This was a QT of just over 350 gallons, it had a number of mixed koi in it ranging from 10cm - 15cm Omosako Shiro, Matsue Sanke, Omosako Kujaku and some Goshiki.
The QT was well established and had been running for a long period, water was fine as we had finished the Koi Keepers grow and show which was 33 Omosako Shiro provided to us by Mike at Yumekoi and things was ticking along nicely, 50kg BHM running in a shower with and Aquamax 16,000 over the top, also a 8,000 aquamax running on a compact sieve, also with trickle in-out system of fresh water via purifier.
Water was around the 22 deg mark and water perameters was fine, water checks taken regimently, plus ths tank had a vaiety of probes in checking tds, ph, temp.
Anyway, we noticed a couple of the Kujaku had what appeared to be the first signs of ulcers, a number of scales raised and one actually had a broken area which looked very aggressive.
First thing was to get out a couple and check for scrapes (no nasties spotted) and treat the koi accordingly this was done by the 2-phenoxyethanol, the koi was then cleaned up with a cotton bud making sure no puss or anything left in the Koi, any dead or troublesome scales where removed, this was then 2% Mercurochrome over and then finally sealed with Lock "n" Seal Plus with propolis.
The Koi was then put back, we then reverted to what we knew best (or thought was the right thing) we added CT 1 gm per 100 gallons and put in 0.5oz per gallon of salt, Qt temp was still at 22 so this was notched up to 24.
2nd day we was still uneasy with what was going on so we increased the CT to 2gm per 100 gallon, and once again on day 3 we decided that as things where still looking bad and the fact that two of the Koi had passed away we bit the bullet and went for 4gm CT per 100 gallon.
We then let the koi relax and reviewed what we was doing, I hit the web (best place to start Koi Quest) and looked back at what had been done beofre from members here, noticed that the heat was paramount and that the mix of CT and salt was way to go.
However over the next days we could see the bacterial infection was not going to go away without a fight, in fact we felt that the dosage we had done seemed to do no more than piss the bacteria off and now it really looked to be taking no prisoners.
We had lost 2 koi and we could see that a further 5 had issues, again we had the troubled koi out and tried to administer topical treaments to assist in the healing process but knowing the water was riddled with bacteria we didnt hold much hope.
We decided to up the anty, we increased the salt to a 0.6% salinity level and hit a three day treatment of CT at 6gm per 100 gallon tems where now at the 26.5 mark, to say the next three days was nail biting was an understatement, during this period infections seem to spread on the Koi that had been hit, for example this Kujaku was a victim and passed away the next day.
We also lost a Matsue Sanke and one of my Omosako Shiro from Yumekoi.
After the 3 day dose we again sat back and looked at what was going on, we felt that there was still a trace of bacteria as a couple of the Koi had new marks, we noticed this in how open and red and aggressive the wounds were appearing.
Time to hit lastminute.com and go at this with some fight.
4 days after the last treatment we checked the water once again and maintained the 0.6% salinity, we then added 10g per 100 gallon of CT added a further air pump to the water and prayed to the Nishikigoi gods to have mercy !!
First night was over and the koi was through, no further casualties and no concerns, during this period no food had been added but after a call to a great friend of all of us here, we was advised to add a small amount of food as know one likes to be in hospital and starved to death !
On the previous nights actions we continued with the 10g dose rate for another 2 days, maintaining a heat of 26.5 still with the system running as normal, trickle in trickle out of fresh water which was always the case.
That was 4 days ago !!!
Last night we bowled up a few and wow without jinxing this and getting bit on the arse Koi are healing up and no more added victims to the list, are we over it I have no idea but what a learning curve.
Love to hear peoples thoughts and opinions, where did we go wrong, where could we have turned a different corner for better results at an earlier time or did we do enough?
Just wanted to share my experience with you all.
Graham
(not) but at least you hung in there and by the sounds of it you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
It seems us humans have been brought up to survive and deal with the bugs and nastys in everyday life.