Over Treating Koi
Many times, when your koi are having health problems, the first instinct is to start treating the pond. Sometimes koi hobbyists start a shotgun treatment to cure anything and everything that might be causing a problem. More then a few times I have had customers come in and describe koi that are distressed, sick, lethargic or otherwise in pretty bad shape. I then ask what treatments have been done on the koi and out comes the laundry list of water conditioners, koi medications, ointments, bacterial meds, enzymes, parasite medications, etc. And they seem confused as to why the koi are stick, after all they have spent so much money and done everything possible to make them better.
While it is true that many times sick koi need treatments and medications, dumping in everything you can think of will usually just cause more problems. Knowing the specific problem the koi are dealing with and treating that directly will produce better results then one blind treatment after another. I always tell my customers that less is more. Many times simply providing the koi with sparking clean warm water and maybe a little salt is all they need. Now it can be difficult to provide this in an outdoor pond, that is why a nice quarantine tank that can be heated is the best option for the koi. Here you can control the water quality and the temps and provide an ideal environment for the koi to get better.
When dealing with infections on the koi like mouth rot, fin rot and ulcers, usually a topical treatment is best, rather then treating the pond. Sometimes just a little iodine or ointment is all that is needed. And if you have a parasite, then knowing which parasite you have makes the treatment much shorter and less stressful on the koi. It also makes it a lot cheaper. For more information on treating koi with parasites and bacterial infections, please read this article.
While it is true that many times sick koi need treatments and medications, dumping in everything you can think of will usually just cause more problems. Knowing the specific problem the koi are dealing with and treating that directly will produce better results then one blind treatment after another. I always tell my customers that less is more. Many times simply providing the koi with sparking clean warm water and maybe a little salt is all they need. Now it can be difficult to provide this in an outdoor pond, that is why a nice quarantine tank that can be heated is the best option for the koi. Here you can control the water quality and the temps and provide an ideal environment for the koi to get better.
When dealing with infections on the koi like mouth rot, fin rot and ulcers, usually a topical treatment is best, rather then treating the pond. Sometimes just a little iodine or ointment is all that is needed. And if you have a parasite, then knowing which parasite you have makes the treatment much shorter and less stressful on the koi. It also makes it a lot cheaper. For more information on treating koi with parasites and bacterial infections, please read this article.