My luck has finally run out...

I have been keeping fish for over 25+ years now and must admit that I have been pretty lucky over the years. Other then some carpet surfers and leaving the hose running in the pond last year I have not had many problems. Mostly I attribute this to good maintenance practices. I think it's probably been at least 15 years since I have seen ick.

However my luck ran out this winter...

As most of you know I have been the new home for may a stray goldfish over the years and this winter was no exception. Unfortunately this good will has caught up to me. I usually quarantine new donations for 4-6 weeks before I ad them to the system that I store these fish in. This system is about 800gal total water and contains two tanks(275G and 325G). As of about Christmas it contained about 100 fish a mixture of Koi and Goldfish.

Well something went wrong shortly after Christmas...

Maybe the fact that I have not had many issues over the years has not taught me a hole lot of how to deal with problems. At any rate something invaded this system and decimated the Koi in it. The started off flashing occasionally and swimming frantically and would die a few days later. I contacted some of my Koi buddies and they suggested several things to try. After two months of massive doses of several meds and salt they seem to have stabilized and are now doing great. I am still no wiser as to what the problem is. Without a microscope to properly diagnose the issue it was just a guess, a situation I have now rectified.

The end result is I lost about 50 Koi mostly small ones (1-2years old). As a result I have done a considerable amount of ready and conversing with Koi experts. I have total redone pretty much everything I do in my maintenance. I have also made the difficult decision to no longer take in fish from anywhere outside of my favorite Koi contacts.

If it's one thing I have learned is that I don't know squat about Parisites.

Steve

Aaughhh!
That happened at my lfs this Winter, too. And, it only killed the young koi as well but not the goldfish. They did send some out for tissue analysis but only came up with some type of bacteria with no suggested treatment. I guess they did use some different antibiotics but have a MUCH smaller amount to treat... I would guess they have maybe 500 or 600 gallons, inside and quite shallow.
Sounds not unlike the problems with boarding dogs and cats!

Sorry to hear Steve ! It was great for you to be able to take in the unwanteds but you paid a dear price... I agree with your decision and for high value fish like yours it simply is not worth the expense, time and sacrifice.

I had huge losses this Christmas and after - the shared timing's weird. It was a parasite on fish I bought from another hobbyist, and since I have gone years without any trouble, I was not as careful as I should have been.

Usually, I can treat these things reasonably effectively, but this one was tough. It's long gone now, but as I've mentioned in other threads, so are a lot of fish, and fish species I have kept for years. My wild-type swordtails and my rainbows were decimated. A lot of fish were killed by this thing.

5 species of rainbowfish (2 of which I have gotten back from friends via my old fry), 3 species of swords, and one of mollies - gone.
And I can't even claim I was rescuing fish - I bought my fish-killing parasites!

Koi are subject to a virus that can be carried and introduced .... at the store we call it "Koi AIDS"... it is the reason that we do not accept any Koi from customers that have been in ponds.... it can wipe out the whole collection of fish....

Sorry to hear about your losses. It must have been stressful, especially not knowing quite what to do to save your fish. I am glad to hear it is now under control. Hope it did not affect any of your new fancy fish.

What a frustrating and sad experience, indeed. Despite the losses, your compassion and diligence shown through, as it always does. So glad to hear all is looking well now. Your finned babies have a great dad.

sucker4plecos wrote:Koi are subject to a virus that can be carried and introduced .... at the store we call it "Koi AIDS"... it is the reason that we do not accept any Koi from customers that have been in ponds.... it can wipe out the whole collection of fish....

I assume you are talking about KHV Virus, it is a nasty one for sure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koi_herpes_virus

That was one of the first things i looked for but none of the symptoms seem to match. The nasty thing about this is that goldfish can carry it and not be affected. As soon as I started to read about it, it all made sense. However it does seem that it was ultimately some kind of parasite.

I recently planked down money on a nice microscope and have been doing a lot of research on how to identify the different types of parasites. A koi breeder in the US has put together a preventative program for treating new Koi for me and sent me a wealth of information on identification and treatment of the usual suspects. He actually completely closed his facility to outside koi because of KHV.

Steve

Sorry to hear about this. Hope all your other fish stay well!

Sorry for your loss! I wish you another 15 years of a worry free hobby.