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  1. #1

    Parasites found :((

    Hi All,


    I’ve been having real problems this year with my pond and fish health. Lost 3 koi this year and (until now) never really found an underlying reason, has all been speculation.
    Yesterday I finally managed to net a sick fish, which had begun to pinecone over last 3 days.
    Unsurprisingly it was in a really bad way and didn’t survive the night.
    I did do the usual scrapes which previously had drawn a blank on the last two. This one though was riddled with parasites (unlike the other 2 had begun flashing every so often).


    I confidently identified skin flukes and Trichodina. Less sure, but there may also have been Costia and Chilodonella.
    Is that even possible?!
    Then there were things moving which I have no idea if are normal or nasty.


    Goodness knows the best treatment plan, but I will aim to do more scrapes first.


    Any help to confirm/identify from the attached pictures and videos would be much appreciated.


    https://vimeo.com/349082576
    https://vimeo.com/349083038
    https://vimeo.com/349083248
    https://vimeo.com/349083623
    https://vimeo.com/349083911


    I didn’t get a video of this but a snapshot. Not so clear unfortunately, it was the odd movement that caught my eye:


    776A89F5-113C-4552-8570-455E2CCA9AA8.jpeg




    Thanks
    David



  2. #2
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Mature Champion AdamKoi78's Avatar
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    It looks like chilodonella, skin flukes and trich to me. Costia requires really high magnification and appears random and fast moving. I'd stop feeding and do a big water change and filter clean ect. Then I'd nuke with M&F as recommended by Duncan Griffiths. That will pretty much kill everything including costia if present. By all means get more opinions before doing anything.

    Koiquest- parasites page


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  4. #3
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Davej's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by David Lucas View Post
    Hi All,


    I’ve been having real problems this year with my pond and fish health. Lost 3 koi this year and (until now) never really found an underlying reason, has all been speculation.
    Yesterday I finally managed to net a sick fish, which had begun to pinecone over last 3 days.
    Unsurprisingly it was in a really bad way and didn’t survive the night.
    I did do the usual scrapes which previously had drawn a blank on the last two. This one though was riddled with parasites (unlike the other 2 had begun flashing every so often).


    I confidently identified skin flukes and Trichodina. Less sure, but there may also have been Costia and Chilodonella.
    Is that even possible?!
    Then there were things moving which I have no idea if are normal or nasty.


    Goodness knows the best treatment plan, but I will aim to do more scrapes first.


    Any help to confirm/identify from the attached pictures and videos would be much appreciated.


    https://vimeo.com/349082576
    https://vimeo.com/349083038
    https://vimeo.com/349083248
    https://vimeo.com/349083623
    https://vimeo.com/349083911


    I didn’t get a video of this but a snapshot. Not so clear unfortunately, it was the odd movement that caught my eye:


    776A89F5-113C-4552-8570-455E2CCA9AA8.jpeg




    Thanks
    David
    Only thing missing is Whitespot and Gill flukes!


    Tric
    Skin fluke
    Costia
    Chilodonella
    Chilodonella


    Pic is a side on Tric?

    Its not unusual to see Costia crop up in numbers on a fish that is on its last legs.. It is possible this may not be systemic across the other fish The Tric and Flukes will likely be systemic, Chilo is a dangerous adversary.

    Totally agree more scrapes are needed,

    Dave

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  6. #4
    Thanks for identifying. Can’t believe I’ve gone from no parasites to four different types!! Am questioning whether my previous scrapes were all clear now, as I’m not experienced. But I found this lot with ease last night.
    Think my pond setup needs a rethink...

    Cheers
    David

  7. #5
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Supreme Champion Davej's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by David Lucas View Post
    Thanks for identifying. Can’t believe I’ve gone from no parasites to four different types!! Am questioning whether my previous scrapes were all clear now, as I’m not experienced. But I found this lot with ease last night.
    Think my pond setup needs a rethink...

    Cheers
    David
    Dont beat yourself up or immediately think of a revamp!

    These things can creep up on you, Koi can be pretty asymptomatic with a few Tric and Skin Flukes kicking around - indeed it is pretty normal..

    Have you added any new fish this season? That is often the trigger, either they are naïve to the critters in the pond or they bring something else to upset the balance.

