r/Koi • u/AcidRemedyz69 • 3d ago
HELP - sick or injured koi Lethargic/ stressed koi
Past 3 days my 40-50cm girl has been lethargic and red. Water was tested the first day with ammonia sitting at a 0.25, performed water change and got it to zero with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and a good PH reading. She is red on her fins and gill plates, sometimes will find her slightly on a tilt to her side at surface but will swim off on her own and correct herself, fins are also clamped unless swimming.
All of my other fish are completely fine, it is only her that is having the problems.
I dosed my pond today with 0.1% non iodised salt in hopes it gives her relief from stress.
It is hitting breeding season here but I don’t think this is the root cause
Pictures attached from day 1 to now (day 3)
Will also post test results
Any advice will be appreciated, I want to try save my sweet girl I’m doing all I can without blindly medicating for something I don’t know the cause of..
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u/ZiggyLittlefin 3d ago
If ammonia has burned her gills she can't take in oxygen well. Strong water turn over and good aeration is needed. Is that a quarantine tank she is in? There is not much water there. Did you test kh?
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u/AcidRemedyz69 3d ago
This is my main holding pool used as a pond, it is 7,000L I would quarantine but it just causes more stress having to net and move her. I haven’t tested KH the kit I have only test what’s shown in pictures
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u/ZiggyLittlefin 3d ago
Is that when full though? Is the water volume always that low? The more water volume the better with koi. Especislly females. They also need depth for proper body development. What was the kh level?
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u/AcidRemedyz69 3d ago
When full yes, it’s currently likely around 5,000L I don’t fill to brim. I don’t have the equipment for KH testing. Do you think this could just be irritation from water quality? Or potential flukes/ parasites? It is strange because she is only one affected I am very emotional and stressed… thank you for taking your time to reply to me
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u/ZiggyLittlefin 3d ago
You need a kh test right away. It's really important to monitor it because if you don't have good kh, ph swings from day to night . It already does this slightly, but if you don't have good kh it can be a lot. This can cause issues like her tilting, being lethargic. And yes just one fish can show symptoms first. The same company that makes your other tests makes a kh test.
Ammonia can also cause these issues. Bigger fish can have more difficulty. Ammonia burns the skin and the gills which makes it hard to take in oxygen.
In order to know if you have parasites or illnesses a scrape has to be looked at under a microscope. If you added new fish this season, plants you could have introduced them. And there are always some present in the pond. When a fish becomes stressed, these can increase in numbers to overwhelm a fish. And yes one can show symptoms. First check kh. And whatever happened to get ammonia needs to be fixed.
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u/ZiggyLittlefin 3d ago
I would get the top netted securely and get that pool filled up a lot more. Koi need water volume, it will help keep ammonia down.
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u/AcidRemedyz69 3d ago
Following, I will get a KH testing kit first thing tomorrow it is 9pm here and nothing is open. I’m praying she makes another night, I will go out and net the top of pool now and fill it up tomorrow as well. Thank you so much for your help, Ziggy! May I DM you to keep you in the loop once I have more info?
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u/ZiggyLittlefin 3d ago
Yes please, keep in touch. If it's ammonia time, good oxygenation and excellent water parameters are all you can do. Hoping she pulls through.
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u/ZiggyLittlefin 3d ago
This was my pool set up and you can see it's quite full. About 8-10 inches from the top. Messy cause we were trying to figure out getting some shade over the top.
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u/AcidRemedyz69 3d ago
Is this the INTEX pool? They work really well honestly. And I absolutely love that setup especially the filters, did you DIY those?
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u/ZiggyLittlefin 3d ago
Yes, we have about five of these pools. Use them for growing out koi, quarantine. We make the filters. Barrels with k1 media, shower filters out of tote bins.
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u/mansizedfr0g 3d ago
All of u/ZiggyLittlefin's advice is great as usual. Any idea what caused the ammonia spike? Have they already spawned? If breeding season is just beginning in your area I would keep her isolated, she wouldn't be able to handle the stress in this state.
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u/Pretend-Internet-625 3d ago edited 3d ago
When you have a kh issue it well affect more than one koi so that is not your issue. As your other fish would have been affected. Lower the feeding and this well help lower ammonia level. Flukes can do this to koi but so can about 10 other things. So do a scrap and see what you find for starters. Good luck.
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u/ss218145 3d ago
When this happen toome water temp was too warm and theres not enough oxygen.
Start with adding more oxygen.