hans_loland
Koi Lover
Dec 4, 2007, 4:14 PM
Post #1 of 4
(677 views)
Shortcut
|
|
fish swimming upside down
|
Can't Post
|
|
We have one of our larger koi, that had been swimming upside down.
The history is that it's a new pond, built about 2 months ago. The fish had been in a 150 gallon temporary tank in the mean time (we moved and built a new pond at the new place).
The new pond is about 4000 gallons. One day we found one of the fish upside down in the skimmer filter. It's a tight fit for the larger koi (about 10 inches), and he could have been there for 24 hours. We moved him back into the 150 temporary tank, but he didn't make it.
Then a few days later, found another one (also one of the larger ones, about 8 inches) in the skimmer filter, upside down. Moved him into the temporary tank as well. The temp tank is in the garage, so the temperature has been brough up to about 65 F (the outside is about 45 F, we live in NorthWest US). He has been in the temporay tank for almost 2 weeks now, with no change in conditions.
He lays fairly motionless, but when he sees someone there, he will swim upside down, and also in spirals, towards the surface and gasps at the surface. The outside pond has 3 pumps, feeding 2 water falls, so I wasn't concerned about oxygen levels (the other 8 fish seem to be ok, spending most of their time at the bottom as they typically do this time of year). The inside temporay tank has a 150 gallon per hour pump, with a small external filter, so it too is getting plenty of oxygen. I have brought the salt level up to .3% in the inside tank, and all water parameters are ok, with the exception of Ph that stays around 8 (our local water supply is 8.2, I have measured with a digital gauge). Ammonia is 0, as well as the other Nitrate ones. The outside tank never registered any ammonia or Nit either.
When swimming, he swims with very abrubt movements, almost more jagged. He definitely isn't swimming normally. And after a short swim, he settles back on the bottom on his back or side. I've examined him, don't see anything unusual in his gils or external.
The only thing I can think could be possible is that about 1 month ago (a week or two before this happened), the external pumps did get water in them, we had some flooding. They never tripped the fuse. Wondering if he (and the other one) could have possibly been suffering from some form of electricution...
Any ideas/suggestions appreciated. I'm wondering how long I should let him be like this before euthanizing would be the humane thing to do. He hasn't gotten any worse in the past week.
Thanks !
|
MAIN
SEARCH
WHO'S 
LOG 