Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I take the bag they came in and put it in my tank water for 15 min to get the temps a little more balanced, then add some tank water to the bag (50%) let float another 15 min, then release the fish into the tank.

what's the correct way? is my method OK or should I be doing something different?

I am losing some Koi I got last week. The ones I got the week before are doing just fine (except for the jumper), but the latest ones have been dying. I got them from the local animal rescue. They came from someones pond and were transferred to a poly stock tank at the shelter. The water they were in at the shelter only had an airstone, it was very murky, didn't smell too good and should have been changed much more often. When I took them I didn't want to use the filthy water for transport so used mostly well water(same source as the tank). when I got home I set up a quarantine tank with a clean barrel half full of water(my well) and a pump for airation, then used above method to transfer the fish. I observed them for a few days, doing 50% changes and minimal feeding. they weren't that active but didn't seem to have anything wrong with them so I put them directly into my tank.

One by one they are dying, there are no visable sign of parisites or fungus, could it be from the stress of all the moves by the time they got to my tank, or ammo poisoning at the shelter? Should I have done something different?

The big one that died this morning was mostly white so I was able to see some red by the tail and base of the dorsal fin, it almost looked like blood but not oozing. the fish was belly up on the bottom of the tank and still breathing slightly but felt kinda stiff almost like rigamortise was setting in. Thoughts?

My system has been cycled for a few weeks now and my PH is holding steady at 7.6

-Stevo

the blood on the dorsal fin and tail is a sign of ich. You need to dose with salt.

How long did you have the fish in quarantine before you added them to the system? Many people have used that quarantine time to dose new fish with salt prior to them being added to the system. That way you don't have to worry about your plants with the salt.

Ich spores float around in the water and will take advantage of stressed fish to infect them.

With the fish being white it`d be quite hard to spot too (white spot/ich)

I had them in quarantine for 3 days.
How much salt? I used 9lbs per 300g last ich problem, should I use the same ratio for quarantine or less?

I lost the other big one(9") today it had similar issues, the redness wasn't on the tail fin,(but it was on the dorsal) it was on the scales near the tail. (The scales looked like when you bend a fingernail back and it starts to bleed just under the nail.) I didn't see any white spots whatso ever.

-Stevo

ETA: the other ones including the one I lost this afternoon weren't white.

They don't always get white spots as such (I think) but sometimes some white pimple type things.
You'll have to dose the whole system for ich. What temp is the water?
You should leave the 3ppt salt in the system for one to two weeks to make sure the free-floating spores have be got by the salt.

Next time you bring in new fish, quarantine them for two weeks in salted water before you add them to the system.

Here's at link to some info on ich and another one

Gee, now you're teachin me! i didn't know that one.

Stevo, your transfer method sounds good, and your care exemplary. You may have shocked them a bit when you took them out of the filth and transported them in cleaner water. If you have to do that again, you may want to slowly mix the clean water into the filth...not that I would expect a shelter to have provisions for this sort of thing, though. Given the circumstances, I think you have done everything well.

I would have a tendency to blame the treatment that they received before you got them. I mean, they were rescued for a reason, right? And it sounds like the shelter wasn't keeping them in good condition, either. The stress a fish experiences adds up and can result in internal infections that are hard to diagnose and treat.

Go with the salt, feed only lightly and keep your fingers crossed.

With Koi you can see signs of stress on the white ones (Gin Matsuba and Ogon) as a red color.

rock salt is the one of the best ways to reduce the stress in a Koi.

2.5 pounds per 100 gals. equals 0.3%. This is minimum dose.
5 pounds per 100 gals. equals 0.6%. This is maximum dose. But this should be belt up gradually.

Koi can also take a hit when there is a temp differance of more then 5 degrees. And they lose thier vigor below 60 degrees.

I hope this helps.

Shawn

Koi also LOVE their oxygen, I lost a lot a few years ago when the pump failed.

Thanks for the links Jaymie.
I only have one small koi left out of the batch from the shelter (5 died total), fortunately it and all of my other fish appear fine. Chris got some more from the shelter again, they came from someones pond that is being shut down. This batch was newley arrived and seem more active than the last ones, there is one 12" and 7 smaller (5-7") some nicely colored.

I've setup a 125gal pond with filtration to use as a quarantine hospital tank and began adding salt . I will just maintain the salt in the pond full time and transfer fish when needed.

ramper, I had kosher salt left from my last issue and started adding that, why is rock salt better?

I am crossing my fingers with this batch

-Stevo

As long as it's not iodized, it should be fine.

It's not , it doesn't even have any anti-caking agents, just pure salt.

-Stevo

going for the pure salt is the best option, howeverio think it may be more the anti-caking agent that i'd avoid over the iodine, but there are so many schools of thought on this one its not funny.

what's the procedure for moving fish from a salted tank to unsalted, will the lack of salt shock them? or can I transfer like normal?

-Stevo

I've never moved directly between salt and no-salt. Somebody else have a comment?