[kimmy62]

Hi over the past 6 weeks i have lost 4 of my big carp 2 of which were over 20lb in weight..all water have tested ok i have had this tested 4 times..they have been treated 3 times for parasite and also had scrapes done no parasites were found but i was told there was a lot of mucus on 1 of them...whats happening is they were taking the food in and spitting it straight back out.. a few days later they were dead..have been told this may be something called gill rot..the pond has been salted and tested today and its showing 1/2 ounce which i have been told is fine ..i did a salt bath on one of the fish that dies to weeks ago and when i put him in the salt bath he started to bleed we took him out and he just kept going on his side and 2 days later he died.so now i am very cautious about doing this again..i have 1 big ghost koi left along with other smaller ones...sorry i know this is a long ask but i really could do with some advice..thanks kim

[Doghouse Riley]

Sad to hear your bad news.

Was it gill rot?
For those who might not be aware, you can check this out on a dead fish or even a live one by gently forcing open the gills, the interior should appear a bright pinkish colour.
Discolouration would confirm this diagnosis.

[kimmy62]

hiya..we dont know because we didn't know until today that's what it may have been..we tried looking in the fish that had died yesterday but he is frozen and we couldn't open the gill to check..do you think if we could maybe catch one of the fish now and check the gills we would be able to tell or does this only occur after the fish has died..thanks kim

[Doghouse Riley]

Originally Posted by kimmy62

hiya..we dont know because we didn't know until today that's what it may have been..we tried looking in the fish that had died yesterday but he is frozen and we couldn't open the gill to check..do you think if we could maybe catch one of the fish now and check the gills we would be able to tell or does this only occur after the fish has died..thanks kim

A live healthy fish will have uniform pink gills if there's no gill rot. You have to be extremely careful when doing this. I'd recommend getting someone who is more familar to show you how.

[Gazfish]

Hi Kim,

Sorry to hear you are having problems and hope we can help out.

You say you have had 4 water tests done was this by you or someone else and what did they test for and what was the results?

You have treated the pond 3 times for parasites what parasites were you treating for and what treatments did you use?

Do you know the correct volume of water for your pond?

[kimmy62]

hi the water tests were done by an aquatic place..ph was 7..amonina 0 and nitrate showing 0.3 today.. we used pond doctor anti infection which we also mixed with food...we have a 2000 gallon pond..the pond was also salted over a 4 day period 2 weeks ago..many thanks kim

[kimmy62]

sorry that should have said nitrite not nitrate

[Gazfish]

Hi Kim,

Did you know what parasite you was treating for did you do a scrape?

Why did you add the salt?

DHR is correct about the gills but as said above be careful when pulling the gill plate back as this can be a bit delicate.

[kimmy62]

Hi no we dont know what parasite it was in fact when a scrape was taken the 1st time they found a single fluke so i assume that's what we were treating it for on the 2nd scrape no parasites were found but he did say there was a lot of mucus on that fish...thanks

[Doghouse Riley]

It's difficult to make judgements at this distance, but given the size and possible number of fish you have in 2000 gallons at this time of the year, I'd be a bit concerned about the level of oxygen in the pool.