|
| For some unknown reason, I am unable to respond to your thread about the ICH in your pond. Since you need a response quickly, I thought it best to start a new thread.
Your water is 50° right now, which causes a couple of problems. Koi and goldies have almost no immunity at low temps, meaning they can't fight off the parasites. And any parasite treatment (except salt) that is recommended for the treatment of ICH cannot be used in cold water because the formalin in it will turn toxic to the fish in cold water. That leaves only one solution for your fish.....and that is salt. Fortunately, ICH is one of the few parasites that can be treated with salt. Unfortunately, your plants may be damaged or killed, depending on the plant. Some can handle higher salt levels than others. If you can remove the plants to a kiddy pool during treatment, you will be better off. You need to get your salt levels up to 0.4%. Don't do this all at one time...it is too much of a shock. Add salt over a 3 day period. It takes 4 pounds of salt per 100 gallons to reach that level. There are a couple things you need to do first though. First, clean the bottom of the pond as good as possible. The larval stage of ICH lives in the water and hides in mulm so removal of it is important. Also do a large water change to get as much of the previous parasite treatment out of the pond. No more than 50% though because you don't want to shock the fish too much. Then start adding salt. Get the Solar salt in the blue bags from lowes...it comes in 50 pound bags for around $6. Pond salt or fish tank salt is not necessary...the Solar salt works just fine. The salt level must be maintained for 3 to 4 weeks so whenever you do a water change, add salt to replace the salt lost. This length of time is necessary to kill off all the various life stages of the ICH in the pond. Good luck to you. Cindy |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
| Do you think I should try to take all of the fish out of the pond and treat them then treat the pond seperately? I can go get something to put them in and bring the fish in the house so they will be warmer. Then treat the pond and fish seperately. I also can keep trying to make the pond water warmer. When I fill it I use a hose run from my laundry room sink so i can make the water that I am adding to the pond warm. Do I need to try to pump some of the water off today in the rain? Sorry about all of the questions but I am a nervous wreck over this. |
|
| I think I'd leave them where they are and treat the pond with the fish in it. The only way that moving them would be a good thing is if you had plenty of volume and a cycled filter for them. If they moved out of the pond into something too small or with a new filter, you'd be battling not only parasites but water quality issues. ICH can be treated pretty sucessfully with salt, so that's what I would do. Do you have a pretty good idea what your pond's volume is? The nice thing about salt is the fish can handle up to 0.6% so if you are aiming for 0.4% and over dose them to 0.6%, they will be OK. Underdosing by much won't kill ICH though. So try to stay between 0.3% and 0.5%. You can get a salt test kit or a salinity meter if you are unsure, so you can get the salt levels right. Just be sure to not add all the salt at one time....fish prefer gradual changes. Add the total dose over a period of about 3 days. When you do water changes, try hard to keep the new water the same temp as the old water. Even though it is cold, it is stable and fish like stable. Unstable anything is stressful for them. I know you are having some bad weather up there right now, but the sooner you can get the treatment started for ICH, the better off the fish will be. |
|
| Listen to what ccoombs is saying. Salt treatment is the best way to go. Malacite green works well with warmer temps. Malacite green and formalin are one of the best and most dangerous combinations for curing parasite infestations and bacterial problems (the dye in the malacite helps kill bacteria). Your die off in the pond was due to the use of the algaecide, when the algae are killed off great amounts of oxygen are comsumed by bacteria eating the algae. The ich at low temps has a hard time reproducing. The stress caused by the fluctuation in temps and the water quality did not help your fish fight off the parasite either, continue with the salt treatment, and remove your plants. Then enjoy your pond in a few weeks when all is back to normal. |
|
| Ok went out yesterday and no more floating dead fish but it ws raining all day so I could not do anything. I went out today and there were brown bubbles all over the top of the pond and the water was cloudy. I don't know if it was green or brown. I could net see to the bottom to see if the fish were ok could this be from the rain or the quick cure that I used? I did a partial water change today but it did not help because the bubbles are on the top. My ph is now down to 6.5 should I be worried about this? I want to start putting the salt in tomorrow but how will I know if I got enough of the quick cure water out? |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Ponds & Aquatic Plants Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.