Trouble comes in Threes
Have you heard the old proverb “Trouble comes in three’s”? Well I believe it!
Coming out of Winter into Spring, my Koi started to show signs of increased activity and hunger. Still using mainly Wheat germ pellets I gradually increased the frequency of feeding over a period of a couple of weeks. All was going well and the Koi seemed more than happy, until I tested my parameters. The Ammonia was through the roof! I immediately stopped feeding and carried out water changes on a regular basis. I even had to buy a 2 canister water purifier to cope.
Dave Wilson recommended a couple of things including adding Bacterial preparations to the filters. Gradually things came back to normal and I could resume feeding my koi normally. That was “Trouble number One”.
Some of my koi were flicking off the bottom of the pond. I thought this could be down to my previously high NH3+ levels. As they weren’t doing it too often I let things run for a while. However, when 2 out of 3 of my newly introduced Koi (a 23” Kohaku and a 22” Doitsu Showa) started flashing I panicked. Colin Jones loaned me his Microscope and I took scrapings from 5 koi that I’d seen flashing. Despite taking at least 2 samples from each koi, and carefully scrutinising them under 100-160x Magnification I could see nothing to explain the predicament.
‘Dr’ Ken at the Microscope
‘Dr’ Ken Williams and ‘Nurse’ Jean arrived on Tuesday 29th, and we repeated the process of scraping. Again, nothing was found by myself or Ken and his more experienced eye. If this problem (although no too serious) persists, I’ll treat the pond with Salt (@ ¾ oz per gallon) or FMG. That was “Trouble number Two”.
The new Koi (Kohaku, Doitsu Showa and 20” Cream Ogon) had settled in fairly well and were mixing with the existing fish. However, they hadn’t fed very vigorously. I put this down to the fact that all three has come from heated ponds, and that my unheated pond (@ 14°C) may have knocked their appetites back some.
Whilst Ken was over we noticed that the Doitsu Showa (named Penny) was swimming head down, and occasionally rolling. This could have been a reaction to having been netted and scraped, but Ken diagnosed a possible swim bladder infection. Later that day after consulting his notes Ken called me and recommended a sustained treatment in a salt bath (3/4 oz per gallon). I did this at 9pmthat night and after observing the Showa for several hours in my bowl with an airstone and cover, I left her overnight. The following morning she looked much better. At the point of writing this article she appears to be swimming normally and I am intending to repeat the treatment at least once more. Hopefully as the weather improves so will the appetite of my large koi. That was “Trouble number Three”. Let’s hope that’s it for the time being!
Martin Rocliffe
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