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    Thread: Spawning or sick?

    1. #1
      headman is offline Senior Member
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      Spawning or sick?

      Hello everyone,

      I live in Florida and our water temperature dropped to the low 60’s last week and back up again to 70. I noticed one of my koi acting odd and I thought he was sick but then I seen 2 others chasing him... So I am guessing he is a SHE and that was just spawning fluttering. Well today I see a few other koi doing it but no one chasing anyone. I might of missed that part for all I know. My water is great and has been stable(KH-PH)... I have some videos so i posted it to a Facebook koi page and the first guy said to pull and scrape but I don’t want to do that if it’s just spawning behavior.

      https://youtu.be/zYmc-I6MxGg
      Last edited by headman; 12-13-2018 at 10:25 PM.

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    2. #2
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      Looks like "flashing" and could be caused by anything that irritates the skin. Scraping and scoping might be a good idea.

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      headman is offline Senior Member
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      Mind you I just added these little clips ... I wish i could add the entire video

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      kevin32 is offline Inactivated
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      Quote Originally Posted by headman View Post
      Mind you I just added these little clips ... I wish i could add the entire video
      Flashing has nothing to do with spawning. Something is irritating your fish. Either ph change which you said was stable. Did you test early am and late PM? Also any new fish introduced lately. Other than ph you either have parasites or flukes or both irritating your fish. Temp changes can also effect them if it pretty sudden change

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      The temp has been up and down here in Florida. Water temp was about 59 yesterday and today it’s 67. I did see 2 koi chasing 1 very aggressively this past weekend so It made me think this was kind of the early stages... especially since they are very young... the biggest two are about 10 to 12 inches. I did do a 10% water change and added salt on Sunday or Monday. The PH is a constant 8.3 and the KH is 161ppm. I uploaded a video to give a better all around idea of their behavior. I have 2 milk crates in the pond holding up a small water lily and I’m guessing they are eating the eggs off of it. The one that was chased a few days ago was going over a big fold and flapping her under belly fins really fast and rubbing on it sometimes. I hope this give you all a better idea. Thank you

    6. #6
      DarkStar is offline Supporting Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by headman View Post
      The temp has been up and down here in Florida. Water temp was about 59 yesterday and today it’s 67. I did see 2 koi chasing 1 very aggressively this past weekend so It made me think this was kind of the early stages... especially since they are very young... the biggest two are about 10 to 12 inches. I did do a 10% water change and added salt on Sunday or Monday. The PH is a constant 8.3 and the KH is 161ppm. I uploaded a video to give a better all around idea of their behavior. I have 2 milk crates in the pond holding up a small water lily and I’m guessing they are eating the eggs off of it. The one that was chased a few days ago was going over a big fold and flapping her under belly fins really fast and rubbing on it sometimes. I hope this give you all a better idea. Thank you
      Hi headman
      Most important question as Kevin asked - have you added any new fish lately? Do you notice any foam or any odor at all? You mentioned they're "very young". How old are they?

      Young Koi can exhibit spawning behavior prior to them having the actual ability to spawn, they may even produce (smelly) sperm but most often it's not viable or when it fertilizes eggs the result is very poor specimens. A big upswing in temps could have set them off .... yay spring!
      Two of them very purposely nuzzle the anal area of the big Tancho (or so she appears to me) in the foreground, but they're the same two that are doing most of the flashing. But afterward the big Tancho was flashing too. Is there any way you can check those milk crates for signs of eggs?
      If you're not seeing any further sign of spawning (smell, foam, eggs) in the next few days it would be wise to check for parasites. Keep us updated, ok?
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    7. #7
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      Quote Originally Posted by DarkStar View Post
      Hi headman
      Most important question as Kevin asked - have you added any new fish lately? Do you notice any foam or any odor at all? You mentioned they're "very young". How old are they?

      Young Koi can exhibit spawning behavior prior to them having the actual ability to spawn, they may even produce (smelly) sperm but most often it's not viable or when it fertilizes eggs the result is very poor specimens. A big upswing in temps could have set them off .... yay spring!
      Two of them very purposely nuzzle the anal area of the big Tancho (or so she appears to me) in the foreground, but they're the same two that are doing most of the flashing. But afterward the big Tancho was flashing too. Is there any way you can check those milk crates for signs of eggs?
      If you're not seeing any further sign of spawning (smell, foam, eggs) in the next few days it would be wise to check for parasites. Keep us updated, ok?

      Thanks for the response ... No new fish have been added. Sorry I forgot to answer that question. I can check the milk crates for eggs. I seen them nudging her as well but I have never seen spawning so I wasn’t sure. The weather has been up and down here for sure so I can see how it might set off them off thinking it’s spring. I have not seen much of the foam if any... There has been very little but I don’t know if it’s from them. I’ll keep an eye or nose open for the smell
      Last edited by headman; 12-14-2018 at 06:36 AM.

