Sick Koi ... wobbly and solitary

[DaveOponic]

One of my biggest Koi fish is looking sick. It is always by itself in the pond. The others have taken to hiding since I removed all the Tilapia about a week ago. I am sure they got stressed by this and are now very shy. Any movement near the pond and they dissapear into a cave.

This one sick fish doesn't hide but is stationary near the walls of the pond. When it swims, it wobbles out of balance. There are no external indications of parasites, injury etc.

I have already tested the water and everything is OK, Ph, Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia .... all at very safe levels... normal.

When I checked out the Koi websites looking for these symptoms, I can't find anything that matches. I have salted the pond with 1 Kg of salt. The fish seemed a bit better for a day or two but now just hangs by the wall and doesn't swim.

Do these symptoms sound familiar to anyone keeping Koi?

Should I take this fish out of the pond and try a stronger salt bath?


Dave

[Martin A1]

Hi Dave,
Do fish (Koi) get old? Maybe his/her number is up? Dodgy diet, stress, too many kids?
Could it be that fish have feelings and he/she is upset for some reason unknown to us humans?
Half of this is in good humor but maybe some of it fits?

[Jason Palenske]

Well since koi are technically goldfish, goldfish have digestion problems sometimes that can mess with their swim bladder tending to cause them to list to the side, don't know man. Jonathan raises them so he may be your best answer.

[DaveOponic]

Looks like the salt treatment has worked! The wobbly Koi is swimming better now and hanging around with the others again. Maybe just a bacterial infection. My Koi are less than two years old. from what I have read, Koi can live for many years but they stop growing after 4 or 5 years ( if I remember correctly ) so my fish are about half grown. I am not sure too whether they may be ready for spawning. the fish in question could possibly have eggs. i haven't done much research on Koi.

My baby Tilapia are growing quickly. Today I went to a local creek fed by a huge stormwater drain and there were quite a few Indonesian fishermen catching small tilapia. They were using earthworms for bait and catching bucketfuls of fish about 4 to 5 inches length. I will go back soon and see if I can catch some to beef up my stocks as I only have 13 fish left.

I had paid $ 2.00 each for tilapia at the aquarium shop!!! They are in such plentiful supply there's no reason to pay for them.

[Hamish]

Lucky you! Free fish stocks!

[Jonathan Dyer]

Hi Dave, Sorry this one slipped passed me and have been flat out recently + the forum was down for a little while.

Its good to hear that the Koi is ok now. Salt is one of the best kept secrets. If I saw this post earlier or if this happened to me I would have done a 50% water change, added salt to around 2500ppm or even up to 3500ppm if this alone didn’t work would probably need to look at adding a non-selective medication such as Methylene Blue for fungal control or Tetracycline Hydrochloride if I suspected a bacterial infection.

Koi in fact will live for decades, reports in Japan of 60 year old fish is not uncommon they can grow to over 3 feet in length and over 20 pounds; that is another reason some people have a very strong connection with them, having that favorite Koi as a child and growing up with it, a life long bond. Under average circumstances Koi will gain around 4” every year but, will of course grow slower as time progresses; Koi do require more room to enable them to reach these sizes but a well aerated and maintained pond with proper daily feeding they will still grow to these sizes I think just taking longer.

Ripe females that is a female laden with eggs will have a bulge or a swollen belly this alone is a pretty good indication it is a female whereas males have more of a ‘slimline’ body (no obvious bump). Where you are Dave due to your much warmer water temps over me I would say your fish would be ready to breed this year, if you wanted them to breed adding a breeding medium such as a weighted rope or mop heads works well letting nature take course (I am gearing up for breeding and will probably use weighted mop heads lead free too) and some smaller hiding places for the fry until they become large enough to be swimming with the larger fish otherwise they will just be eaten by the Koi.

[Hamish]

Thats really interesting JD - do they lay their eggs in the strands of the mop?

[DaveOponic]

Thanks JD. I will keep an eye on them. Do you think they'll lay eggs in the roots of Water Hyacinth??? They love to eat it so I s'pose eggs could be eaten too.

I tried to get a breeding pair of Tilapia to get romantic in a glass tank but the big randy male just kept love biting the first "wife" and then we had to remove her. The second he murdered within two days ... dead in the water.

They were both definitely females.

It seems Tilapia males are very aggressive when on heat.

I haven't witnessed any similar mating behavior with my Koi and haven't done any reading on their mating behavior. Do they change colour or behavior like Tilapia?