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I,ve had my pond now for 4 years. 1,000 gals. I had 5 Koi, and about 10 assorted goldfish. All 4 years without a death. NOW, my problem. 4 month ago, 1st koi dies, just see him floating. I,m thinking, nothing at the time. did notice he had blood marks from within his body and very Red gills. 2 month later, Koi #2 passes, Same results, red gills, body with blood marks as if he was bleeding from inside. Now I start to monitor all my fish more closely. I notice Koi #3 no longer eating and sure enough withing a couple more weeks, its the next to pass.
Meanwhile, all other assorted goldfish, nothing going wrong with them. I know have 2 large beautiful Koi remaining and it seems too late once I notice when they're sick. This last one, I placed in a 10gal salt bath when i noticed his gills starting to get redish, but not sure if it prolonged anything at all since it passed a few days later.

My questions and pleads: Whats attacking Only my Koi? Why not the other fish? What can I do to prevent another death, cause the timeline shows another will soon pass in the next few weeks to come.
I can put water paremeters, etc. but I,m not new to fish keeping. I have a 75gal indoors where I have had those for several years now as well, with no deaths, Cichlid Tank. I,m just very confused as to why only the Koi and none of my other fish at all. Thanks for any input and I look forward to hearing any feedback possible. I dont want to start treating the pond with all different types of treatments. I hoping someone could give some positive advice and best treatment possible.

Hi,
What color is the blood in the gills? Is it truly red
or is it a brownish color?

http://aquanic.org/publicat/usda_rac/efs/srac/462fs.pdf

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

the gills have been red. The areas around the body have been brownish-yellow to red. It seems as the Koi have been in fights and have bruises to show for. Just really confusing, since if I have a parasite, its only attacking the Koi. I have other goldfish family fish, which do not seem to be bothered.

Is this something that is just not that common? I really needed to hear some advice or possible treatment before I lose another Koi. Just at a loss since nothing has happened to the other fish. If anyone has any advice, please, I,ll keep checking in. Thank you

Oriental fish despite some quite significant aquired immune resistance to it are often martyrs to aeromonas to psuedomonas under various changes of conditions, or a steady rise to levels of these bacteria. There are a range of treatments you can use to cure said fish, usually based of furanalizidone and oxytetracycline but TBH most of these will completely annihilate friendly nitrobacter and nitrosoma bacteria in ponds,thusly causing ammonia spikes, and post bacterial death carbonation of the water as the antibiotics fade and decomposition crash ensues, and the usual stable bacteria are replaced by more opportunistic and faster developing strains. So these meds are best used in a well oxygenated tub in conjuction with a big dose of ammolock for a week. The pond itself can be cleared of transient infections with treatments like accriflavine,with a much less chance of complete bacterial destabilisation, but under heavy infestation, the fish themselves will need to be treated systemically on proper antibiotics.

Other conditions such as KHV should also be looked into, the pathology of said virus is not completely clear, but in the warmer months koi previously only thought to be carriers may begin to show actual symptoms, even die. If you have dead fish still available I would have a vet do a liver biopsy to determine the precise cause. If it turns out to be KHV its worth sterilising said pond and beginning again, other diseases though can usually be handled in a thorough, though less radical fashion with a bit of segregation, a clean up and a few commonly available meds.

If you can post a pic of infected fish and the pond itself it can help a great deal in deciphering the next step in a reasonable course of action. Local air and water temps will also help.