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Parasite or predator? Koi behaving oddly

 





 


curefan
New User

Jul 19, 2007, 12:46 AM

Post #1 of 4 (339 views)
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Parasite or predator? Koi behaving oddly Can't Post
Hello. I would like some educated opinions please.

Beginning Saturday morning, now four days ago, my koi have completely changed behaviors. I went out to the pond about 8:30 am and all 8 fish were sitting still on the bottom. They scattered when I came close to the edge. The three yearlings were hiding under the dome of a bottom drain. I immediately thought that a nocturnal predator "spooked" them. Normally they would all come right to the "feeding area" and wait to be hand fed.

Pond is 6ft deep, straight-walled, about 9000 gallons, btw. So, I figured they would slowly come back to normal swimming, grazing near the surface if I gave them some time. Not so after four days. As of today they have not eaten any floating food AND most are flashing.

Pond water is all normal. NO ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, PH is normal (8.5).

Could a predator cause stress and lead to flashing? Also, if you have had experience with fish on the defensive (staying on or near the bottom, scattering, not coming near the surface, how long before they get back to normal behavior?

OR could a parasite cause this type of behavior? Please help.


(This post was edited by curefan on Jul 19, 2007, 1:43 AM)


needucho
Koi Lover

Jul 19, 2007, 9:57 PM

Post #2 of 4 (318 views)
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Re: [curefan] Parasite or predator? Koi behaving oddly [In reply to] Can't Post
hi curefan, predator do not cause flashing, ( some thing on their skin that they want to get rid of by rubbing to the rock or shaking it). it only scare the fish to go to the surface in couple days. Most likely, you have parasite since all fish have the same symptom, if bacteria, then the weakest fish will be affected first. Please check my post over ways to combat parasites. Parasite can get into in your pond by several ways, new fish, new frog, snake,.. etc... you never know.
samantha


curefan
New User

Jul 19, 2007, 10:32 PM

Post #3 of 4 (316 views)
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Re: [needucho] Parasite or predator? Koi behaving oddly [In reply to] Can't Post
Thank you. I do know the cause of flashing is almost always a parasite. It just seems highly unlikely that a predator would spook my fish and at the very same time they acquire a parasite. Unless of course the predator added the parasite to the pond. In that case wouldn't it take a number of days for the fish to accumulate enough parasites to flash?

At any rate, I'm going to get a scope and take a scraping. It is hard to net a fish but I have to learn to treat these type of problems. My pond is too large to take a shotgun approach. The cost of chemicals would be very high.

I will post my discovery. Thanks again.


needucho
Koi Lover

Jul 21, 2007, 12:33 AM

Post #4 of 4 (300 views)
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Re: [curefan] Parasite or predator? Koi behaving oddly [In reply to] Can't Post
predator sure scare the fish and add parasite too, remember few year back i discover one big frog in my pond, all the fish are scared and run into one corner, few days latter, i scope one sick fish and guess what i see? an argulus , very large and very rare parasite. Even you do find the parasite, you treat the sick fish, but you still have to treat the whole pond too, since parasite can drop down and swim around looking for host. Some take long, some take short, but if they do not find a host, they die in 2 hours. Key is you alway keep pond clean, never have any living creature in the pond beside your koi.
samantha

 
 
 



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