fin rot???

[lilkoi]

my pond is 7,500 gallons......all tests are great except ammonia (which is less then .25) I had moved the fish that has it two days ago to the pond...she didnt have it before. She is very large and i dont wanna stress her out by taking her back out again. I know stress is a leading cause of fin and tail rot...yes there can be other things that can trigger it...but I believe it is do the stress.....i want to treat her in the pond....been doing well with salt in the past...but is there something else anyone else has used for a large pond??? hopefully one of you can give me some help for her...thank you so much for taking your time to read this....looking foward to hearing from you all...thanks -jo

[Russell Peters]

Quote: Originally Posted by lilkoi my pond is 7,500 gallons......all tests are great except ammonia (which is less then .25) I had moved the fish that has it two days ago to the pond...she didnt have it before. She is very large and i dont wanna stress her out by taking her back out again. I know stress is a leading cause of fin and tail rot...yes there can be other things that can trigger it...but I believe it is do the stress.....i want to treat her in the pond....been doing well with salt in the past...but is there something else anyone else has used for a large pond??? hopefully one of you can give me some help for her...thank you so much for taking your time to read this....looking foward to hearing from you all...thanks -jo

If it is fin rot I don't beleive that it would be from just stress. It is usually an aeromonas infection due to poor water conditions. If you have any reading of ammonia, and you are saying it is just below .25 then it is too much and you do need to get rid of it. I think your pond must have some underlying problem that needs to be fixed. Something is causing the ammonia spike.

[KoiCop]

jo . . .

Stress does not cause fin rot but it does lower the fish's resistance allowing the fin rot to take hold. Ammonia also stresses the fish, so take Russ' advice and get it down to zero.

Fin rot is a bacteria (Flavobaterium columnare) formerly known in the hobby as Flexibacter columnaris. Salt will not cure it.

Some general advice from JR:

In our backyard settings we see flexibacter species in :
Over stocked ponds
Over fed pond ponds
Under circulated ponds
Poorly filtered ponds
Ponds with mulm and decay
Introduction of fish with an existing infection into any of the above circumstances
Injured fish held in any of the above circumstances
Over treated fish
As a secondary infection from parasitic infestation

This board doesn't have a Sick Fish/Pond Forum, so I'd recommend:

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Register and then read Bonita's sticky at the top of the Sick Fish/Pond Forum.

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Register and then read Karl's sticky at the top of The Critical Care Shack (Emergency).

There are a lot of questions that need to be answered to be able to get at what's going on with these koi and their pond -- and these boards have trained moderators to help guide you through the process.


No doubt their first question will be "Where was the koi before you put it in the pond two days ago?" Then they'll try to zero in on cause & effect.

Best of Luck,

[lilkoi]

the koi were all kept in a 12 foot metal frame pool, I up graded my pond with settling tanks and and baki system....they were kept in the pool till i finished the work on the pond....she had nothing till i put her in the pond...two days ago...it looks like a small tear in the the end of the top portion of the tail. its pink where the tear is...i looked at other pictures of tail and fin rot...it does not look like that but i assume it was, I tried to get a good picture of it, but you all know that isnt always easy.....I retested the pond using a freshwater ammonia test kit it is a little darker now then 0 ppm my pond has great circulation .....it was started from scratch over a month ago....beneficial is growing.....i can see the brown color forming...ive been adding beneficial bacteria ....need to add a shade cover i can see the algae blooms......all my tests are at 0 but the ammonia which is almost 0 now....i have no dead or decaying material in my pond....filters are cleaned once or more a day....no leaves have fallen in.....so whats left to rule out??? the tear is small ive seen it on many of koi and all the ones ive seen with what ever name you would give this have been treated by giving salt baths.....but nervous to take her out again...i hate causing them stress.... my pond was pped over 2 months ago and i treated them for fluke because two had them...any ways its a small tear ping in color just not sure what else to say about it....i went and read all the stuff you all put up for me to read....i get everything that was written but my pond is clean of parasites ( at least i believe after pp and prazi there should be nothing left), and all are eating even her...i dont over feed, or under feed i have constant fresh water coming in at all times( a small amount) as well at some leaving to make up for the new water......i believe i have covered all the steps in making sure the pond is safe...plenty of aeration...and water is constantly moving...the fish love the pond they are always swimming up stream with the currant of the water....i think that i have done things right...just not sure how it got there or what made it.... thank you all for helping please tell me if im not understanding you right....i did what you all said and went and read everything....but none of those things seem to be wrong with he pond...i also think why i have very little ammonia is because the pond is still cycling ....thanks again jo

[MikeM]

Avoid treating the whole pond whenever possible, and especially when it is still new. It takes 6-8 weeks to 'cycle', but it takes a year or more to get a mature biofilm that withstand treatments, etc.

It sounds like your koi has a tear in the fin, with an infection starting to set in. If that is accurate, the best treatment is to net it out, apply a topical and release to the pond. Repeat daily until the redness goes away. I would use iodine out of the medicine cabinet, or mercurochrome (sp?), followed by a bit of panalog. But, there are lots of topical treatments on the market.

If it is finrot, I'd place the fish back in your holding tank and treat with erythromycin or another common antibiotic. If fungus appears on the wound, I would also add Maroxy (a common aquarium treatment).

The best thing is to insure the little fellow's immune system is in high gear... good water (no ammonia or nitrite detectable whatsoever) and warm temperatures (75F or thereabouts) without significant fluctuations.

BTW, if you are testing for nitrite and nitrate, and both of those are "0", you have a way to go in cycling the pond.