too high readings may have just effected one fish for now I believe it maybe wareing down the other fish .

 

[fishin4cars]

You know this is the biggest mistake most experienced ponders make. Not testing and thinking the fish will let you know is not one of the best ways to find out out your PH has dropped out and crashed. The fish will tell you, your right!, when you walk out and find a whole pond full of dead fish. PH crash can happen fast especially in warmer months. there is no way to tell it's going to happen with out testing the water. You can possibly see long term PH drop but a PH crash because of no buffering you won't get much of a warning, IF ANY. I will tell you by first hand experience with one of my own ponds and another a good friend of mine had that PH crash is not what you want to find out by the fish showing you. My pond crashed in 2007, I lost 14 fish in less than six hours. the PH dropped from 7.0 - to 5.6 in less than 24 hour period. My buddies pond did this in the summer of 2009. His pond was 7 years old and his smallest koi was just under 20" the largest about 26" all were floating dead and the only thing we could find was a PH reading of 6.2 and the GH at 0. Two days earlier they were spawning......:lol:

 

[sissy]

the first one says ph and if I'm seeing right it is yellow and yellow is 6.0 on the first part of the chart 2nd one is ammonia and thats high by what I'm seeing

 

[sissy]

my ph read the last time I had it done at the pet shop was 7.5 and that was yesterday

 

[jupiter1]

I think he has the viles out of order based on the colors .