[Tone]

My koi in my shed are flicking quite bad at times and other times they are just all lying together on the bottom..1 koi seems to be breathing quite heavily...they are all feeding fine and my stats are ok like ammonia and nitrite ect apart from my nitrate which is a little bit high.

I must admit all this has been happening since i found some like little worm like outer skins on the surface..at first glance i thought they were tiny fry fish dead on the surface but when i picked them of the surface i noticed they were actually some sort of fly/worm hatch??

I'v just given them there second dose of sterazin today which apperently gets rid of flukes and parasites ect.

Please help..

Tone.

[extremekoi]

Hi Tone, by the sounds of things you have a parasite problem, do the things you see on the koi skin look like small pieces of thread?

If so, you could "Anchor Worm" and these must be removed using a pair of tweezers with some potassium permanganate on the end to make the sods release their grip, if you just pull them off you will leave the head of the worm in the Koi and this in turn will leave the Koi open to secondary bacterial infection.

Can you post a photo or give me some more information ?

Alternatively I would recommend you get a Koi dealer to look at one of the Koi and also get a scrape done, you may be treating the Koi with the wrong chemicals.

The only thing that will treat Anchor worm is Paradex, dimilin or superverm, Paradex being the cheapest option and most readily available.

[Tone]

Hi mark,

Thanks for your reply, i could'nt reply earlier because i could'nt get on the forum..i took 1 off the koi down my local aquatics for a scrape which he did across the middle of the body..Apparently they are covererd in Trichodina{i think thats what he said they were called} fluke shaped. he could'nt see any sighs of worms at all. Trouble is i'm panicing at the moment because when i got up this morning they were all hanging below the surface and a couple did'nt look that heathy at all. i told him i was treating the koi with sterazin and he told me to carry on with the course and keep my fingers crossed.

These particular koi i've had for about 4-5 years and not once have i had trouble with any of them then this happens. :'(

iS there anything else i can do to improve things or is it as this guy says and just keep my fingers crossed?

Tone.

[koiman[madabtkoi]]

with you saying that i went out last night to check on mine and they where all about 1" from the top of the pond my guess was the weather was sucking all the oxygen out of the water and they where coming up be glad to get my new pump. went out first thing this morning and there fine and happy ;D

[john sarge]

Hi Tone

If they have got trichodina potassium permanganate is the best treatment in my opinion, the only problem is I am not sure if it is safe to use with sterazine you will have to check this out before treating them.

Hope this helps

John

[Tone]

Thanks john i will look into it, do you get potassium permanganate from the aquatics.?

Tone.

[john sarge]

Originally Posted by Tone

Thanks john i will look into it, do you get potassium permanganate from the aquatics.?

Tone.

Yes you should be able to get it from your local dealer, be very carefull not to overdose and follow instructions very closely, it is a very strong medication but it does work with trichodina, make sure it is safe to use with any other medication that you have already used first,(dont use with formalin or salt) keep checking your fish and water levels after treatment.

John

[Tone]

Sorry for the late reply but just to let you all know that i treated my fish with potassium permanganate and it did the trick big time...thanks john..many thanks for your help. As i type this all my fish are in perfect heath and all the water stats read perfect except for my nitrate which is always high anyway.

What a great forum this is ... 8)

Tone.

[shusui:paul]

good to hear things have cleared up.

[john sarge]

Hi tone

Good to hear your fish are better

John