Fish diseases yuck!

[Zan Alford]

Well I have my system up and cycled, plants are doing great very green and growing fast however I have noticed the last few days my fish (which are koi)have started acting strangely rubbing them selves on the tank walls and hoses and cords and seem to have a light grey coating on them. I have had 2 die in the last couple days. I think my mistake was the feeder goldfish I used to start my cycle with before I was taught not to use them. So now if I have brought in disease with the gold fish I know I can treat the fish in a separate medical tank for a week or two but how do I treat my aquaponic grow bed and the main tank without harming my food and plants? Has anyone else had this issue I am not sure what to do next. the fish are removed for now and in medical isolation.Any help would be appreciated greatly.

[Johann]

Did you test your water, a lot of fish will show symptoms because of stress that will speed everything up.

What kind of medication do you use in your medical tank?

Is the temperature always the same?

Is the light grey coating all over the fish or spotted?

Could you post a picture?

 

Common colds

Common colds will show itself by the Koi having a dull color; the eyes may appear cloudy. A Common Cold can be caused by fluctuating water temperatures or by a poor diet that stresses the fish. Stabilize water temperature and feed high protein diet until the Koi recovers thereafter maintain more stable conditions.

 

Costia

Costia is a minute Flagellate with 3-4 flagella.It affects th Skin and gills of Koi, and reproduces itself by binary fission. Infestations of this parasite can appear very rapidly indeed , and Koi suffering infestations exhibit the classic symptoms of lethargy, clamped fins, rubbing and flashing and the skin can take on a grey white opaqueness.

Costica normally only affects fish that have already been debilitated by some other cause, and can often be seen on Koi as a secondary parasite.

A high magnification must be used to view these parasites and staining is recommended for positive identification.

Recommended treatments include Potassium Permanganate, Acriflavine and strong salt baths of 3 % ( 4 and one half oz. per gallon)

 

This are the  2 I am thinking of at this moment.

Did the Koi or your gold fish had any other diseases before that.

 

[Zan Alford]

Thank you for your response Johann I am treating the fish with proformc  I test the water daily at this point as it is a new system It has been very stable the temp is pretty steady at 68 to 69 degrees the ammonia and nitrite levels have been 0 to .25ppm and nitrate level has been steady at about 10ppm. the light grey coating is just in spots and appears to be clearing up after three days of treatment and no more deaths so far.A couple of them do have  kind of cloudy eyes but they are still eating and not lethargic but at least one is still rubbing himself on the tank walls and hoses but it is becoming less frequent I had not heard of the common cold in the Koi but the symptoms seem to fit that and the dreaded ICH  so that's what I am treating for at least for now I have the fish in the Q tank and I am raising the temp on the main fish tank to 90f for a week and then I will do a water change and hope that I have killed all them nastys in the growbed as well and pray I didn't hurt my good bacteria too much. As fast as this tank cycled I don't think I will have a problem but only time will tell. I will look up more info on the common cold in Koi thank you again for your input.

Zan 

[Johann]

It is a good thing that you raise the temps to 90 F, but I would do it for 10 days, if i remember right the ich's cycle is 7-10 days and raising the temps will do them under.

You should be able to see ich ( white small spots)with your naked eye, especially in the darker areas of the fish. I have seen fish with ich in their eyes but I never have seen fish with ich that had cloudy eyes unless the fish was all white with ich and was ready to die.

But, if the current medication is helping I would stick to it and finish the treatment with it.

The strange or not so strange thing about ich is, that if you have fresh water ich you can kill it with saltwater or vise versa.

One of my first tanks I had was a saltwater tank and all my fish had ich, I put them in freshwater for 3-8 minutes for 2 times a day and after 3 day's the ich started to disappear, this is very stressfull to the fish and the fish has to be watched very good. I done this because I was in the middle of cycling the tank and I was afraid that it would destroy my bio filter bacteria.  Some medications will destroy your bacterias and medications should be used as the instructions will tell you.

This is the reason to always have quarantine tank ready.

I am glad to hear that your fish are doing better. And your welcome.

Zan Alford said:

Thank you for your response Johann I am treating the fish with proformc  I test the water daily at this point as it is a new system It has been very stable the temp is pretty steady at 68 to 69 degrees the ammonia and nitrite levels have been 0 to .25ppm and nitrate level has been steady at about 10ppm. the light grey coating is just in spots and appears to be clearing up after three days of treatment and no more deaths so far.A couple of them do have  kind of cloudy eyes but they are still eating and not lethargic but at least one is still rubbing himself on the tank walls and hoses but it is becoming less frequent I had not heard of the common cold in the Koi but the symptoms seem to fit that and the dreaded ICH  so that's what I am treating for at least for now I have the fish in the Q tank and I am raising the temp on the main fish tank to 90f for a week and then I will do a water change and hope that I have killed all them nastys in the growbed as well and pray I didn't hurt my good bacteria too much. As fast as this tank cycled I don't think I will have a problem but only time will tell. I will look up more info on the common cold in Koi thank you again for your input.

Zan 

[TCLynx]

I've known of people to treat for ich and many other maladies with salt.  Now adding salt to an aquaponics system will knock certain plants out (strawberries don't like salt) but it is one of the few treatments safe to use in a food system.  However, you have to do a bit of research to figure out how much salt should be used (depending on fish and disease.)  I've found that salting a little bit when getting new fish can help but otherwise I only salt when I see signs of illness in my fish.  Since I grow catfish and bluegill I can't salt much since they will be stressed out my too much.

 

Now salt should not be added all the time as it will build up if that is done but a small amount of salt (like up to 3 ppt) will get used up by plants over time if it is only done like once in the season when you get the new fish or something.

 

Salt dips or baths or use of salt in the hospital tank can help fish in need of higher salt than the plants can take.

[Zan Alford]

Thanks TC I may try some salt too but have to make sure I can use it with the other medication but it sounds like a good thing to use in my Hospital tank for sure.

 

[TCLynx]

If your treatment in the hospital tank seems to be working, then stick with it and follow the directions carefully for it's use.  Don't start mixing things.

 

Salt is useful for when you want to ease stress in the main system due to fish handling/moving or nitrite spike. or to treat ich in system.  Salt is just about the only treatment safe for use in an aquaponics system without killing off the bio-filter or being unsafe for your food.