[KoiCop]

Dr. Roddy does not post on this board, so I hope he won't mind me putting up this post of his from another parish.

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The article I wrote for KOIUSA about shotgun parasite treatment follows below:

After water quality problems, parasite control is the next most frequent cause of koi health problems. The usual signs of parasite infestations “out of control” is fish lethargic at the surface of the water, ulcerations, fish deaths, “spider veins” on the underneath side of the koi, and “head down” behaviors.

There are many “wet labs” at koi shows and seminars to teach specifics of koi parasite identification and control. The best of these is the weekend wet lab connected to the KHA or Koi Health Advisor course. I have been through three of these wet labs myself, including the KHA weekend, and recommend them to koi ponders serious about their hobby.

These wet labs teach how to take koi skin scrapes and gill snips to identify the parasites by microscope examination. Since parasites frequently become a significant problem on some koi but not others in the same pond, this method of parasite treatment requires examination by microscope a significant percentage of the koi in the pond to be sure of the best parasite treatment strategy.

For those who are not yet knowledgeable or trained in microscope examination to identify koi parasites, treating the entire pond with a “shotgun” parasite treatment may be useful when parasites are suspected causes of apparent koi health problems. There are two usual approaches to “shotgun” parasite treatments. The least expensive is the combination of potassium permanganate and salt treatment, which I used myself for many years successfully. This approach is to treat the pond with 0.3 to 0.6% salt and 2 to 4 ppm potassium permanganate treatments every 5 days for a total of 5 such treatments at water temperatures in the 65F to 85F range. However, after practicing that strategy for several years, my own experience is that the “shotgun” treatments used by fish farmers and professional koi dealers are superior to the potassium permanganate shotgun protocol, because the alternate (but more expensive) technology is more effective and safer to the fish. The purpose of this koi pond maintenance section is to give adequate detail of this shotgun treatment to practice it.

Before starting a shotgun parasite treatment, four conditions should be met to insure the treatment kills parasites but not fish. The first condition is the pond volume must be known to at least 30% accuracy. Without knowing the pond volume, the dose of the chemicals may not be accurate enough for purpose of safe parasite control.

The second condition is the pond water temperature must be in the 65F to 85F range. If the temperature is below 65F, the life cycle of several parasites such as “Ich”, costia, and gill fluke is too long to ever hope for the treatment to gain control of the parasites. If the temperature is above 85F, chemical treatments which reduce oxygen solubility may put the fish at risk of inadequate oxygen content. Strong aeration of the pond water can extend the treatment temperature range to 90-95F, but watch for signs of inadequate oxygen such as fish hanging at the surface.

The third condition is the pond must be reasonably clean. One of the best treatment chemicals in the shotgun treatment, Proform C or Formalin, has a very short lifetime in dirty pond water and will not last long enough in dirty water to kill parasites. If there is any question about the pond water being good enough for an effective shotgun parasite treatment, the pond can be safely cleaned by treating the pond with 0.5 ppm potassium permanganate treatments until the purple/pink color lasts more than 15 minutes. If this potassium permanganate dose lasts longer than 15 minutes, the Dissolved Organic Carbon level in the pond is low enough for the Proform C or Formalin to kill the parasites. All dechlorinators and ammonia binders react with potassium permanganate, so if a dechlorinator or ammonia binder has been added, the potassium permanganate must first destroy these chemicals before it can clean up the pond water by oxidizing the Dissolved Organic Carbon.

The fourth condition is to have a low salt level since some ponders have observed negative reactions of the combination of either Proform C or Formalin when combined with salt. Salt and Formalin or Proform C both decrease oxygen solubility in the water, so the salt and Formalin combination should be specifically avoided at high water temperatures when the solubility of oxygen in the water is lower.

Okay, now the pond temperature is in the 65F to 85F range, the pond volume is known to at least 30% accuracy, the pond water is adequately clean for the chemicals to have an adequate lifetime, salt is less than 0.15%, so you are ready for a shotgun parasite treatment. During parasite treatment do not use either calcium bentonite clay or activated carbon, since either of these will absorb the chemicals and the parasites will not be killed.

Keep the filtration system in service during the treatment, since parasites can be kept alive if the filter system is taken off line.

1. Dose 4 times with the dose spaced every 3 days at a dose of 100 ml per 1000 gallons with either Proform C or Argent Chemicals 37% Formalin – kills costia and most other parasites, dose schedule is to kill parasite life cycle. This is different than the bottle label instructions for Proform C which says to treat every 24 hours for three days. The change from the bottle label instructions is to have a better chance of killing the life cycle of “Ich”, costia, and gill flukes since the life cycle is unlikely to be complete in 3 days. Notes: Formalin or Proform C read as ammonia on many ammonia test kit procedures, so testing for ammonia is not technically possible during Proform C or Formalin parasites treatments, nor for two days following the treatment. Also, there is NO point in a water change during this Proform C protocol since the pond was clean before you began from the low level PP treatments, and all the Proform C will have expired in three days between treatments.


2. If the pond is only koi, treat twice, a week apart, with standard bottle label Supaverm dose. Remember anytime Supaverm is used, the bottle must be strongly agitated before dosing, since Supaverm is a suspension rather than a solution, and agitation of the bottle is required to insure the Supaverm is the right strength. If goldfish are present, use two doses of Praziquantel a week apart, since Supaverm kills goldfish. This step is for gill fluke control since their life cycle is not predictable. Note: Praziquantel can be combined with the first and last Proform C or Formalin treatments to shorten the total shotgun treatment protocol, but Supaverm must be used separately.


3. Treat with 1 gram 25% Dimilin powder per 1000 gallons twice, a week apart, for anchor worm and fish lice control, separate from the above treatments. Note: For ponders without access to Dimilin 25% powder, a liquid form of Dimilin is also available and sold for pond use.