Death Of My Fish

[moogie]

water stats are perfect, from nitrate, nitrite,ammonia and p h good clear water was set up last summer in beginning of aug. i have several goldfish and had 4 koi came at the beginning of oct. Did regular water change at the rate of quarter tank refil. it is a 500 gal tank in the garden. anyway, we had a cold snap the other week and the pond had a 2 inch layer of ice for about 4 days, please bear in mind i had,before the cold set in, filled 3 ,4pt milk cartons and floated them semi sinking in the tank for air holes.
my fish were acting strange and i knew there was something wrong, it looked like bladder problems which indicate stress and as i studied them,realised that they had mucus with something that looked like salt sprinkled over their tails and fins, so i treated with anti fungal and bacteria from the blagdon range.i was so worried at the loss of some of my fish and that's why i acted too quickly, as on further inspection i believe it to be ick which is a parasite i think so my question is can i also treat my fish with the anti fungal and bacteria in the pond? would well appreciate a speedy reply as the biggest of my koi is lying on the bottom of the pond i thought he was dead but when i went to fish him out he wriggled quite strongly, so i left him in the weeds to help prop him up for a bit.Please note i do not touch them apart from gently netting them bring them very slowly to the surface to observe. that's when i noticed little tiny spots, white ones. the treatment is copper sulfate will it be ok to use with the other treatment? thank you for listening i am so worried and am very fond of them.I live in devon.

 

[Colin_T]

Why do you want to treat the fish for fungus and bacteria as well as white spot?

From your description the fish might have whitespot but doesn't sound like it has fungus or bacteria problems. White spot is normally present on the body as well as the fins. If there are only little white spots on the fins and not the body, then it could be something else or just an early infection of whitespot that hasn't had a chance to spread yet. It could also be fine silt or sediment that has stuck to the fish.

If the fish does have whitespot and the water is really cold, the whitespot parasite will grow really slowly and not cause any real damage to the fish for weeks or even months. Likewise if you treat the fish in cold water you will have to treat them for an extended period of time.

The fish will slow down when the water cools down. If the water freezes over they will often sleep and many sleep on their sides. If the water is really cold that would explain why the fish is spending a lot of time lying around doing nothing.

If you want to treat for bacteria, fungus and white spot then use something like Watelife Protozin, which will treat those three things, but it will be expensive to treat a large volume of water. You might be better off waiting until the water warms back up and then treat them. Alternatively bring the fish indoors into a warm tank and treat them there. But you will need a big tank if you have big fish.

 

[moogie]

Why do you want to treat the fish for fungus and bacteria as well as white spot?

From your description the fish might have whitespot but doesn't sound like it has fungus or bacteria problems. White spot is normally present on the body as well as the fins. If there are only little white spots on the fins and not the body, then it could be something else or just an early infection of whitespot that hasn't had a chance to spread yet. It could also be fine silt or sediment that has stuck to the fish.

If the fish does have whitespot and the water is really cold, the whitespot parasite will grow really slowly and not cause any real damage to the fish for weeks or even months. Likewise if you treat the fish in cold water you will have to treat them for an extended period of time.

The fish will slow down when the water cools down. If the water freezes over they will often sleep and many sleep on their sides. If the water is really cold that would explain why the fish is spending a lot of time lying around doing nothing.

If you want to treat for bacteria, fungus and white spot then use something like Watelife Protozin, which will treat those three things, but it will be expensive to treat a large volume of water. You might be better off waiting until the water warms back up and then treat them. Alternatively bring the fish indoors into a warm tank and treat them there. But you will need a big tank if you have big fish.