hello, first time using this forum & any advice would be appreciated, i've recently installed a larger pond -2500litres (approx) & am still a bit of a novice having mainly goldfish, orfe & a few koi which outgrew there previous home, recently i noticed the koi flashing & 1 of the gold fish would constantly stick its head out of the water & 1 other would swim along doing the same so i knew there was a problem, never really dealt with any parasites & having a nightmare now - the local aquatic centre took a scrape & said there was flukes & trichodina so was prescribed some parakill, followed the course & took a different fish back for a scrape & this found less flukes & the trichodina had gone but this fish was teaming with whitespot, the guy advised me to put around 13kg of vaccum salt in & this would resolve the issue - it doesn't seem to have done the trick
all parimeters seem ok but the fish are very low key & just lurk mid water & are very picky at feeding time spitting the food back out, i just want to resolve the issue as i've got the fish's well being in mind, is there anything else i can do as i keep getting told conflicting advice about what & what - not to add to the pond, cheers, mark.

welcome to the forum. i personally would not of treated the pond with salt but this wont fix it now not your fault i know this and myself and the members on this forum never slate anyone for the actions that have been taken
The main thing is we can start tackling the problems you have. i would do a 20% water change as the salt might well be the cause of it as the fish in your pond are not naturally salt water fish. do this and get back to us with any changes im sure there will be alittle change

Thank's for the quick reply, i just don't know what to do, i don't mind spending the money trying to cure the problem but the 2 times i've gone to this specific dealer i've laid out £30 of my hard earned cash on treatments, scrapes & water tests etc & still no cure, i'll do the water change tomorrow - is it worth while doing a bigger change & gradually topping up each day over the next few days with tapsafe or will this stress the fish out & open the door for other parasites, like i said i keep getting told to do things & i'm doing them in good faith hoping this will help the problem
i know i'm gonna make mistakes being a novice but i just want to be able to sit back & watch the fish with pleasure - not worry if i'm making a mistake by doing a certain action that could jepordise the whole pond

Hi terry tibbs welcome to the forum like koimaster said we never slate anyone for the actions. do the water change of 20% and see how the fish react i think you may have to do a few water changes to dissolve some of the salt

if you get your self a charcoal filter that plugs straight on to a hose you will save yourself a small fortune over a period of time.
The reason i say about the salt is not only the fact your fish are not salt water fish but alot of the treatments that will fix any problem can not be used with salt.

Thank's for the advice, i'll do a change tomorrow & see if there's any change, got no charcoal filter but i've got a digital ph meter so i can monitor it pretty accurately, like i said i just want to eradicate the problem & know that the fish are safe, should i be prepared for any fatalities or secondary viruses coming in if there immune system is weakened & if so do i just put my head in my hands & just keep doing small water changes ?

When i get to a point where the water has the correct ph what do you recommend - take a random fish for a scrape or is there any additives that can be added like malachite to boost the water from viruses - basically i'd like to get a blank canvas, slowly reduce the number of goldfish & then introduce a few more small koi

you should not lose fish that fast .
malachite is a treatment and not really a long term fix to have in the pond full term.
what you should do is once things settle down if you still have signs take the worst behaving fish for a scrape. don't buy any more treatments as yet as these can also cause the fish to flick because of unsettled water.

Thank's for your help, hopefully there won't be to many loses as i'd be gutted if they were all wiped out, all these fish have survived the last 2 winters in a 20" deep pond with no losses whatsoever so fingers crossed, i'll post any more queries in the next few days when some of the water has been changed, do i just add the tap safe with the new water then & just leave be & monitor the situation

Have you any air going in your pond as with salt your oxygen content will be 20% lower

terry tibbs wrote:do i just add the tap safe with the new water then & just leave be & monitor the situation

pretty much your getting some of the salt out the water and letting things settle down.
also ghost has picked up something i missed