Bringing fish indoors for winter!!

[Brutuscz]

This is the first time I am trying this. Every problem I have ever had in my pond was from heater malfuntion during the winter...or lousy infections when the water started to heat up after winter. I have placed all my koi (about 30, many small) in a 560gal pool in my basement. I built my own filter with media from my pond. I'm using a 500 gal/hr pump and a 9watt tetra UV I had lying around. I also installed an air pump with 2 bubblers. The only problem I have been seeing is flashing...lots of it. I have had problems with flukes in the past...so I ordered some praziquintel to treat them. It should arrive by wednesday. Any advice on handling my new indoor venture would be appreciated.

I measured everything...all going well so far (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, alk, ph, hardness). I am only planning on feeding once daily...to prevent the water from fouling.

[MikeM]

Thirty koi in 560 gallons is crowded. You will need to pay close attention to the water, and I would suggest large water changes on a regular basis... 30-40% twice per week would not be too much.

[dick benbow]

Good point Mike, may I add i would recommend that the water change occur continually on a daily basis. The biggest frustration I have had indoors is with insuficient lighting. I have greenhouse florescent full spectrum light in their to try and marginally hold their colors. It's why you see the japanese housing their
stocks in full light penetration greenhouses.

koi like dieting people like to be satisfied with a full feeling stomach. try cooking some pearle barley in garlic salt and feeding lightly. have almost no nourishment yet is good roughage. I put a small handful amount in a covered pan and cover with
an inch or so of water. I sprinkle with garlic salt and let heat till it starts to boil and then turn down to the slowest boil i can get. I add water if needed to maintain the inch covering and check every 15 mins or so for the hr long cooking process. After an hr i get a spoon out and chew a few grains to make sure theu are soft and cooked thru. I drain and allow to cool. I keep refrigerated and if I make up enough for about three days it keeps well.

[Brutuscz]

Thanks guys...I'll definitely keep up on the water quality. Thanks for the recipe Dick. From what I understand, they will get their color back after I return them to the pond...correct?
I am still getting mad watching them flash.... I really had bad parasite and bacterial problems this year...even fungus (saprolengia). I figure better to treat it now in a smaller controlled area than have another nightmare this spring in my main pond. I decided to treat them with antibiotic food for 10 days (by jungle labs). I have a question...when I treat with the prazi, I have read its safe to also use proform c concurrently. Has anyone tried this? They said in one source that it also will not affect filter bacteria...is this true? Thanks again for the help.

[dick benbow]

It would be my recommendation to treat one problem with one medication at any one time. I just feel uncomfortable in creating a witches brew of chemicals
that good bacteria have to deal with. I also am not for using medicated food as a catch all when something is going on and we don't know what. I'm pro using something specifically!

[vipldy]

You sure have alot in 560 gal and water changes are a must. We have our's in for their 2nd year and I love it. They are in 74 deg water and eating well. They had some flashing from parasites from the pond water but thats clearing up well now. Here are a few pics of them in their indoor pond.

Marie

[Brutuscz]

vipldy..I think your koi are bigger than most of mine. Did you treat them with anything to stop the flashing?
Dick...I have seen flukes under the scope this season...so I will start with the prazi. I have a few fish with ulcers and fin rot...so, I was going to use medicated food for 10 days (since I am treating the water for the flukes). I assume the ulcers were secondary to the flukes and probably have pseudo/aeromonas now.
Most of them seem fine...but a few with infections are enough to drive me nuts!!!

[Jackie Ramo]

I freely admit to being out of my depth in most conversations here but that many koi in that little water means a water change every day in my book. I am currently keeping one 26 inch and 13 3-4 inch in 370 gallons and already change the 20% water 2 x a week and by March it will be daily if I want healthy happy fish. These fish are in a heated greenhouse with water temps kept at 60-64F

[vipldy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Brutuscz vipldy..I think your koi are bigger than most of mine. Did you treat them with anything to stop the flashing? Dick...I have seen flukes under the scope this season...so I will start with the prazi. I have a few fish with ulcers and fin rot...so, I was going to use medicated food for 10 days (since I am treating the water for the flukes). I assume the ulcers were secondary to the flukes and probably have pseudo/aeromonas now. Most of them seem fine...but a few with infections are enough to drive me nuts!!!

If you have ulcers you should inject antibaotics. You should ask the pro's here about that. The way I treat my water is proformC, and Prazi the last day of treatment. We do many water changes a week and have close to 900 gal. We watch the doc's and water test every other day. Our filters are seeded all year but still in a small volume of water you have to be careful.

Marie

[GazKoi]

WOW thats a lot of fish in that amount of water so i would be very careful with the feeding.

How many of the fish have problems and what temperature are you at ??

I currently have two koi 27cm & 32cm in 428gls (UK) but hope to be adding a couple more to see how they grow on over winter.This is my first time in doing this so find this topic very interesting.