Gulping Air and Blowing Bubbles

[kntry]

Other than low oxygen, is there any other reason my Chag would start slowing swimming with the very top of her head out of the water, gulping air and blowing bubbles? She started this 2 days ago.

I checked the O2 & it is 8 with a water temp of 72°. Not bad.
Ph 8
Gh 80
Kh 100
Ammonia 0
NitrIte 0

None of the other fish are doing this. She is the biggest bodied fish in the pond but not the longest.

I hooked up the spray bar tonight so I can't see if that helped.

Any suggestions?

[KoiCop]

Hello Sandy . . .

It could be that she's trying to dislodge an irritant in her gills, such as a chunk of food, a piece of string algae or even gill flukes.

A 2nd possibility would be swim bladder issues. If there's fluid build-up in the bladder(s), they'll gulp air to try and re-inflate them. In which case, she would probably spend a lot of time bottom-sitting, too.

Finally, some koi just seem to like to gulp air and blow bubble streams as they cruise the pond. Think of it in the same class as us cracking our knuckles.

[kntry]

Thanks, Don.

I think she's ultra sensitive to O2 levels. Usually, the O2 is at 11 because of the shower but that pump went out right before winter so I didn't replace it.

I hooked up the spray bar last night and brought the O2 back up to 11 and she's fine this morning. This is my favorite fish so I was freaking a little.

Thanks for the suggestions.