Salt Treatment - Day 5

Last night after burying my Ogon, I added another 80 pounds of salt.
Temp: 48 degrees F
Salt: 0.12%

This morning the salinity didn't rise as much as expected.
Temp: 48 degrees F
Salt: 0.14%

I performed a backwash of the bead filter.

This evening the salinity continued to drop. It was a warm day up to 70 degrees, so the temp of the pond is rising.
Salt: 0.10%
Temp 52 degrees F

All the other fish seem to be doing very well. The other large fish is active and seems in good spirits. I'm hopeful that she will survive.

I started to clean the water falls and the biological filter. I should be able to finish this weekend.

I added another 80 pounds of salt. Looks like I'm going through a lot of salt. I bought 400 pounds, expecting to only need 350. At this rate I'll need another 400 just to get the salinity up to 0.20%, plus another 400 to keep it that way for a few weeks.

Ogon Tribute

In the morning I checked things, the temp in the small pond was up to 56 degrees and rising.


In the evening when I got home, the fish was dead. I buried her next to a Camellia maybe she'll give life to another lifeform.


Following are four photos from my archives:

Salt Treatment - Day 3

I checked the salinity of the pond this morning and the additional 80 pounds raised it to:
Salt: 0.12% (expected 0.14%)
Temp: 46 degrees F
Lower Pond Salt: 0.04% (from spill over)

As suspected, the pond is being slowly diluted, but I should be able to get it to 0.20% and continue to add salt to maintain the salinity. The next 80 pounds should raise it to between 0.16% and 0.17%. Then with the final 80 pounds I should see a salinity of 0.20%.

In the next few days, I should have enough data to estimate a daily dose of salt to keep the salinity at 0.20%. This weekend, I'll look into the dosing requirements for the ProForm-C.

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That evening:
Salt: 0.14%
Temp: 46 degrees F

Small Pond Temp: 50 degrees F

Salt Treatment - Day 2 - Evening

I checked the salinity of the pond. It dropped to 0.08%. I'm guessing there is some diluting of the pond. Even though, I backwashed the filters and lowered the pond level about 4 inches and I diverted the stream that feeds the pond, the pond refilled. There must be some spill over from the bogs into the pond.

The pond also is spilling into the bogs and waterfalls to the lower pond. I tested the water in the lower pond and it's at 0.03%.

I made a mistake on the temperature, or it seems to be warming up.
Temp: 46 degrees F
Salt: 0.08%

I added another 80 pounds of salt. I'll test the water again in the morning.

I lost a small 3" fish. He was dead in the filter, without a tail. I don't know if it was the fin rot or a raccoon. Also the Ogon Koi in the first two pictures seems to be listing to the side. I hope I don't loose her.

Of the 60 Koi I have, only about 2 seem to be very sick, and another 4 have traces of illness.

For reference, below is a mosaic of some of my Koi:

Salt Treatment - Day 2

I'm slowly raising the salinity of the pond to 0.20% to treat my sick Koi.

The salt is supposed to generate a thicker slime coat on the fish, to help them fight bacteria. The problem as described by the MAKC Health Hotline Volunteer is that the fish were attached by anaerobic bacteria in the pond over winter. With a reduced immune system the fish will be in danger when the temperature gets to 50 degrees as bacteria become active. Unfortunately, Mother Nature is not helping out, because the Koi's immune system won't become active until 60 degrees. So the most dangerous time for these already sick fish is between 50 and 60 degrees. For now, they should be "stable" at 40 degrees, but I need to help them build up their defenses to get through the rise up to 60 degrees. So the bottom line, is the enhanced slime coat from the salt will give them a fighting chance.

Last night, I added a second 80 pound bag of salt.

This morning, I tested the salinity to check the effect:
Salt: 0.09 %

I rechecked my math to see if the volume of the pond was off.
160 pounds / 17,400 gallons /10 = 0.092% salinity

So the last reading should have been 0.046%. Since the test kit is only acurate to 0.01%, then this is about 0.05%. So were, still close on our volume estimate.

Tonight, I'll add another 80 pounds of salt, and I'll retest in the morning. Then the salinity should be at 0.14%.

Salt Treatment

I spoke with a MAKC (MidAtlantic Koi Club) Health Hotline Volunteer who recommended a salt treatment to start. We did more precise measurements of the pond and estimated the volume at closer to 17,400 gallons:
40 Feet Long
14.5 Feet Wide (Average)
4 Feet Deep (Average)
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2,320 Cubic Feet
7.481 Gallons / Cu. Ft
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17,356 Gallons

I performed some basic tests of the pond to start:
Temp: 40 degrees F
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Salt: 0.00 %

I added 80 pounds of Salt to start. The goal is to slowly raise the pond to 0.20% salinity. We estimate that I'll need 2 pounds / 100 gallons. For 17,400 gallons, I'll need to add ~350 pounds. I also, diverted the stream feed, so that the salt would not be diluted.

Once the first 80 pounds is dissolved, I should be able to better estimate the volume of the pond.

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Two hours later, I tested the salinity:
Salt: 0.05 %

The estimate on pond volume appears to be correct.

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Five hours later, I spoke with the MAKC Health Hotline Volunteer. He suggested adding another 80 pounds of salt to bring salinity up and test again.
I tested the salinity to be sure that my prior test had not changed:
Salt: 0.05 %

I then added another 80 pounds of salt. I'll retest in the morning, the salinity should be at 0.10%.

I will be bringing the salinity up to 0.20% over the next few days and try and keep it there until the temperature of the pond reaches 60 degrees.

I've been instructed to treat the pond with ProForm-C when the temp reaches 50 degrees.

Sick Koi Found as Spring Arrives

I have a 20,000 gallon pond with 60+ Koi. The pond is spring fed with a bead filter and a three chamber biological filter. This is only my second winter in the house. Last year all was well. This year there seems to be a lot of string algae that I plan to muck and filter out. This year the pond did freeze over for a few weeks. Last year this didn't happen.

The Koi stay near the bottom of the pond most of the winter, so it's hard to check on their status. To my surprise when they surfaced for their first feeding of cheerios, I saw that two of my large Koi had a form of fin rot. About three others seem to show signs of a milder condition. All the others seem just fine.

The water quality is good, although I seem to have more algae then usual. All tests are within the normal parameters for my pond.

What should I do?

See photos of two of the fish below: