I think my fish have Ick or some other fungus. I don't have any that have died yet but the one that is mostly sick is the one that jumped out of the pond and was on the mulch around the pond for probably 15 minutes on a rainy day-about 10 days ago. He has the spots like ick and also looks kind of fuzzy, maybe some fin rott too. I went to walmart and got some ick treatment and treated. Anyone else have any other solutions?
Vickie
Ick
Vickie;
You may well be right, on the ick. Not knowing the size of your pond I'm at a disadvantage. But if the water quality is allowed to deteriate to a high amonia or nitrate or nitrite. In addition to The fish being mostly dorment during the winter the different fungus and bacteria have the advantage over the fish. I would really recomend getting a test kit that tests for all of the above and the PH as well.
I did have that same problem in a small pond. I was told to qurantine the affected fish. treat them and gently warm their water, which will help make the fish more active.
I have had to give them a bath in tepid water and pond salt. Wal-mart won't know much about that, unless they just happened to get someone who really knows fish. We had a good man at our local Earl may store. When we got started he held pond semenars in the spring. We got a ton of information from him. Including many what to do in case your water quality got out of control.but he was let go. I would try checking with your local fish farm. It could be he may have done it to some of his koi.
or he may know of someone in the area who could help.
Changing about 1/4 of the water is a first step to help get the water closer to a good balance.
What I have done is use about a cup of pond salt, to a bucket of the pond water. place the koi in the water just long enough to let it flush some water through its gills, it will kind of put it in shock. put it in clear water and moving it back and forth to aid it in geting the water to flow through it's gills ( helping it breath) If this is necessary it would be best to have someone show you first. as the length of time differs from fish to fish, and timing is kind of critical. I would recomend getting a book on the kind of fish you have IE, Koi. There are quite a few and the prices range from $10.00 to $40.00 . Koi and garden pools by Dr. Herbert Axelrod is around $10.00 and gives some fair info. The interpet encyclopedia of Koi is another good book although higher is also a good one .
Hope this will help. Russ
If you have a good local fish/pet store that's not a chain they may test your water for you.
Lana