URGENT Help needed with dying fish

[muddy_grey]

Not horsey, but any ideas greatfully received. My dad has a pond with koi and orph. He just went out at 5 are dead. A couple of others are at the surface looking sick. Does any one have any ideas? He has had them for about 15 years and is so upset.
He has the hose in the pond and is churning the water.

RIP Fishes

Thanks

 

[TS_]

It may be the hot weather causing a change in the pond, like more algae growth or something. I hope you get it sorted soon, such a shame.

 

[rosie fronfelen]

Not horsey, but any ideas greatfully received. My dad has a pond with koi and orph. He just went out at 5 are dead. A couple of others are at the surface looking sick. Does any one have any ideas? He has had them for about 15 years and is so upset.
He has the hose in the pond and is churning the water.

RIP Fishes

Thanks

this happened to my sis-in-law, someone had maliciously put fairy liquid in the water and they lost the lot. i hope this isn;t the reason for your problem, otherwise i cannot help. so sorry to hear of this and your dad.

 

[reindeerlover]

Is your filter still working correctly and not clogged up? Sometimes when we have a lot of dry weather the algae can cause the water to almost suffocate and there is little oxygen in it. I would call a specialist Vet and ask their advice, particularly if the fish are valuable.

 

[yethersgill]

The hot weather may have made the oxygen levels in the pond to drop, so running more water in with the hose (and churning the water up) is probably the best way to go. Fingerscrossed the rest of the fish survive.

 

[muddy_grey]

Thanks for you help.
He cleans the filters daily and the UV light in the filter was replaced about a month ago.
Really hope no one poisoned them
He has rocked the sick ones back and forth in the water and they are looking a bit better. Apparently this is what you do with big game fish

 

[solgabrien]

I'm not sure about pond fish, but cold water goldfish (which are basically the same) can pick up various diseases - and once one gets ill - then they all can become sick very quickly. With goldfish, they are usually isolated in a bucket with some medicine put in the water (it's an inky blue colour and kills infections), the tank water has to be changed. It sounds as if the water has become infected - but there are also parasites that can attack fish. I would suggest ng your local aquatic shop and asking them. Good luck!

 

[muddy_grey]

Thanks for all your replies. I spoke to a "koi guy" and he said it is most likely oxygen as the biggest were the first to go. Hopefully the fresh water and movement will help the rest. If it is this then the good thing is that the rest should recover. Poor Dad feels likes it is his fault and he should have known, I guess we all blame ourselves.
Thanks Again

 

[horsecrazy25]

My Nan had the same problem and we took all the fish out of the pond and put them into a swimming pool, clean wheely bin just anything we could find. Then we emptied the pond and cleaned it and found that there was a problem with oxygen in the water and the fish couldn't breath!

Hope you find the problem. x

 

[Mainland]

Sounds like oxygen to me. It is not recommended to clean the filter daily as the bacteria that help covert harmful chemicals in the water need weeks to establish in the filter media. By washing the filter media you are killing the beneficial bateria and thus reducing the quality of your water.

 

[jack9]

ahh thats not good :/

no advice - except i had to euthanise one of our fish a fwe months back as it was dying. was crueler letting it go slowly.

 

[widget]

disolvable aspirin helps perk fish up in a tank if sickly but no idea if you can do that in a pond?

 

[Sol]

Poor fishes

Was in a pet shop the other day talking to someone that worked in there - apparently she 'put down' her fish, by putting it in pure vodka o.o So lets hope nobody's tried that trick either as it'd be less noticable than fairy liquid Suppose it died a happy fish though......

 

[jack9]

Poor fishes

Was in a pet shop the other day talking to someone that worked in there - apparently she 'put down' her fish, by putting it in pure vodka o.o So lets hope nobody's tried that trick either as it'd be less noticable than fairy liquid Suppose it died a happy fish though......

I have used a method i got advised from fish people..... freezing water. (let the water almost freezer then put fish in. goes almost instantly.

either that or sharp knife........ (i couldnt do that...)!