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      Well I was told that immature males that try to spawn but are not old enough sometimes 'shoot blanks', so there may be a small amount of foaming but not of the same density and intense smell as a mature male. I've seen that.
      When my mature fish spawned the foam was thick and whitish-yellow - Lots of sperm. Lots of eggs.
      When the males are big enough and both males and female(s) are ready, they won't just be nuzzling each other like they're introducing themselves, they'll be a lot more forceful, pushing the female against the sides of the tanks and it may look like they're really ganging up on her. Sometimes it really gets violent and they can get hurt depending on the layout of your pond, any exposed metal clamps on your pipes, etc that they might smack into, and rocks in your pond. I never looked but maybe somebody filmed a spawning and put it on youtube. Just about everything else is on there.
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    9. #9
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      Yeah I watched a few videos and they were all bigger koi and very aggressive. That is why I was wonder and hoping it’s just premature spawning. Especially since I did see two chasing(all over) the one. We thought she was a he We kinda thought the Yamato Nishiki was a female because she has always been a fatty with the cigar shape but we had no clue about the others. The Yamato Nishiki was 7.5 inches when we bought her back in May (Now about 11-12) She was the biggest if the 7 but one of the butterfly Kikokuryu seems to now be just as long. It’s supposed to stay in the mid 70’s the next few days so I’ll keep an eye on their behavior

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      I posted this on a FB koi page and the people in there are so negative and seem to always jump to parasites or give bad advice. One lady wanted to add koi to her 10 day old pond and after 42 comments no one but myself asked her if she knew about the nitrogen cycle ... I take thier advice with a grain a salt. I love and appreciate the knowledge on Koiphen

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    11. #11
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      If it were parasite wouldn’t they flash a lot or all day long?

    12. #12
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      As I said on Facebook, that looks like classic flashing. Spawning behavior will not hurt your fish unless actual eggs and sperm are released and increase the protein( and ammonia load) in your pond. However if they are flashing because of parasites or water issues, you can get wounds from the parasites or scraping on the bottom/sides. I don’t know why you think citing parasites is being negative. Parasites are in all ponds, but the fishes immune systems can usually handle them. Wide temperature fluctuations can stress the fish. Scraping and scoping is good practice, even if you find nothing you get peace of mind.
      GloriaL
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    13. #13
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      Quote Originally Posted by GloriaL View Post
      As I said on Facebook, that looks like classic flashing. Spawning behavior will not hurt your fish unless actual eggs and sperm are released and increase the protein( and ammonia load) in your pond. However if they are flashing because of parasites or water issues, you can get wounds from the parasites or scraping on the bottom/sides. I don’t know why you think citing parasites is being negative. Parasites are in all ponds, but the fishes immune systems can usually handle them. Wide temperature fluctuations can stress the fish. Scraping and scoping is good practice, even if you find nothing you get peace of mind.
      I agree. I've seen flashing for a day or 2 after adding a new fish. Other than that others have flashed for few days and I found nothing upon scraping and scoping. I may have missed gill flukes. I did a 3x proform-c and fluke m on last treatment. Fish never flashed after that. To me this was a pretty fast and aggressive flash so I feel it is probably parasites....

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      I seen this - Pre- spawning behavior - http://www.koi-bito.com/forum/main-f...-behavior.html

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      Quote Originally Posted by headman View Post
      I seen this - Pre- spawning behavior - http://www.koi-bito.com/forum/main-f...-behavior.html
      Good thread. But I've never heard of this. Also when fish are stressed it can induce spawning. In your case it may be as dark star said. Young koi that are not quite fertile yet..an increase in ammonia or nitrites can irritate the koi..I'm not sure if your asking for advice or just trying to give us advice now

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      I am no expert and I keep hearing different things ... drastically different things. I just want to point out these things .... it looks like they have never witnessed them and I KNOW what my wife and I seen a few days ago and it was aggressive spawning.... then the next day was when this “flashing” started. That thread is just about exactly what we have seen. Our water temp dropped to near 59 and back up to 70 in a day. So do you think I should believe it’s parasites because some people have never experienced these symptoms and not question it? I also love to learning as much as I can

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      IMHO, definitely looks like fin flicking and flashing to me from parasites.
      Andrea
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    18. #18
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      Quote Originally Posted by headman View Post
      I am no expert and I keep hearing different things ... drastically different things. I just want to point out these things .... it looks like they have never witnessed them and I KNOW what my wife and I seen a few days ago and it was aggressive spawning.... then the next day was when this “flashing” started. That thread is just about exactly what we have seen. Our water temp dropped to near 59 and back up to 70 in a day. So do you think I should believe it’s parasites because some people have never experienced these symptoms and not question it? I also love to learning as much as I can
      You would know and smell if your fish spawned. I had a female goshiki bejng chased and it never spawned and also never flashed. It is easy to say oh well in this thread I saw this or that and I get it. It can be frustrating and misleading. I'm still sticking to the koi flashing from parasites. We dont mean to be rude, but I have never heard off or seen fish flash after an aggressive spawn. Also aggresive spawn would be very obvious.

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      Still think it’s parasites? No flashing for 2 days and now more of this... https://youtu.be/t6LzIbZEqj8

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      Quote Originally Posted by headman View Post
      Still think it’s parasites? No flashing for 2 days and now more of this... https://youtu.be/t6LzIbZEqj8
      That is behavior of them chasing the female. I still think the flashing was from parasites or something bothering it when it was feeling stress from the temperature change

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