Koi adventure at Fish Story Aquarium and Rescue, Naples, FL

[thebiggerthebetter]

Not a bad amount of fish to lose out of that many, however I very much doubt they died of old age unless you have a bunch of goldfish over 25 yrs, rip chagoi.

Right. This is a far cry from the natural and expected life span. They have had a hard and perilous life with me. I only hope to give them better care in the future. Their genes are not the best either, so I'd not expect the average of 90 years that the Japanese get out of theirs but perhaps a few decades might be reasonable to expect on average.

 

[kendragon]

I can image the huge amount of work you have to keep up with all your tanks and fish.
I have noticed over the years of servicing ponds that warm summer weather generate 10X more work. They eat more, plants grow more and parasites are more active.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Two of our koi are sick with a disease that I can only tentatively ascribe to lymphocystis but not sure at all. Does anyone recognise this and know how to treat it?

The tumors are large, rubbery, with a strong stem where they are fixed to the fish, pink/fleshy in color, can look like cauliflower.

The fish have been:

--- treated against parasites, internally by Epsom salt, praziquantel, metronidazole, and fenbendazole;
--- externally by salt and by dimilin-x;
--- they also were administered a proper course of erythromycin via pellets for 3 weeks;
--- also acriflavin baths for two weeks.

None of these have had any effect on the growths.

One koi, ~10", has had it for 3-5 years now. I periodically cut it off. It grows back. The other, a large yamabuki ogon ~20", has developed several tumors within 6 months.

They are confined in a hospital tank.

Photos:

 

[MrsE88]

Oh my.
Cancer maybe? I’m shocked that it can eat!
So sad, that ogon is beautiful.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

An example of a goal:

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Update: the koi / carp pond pavilion finishing plus feeding videos.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Snorkeling in the carp exhibit:

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

We got some golden orfe aka ide aka Leuciscus idus in our cyprinid exhibit now too. It is a challenge and an experiment as ide likes cooler water (in nature usually no more than 65-70 F), or more oxygen to be more exact, than what is typically found in subtropical Florida.

We kept a couple dozen of golden orfe when we lived in Rochester, NY and we brought them with us when we moved to Florida in 2011 (they were already about 18"-20") but the water in our makeshift ponds proved too oxygen depleted for them and they swiftly perished.

These new orfes I tried to get into the exhibit during the cooler season and it took two tries but the first one was unsuccessful (all 6 perished) because the vendor used too little water and didn't thermally insulate the shipping box. Second attempt was better, 4 of 5 live today. They came in Jan-Feb 2020 at 8"-9" and are today around 14"-16".

Will report how they do through the hot season when our water in this exhibit can be as warm as 85 F.

Some more footage of the 25K:

Two new koi - Beni Kumonryu and Yamabuki Ogon:

More cyprinids join the exhibit:

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

In addition to the Beni Kumonryu and the Yamabuki, Scott and Monica Boyd of Cape Coral, FL also donated other quality koi to us - Yamato Nishiki, Kikusui, Sanke, Showa, and Platinum Ogon:

Total stock overview of the exhibit, 10:00 to 17:00 minutes:

Finally, I'd like to report that in the recent months we have adopted out the majority of our koi, around 100 fish, most of the smaller ones and all of the lower quality larger ones, leaving only the largest and, regardless of size, the highest quality. All the goldfish but two have been adopted out as well to local hobbyists. So currently we have about 30-40 koi left in the exhibit.

We also lost our beloved 28" Shiro Utsuri, the "Alf", which we had for 10 years (bought it at already 2' size), to some kind of internal tumor. I attribute this to poor diet of cheap Zeigler pellets, albeit I must note we don't know the age of the fish. More on the topic can be found here if desired: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/...t-too-many-show-fish-need-better-food.728257/

In part because of the Alf's passing, we have switched for now to 90% NLS pellets while searching for a better staple pellet than the Zeigler pellets we have used for 12 years.

The missing scales and the bloodiness is the work of tank mates and have nothing to do with the primary cause of death, which was all internal.