 

[bedbug]

Right I'm not the expert the OH is and unfortunately he is a sleep. I'll send him a link though so he gets this in the morning.

If the fish that are left are on the surface and appear to be gulping then it would indicate a lack of oxygen. Make sure the hose is splashing water in to get as much oxygen in as possible what you really need are air stones to oxygenate the water.

If fish are just on the surface is there anything new near the water have any chemicals been used near the pond? Water run off may ahve taken the chemicals into the pond. If unsure does your dad have water test kits to make sure the Ph, amonia nitrates etc are at the right levels. a Ph crash will cause the fish to die and those left will be hanging around the surface listlesly.

sorry I can't be much more help really not my area of expertise but as I say I will send to OH who ahs kept Koi for years.

 

[YourStar]

Thanks for all your replies. I spoke to a "koi guy" and he said it is most likely oxygen as the biggest were the first to go. Hopefully the fresh water and movement will help the rest. If it is this then the good thing is that the rest should recover. Poor Dad feels likes it is his fault and he should have known, I guess we all blame ourselves.
Thanks Again

Hi Muddy Grey,
Your Dad hasn't introduced any new fish recently has he? My family owns and runs a Course Fishery - A match lake and a Specimein lake, last year my dad brought some new, younger and smalled fish to increase the population in the match lake (the smaller ones are introduced and then grow to aduly side), some of these fish where carriers but not sufferers of what is called KHV or Koi Herpes Virus, although the young fish did not show symptoms they passed the virus onto my Dads fish that had already been there, hundreds died and only the younger ones where left, we lost over £10,000 of fish and had to drain the lake and kill the new fish too, it cost us over £10,000 again to restock the pond and fill it up again! It may be something to do with that!

xxx

 

[Sleepeeze_dad]

Hate this new &$*!£% forum. Logged me off before I culd finish posting. Grrrrrr.

Have pm'd you my number Muddy_grey.

Large fish first? most LIKELY lack of oxygen. If you've had any rain it will make it worse. If the garden can run off into the pond it will make it worse again. Get an airpump and an airplate - here are the links... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/9-L-AIR-STONE-DIFFUSER-KOI-POND-AQUARIUM-HYDROPONICS-/360280147449?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item53e25ec5f9 and - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/60LTR-WATERPR...den_PondsWaterFeatures_UK&hash=item4cf0144615
He is a good trader with next day available.

If lack of oxygen there's also a good chance you've just had a ph crash too - see this link... http://www.ponddoc.com/koihospital/Diagnostic/WaterProblems/pHCrash.htm so you have GOT to get a test kit - I recommend this - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PONDLAB-200-M...den_PondsWaterFeatures_UK&hash=item3a5cd1db47

Trying to keep it all to one supplier - less messing and all from one place. He happily takes orders over the phone instead of ebay.

As for KHV - unless you are getting other symptons other than the listlessness, gulping at the surface, completely discount it. Sorry yourstar. It's possible but highly unlikely and it also a reportable disease and you would have had to have added new stock which should have been quarrantined correctly, no matter where you got it from. Don't put fish down by freezing - it is a very very painful way to do it (for the fish). in the absence of a good anaesthetic, vodka sounds the better bet. To be honest I have never put one down - currently one of mine is on antibiotics to cure a bad bacterial infection. She's tame, she's pretty and she's 2 foot long. Worth it. Whitespot would also do this - though the smaller ones get taken first rather than the larger ones but not always.

Just so you know I'm not just spouting, I've been round fish all my life and kept them since '94 and I'm a massive exponent of fluid bed filters... oh and here's ours - sorry about the size of the pics...

Yup that would be bedbug on the left, hiding from the camera as usual

 

[Shay]

The only thing I can add to the above is that you might want to check that no-one has used any pemethrin based pesticides anywhere near the water. That can cause death from oxygen starvation very quickly if it gets into a closed water source. (Mind you I keep tropicals not Koi - so the risk might be higher in a warm water tank.)

The treatment is exactly what you are doing though. Clean water. Oxygenate.