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  9. #6
    I’ve not added any new fish this season - I decided I needed to solve some fundamental problems first:

    • How to stop ducks, pigeon, heron from getting involved
    • how to net fish in a big pond without lots of time and stress for all concerned!
    • how to clear maybe 10years of all sorts from the bottom of the pond
    • How to control the numbers of tench and schubumkin who have bred for last 2years



    The major changes in pond environment this year are:

    • Growth of green tench, in size and numbers
    • Completing big clear out of pond debris, possibly stirring up a lot of bacteria



    I’ve never had problems with ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, but I suspect bacteria levels are a problem.
    The big filter clean and water change that Adam suggested earlier makes sense. With my decolor filter at its max 4litres per minute I could change roughly 35% in 48hours.
    And net some fish for a scrape of course! (easier said than done)

    Thanks for the advice.



    Cheers
    David




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  11. #7
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Good luck getting this sorted out, definitely got a job on your hands with that lot.

    Think the key going forwards will be some kind of maintenance regime that will stop the crud building up. I think trich are a sign of too much crud (but could be wrong).

    On a brighter note, 90% of pond owners would end up losing the lot because they don't have the equipment to make the discoveries you've now made. Hopefully you can get things moving before losing any more. I'd say to start with the Chilo, Costia and Trich (FMG / PP etc deal with all 3) them move onto the flukes last. Obviously check whatever treatment you use is suitable for all the types of fish in your pond.

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  13. #8
    Thanks, yes 100% on that! Without usual bottom drains on the pond I have moved from a caged in pond pump to 2 portable aerated bottom drains.
    I should have drained the pond and cleaned it when we moved into the house, I knew nothing about the hobby then...
    I hope these changes setup will help, and now I can see the liner everywhere I can vacuum anything that’s not caught by the drains quite easily.

    I think I’ll buy the Duncan Griffiths manual and the F & MG from chemicalfactory site, but in the meantime can anyone point me to the dose rates? I need to work out how much to buy to treat c30k litre pond.

    Thanks
    David

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  15. #9
    Senior Member Rank = Supreme Champion RS2OOO's Avatar
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    Dose rates are also on Duncan's website....click the parasite name(s):

    Koiquest- parasites page

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  17. #10
    Hi All,


    I’d appreciate some further advice please...
    I treated the pond with Acriflavine (once at the stated dose) and now I am on day 3 of 5day NTlabs Pond Eradick treatment (contains MG and Formaldehyde, but is said to be safe for my tench).
    Another koi that was clearly very unwell was dead this morning (I couldn’t catch before it died but it had a swelling body and very bulging eyes). I did some scrapes and found the following;


    https://vimeo.com/350774103
    https://vimeo.com/350774415
    Are these parasites? Alive or dead?


    I also saw a couple of trich not moving and one that still was:
    https://vimeo.com/350775347


    I didn’t see any flukes at all this time.


    Thanks for any advice - I’m not sure if what I’m seeing is “normal” for a parasite outbreak, or mild, or severe....
    There’s definitely something very wrong with my pond due to the number of fish that are dying.


    Thanks
    David

  18. #11
    Extreme Koi Member Rank = Hassai davec's Avatar
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    Parasites found :((

    I had trich this year first time I’ve ever seen them and it looks like yours are still there fmg nor eradick will touch them which I tried myself pp was more successful though but pond and filters must be clean to achieve purple for I was told 4 hours which I did and it got them in the end Duncan griffiths icc with salt is another option think the salinity level in pond should be 0.6 % if I remember correctly and you dose the icc every other day with the salt topped up if needed for 3 treatments it will clear Costa and others at same time I used icc in past without the salt for white spot and it worked ok for me


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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  20. #12
    Thanks davec. Are PP or ICC safe for tench?
    Also do you know if there were other parasites on my scrapes or just trich?

    Cheers
    David

  21. #13
    Moderator Rank = Supreme Champion Feline's Avatar
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    Hiya David,
    I' m not seeing any parasites that are alive on your top 2 videos.
    The trich on the 3rd one is definitely alive though since it's flagella are working to make it rotate.

    I am not sure what Duncan puts in his ICC- it is a fluorescent greeny yellow lurid colour though so probably has acriflavine in it.
    You could give Duncan a ring and ask him if it's ok for tench to be sure. I don't think tench like PP very much because it drops oxygen levels. Not a tench expert though! Could you remove the tench during treatment? PP only has to be active for 4 hours so a paddling pool or big bowl (or even your bath) could be used.

  22. #14
    Thanks Feline, and to all the forum experts. Have to say I’d be lost without the valuable advice given on this website.


    On the top two videos, are those dead parasites floating around? And if so what are they?


    Unfortunately I can’t take the tench out of the pond - one of my many issues is that I can’t catch fish easily at all. I’ve recently bought an 80cm net with 3m pole, but it hasn’t made it any easier. They just dart around the side of the net and hide at the other end of the pond.
    Think I need some kind of seine net to move the fish into a smaller area.

    Thanks
    David

 

 

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