I don't know about Koi, but my daughter added a Ryukin to her pond that did the same thing. I suggested she put it in salt water 2 tsp. in a gallon of water and leave him for about 30 seconds and he perked up and has been well ever since. Don't know why. Maybe someone else will come to your rescue.

Thanks, but it is too late. After an hour or so, he died. It was really sad to watch a fish suffer like that. I appreciate the effort.

what was the temp of your pond? A 2.5 gallon bag probably only held less then a gallon of water. Not enough to prevent rapid temp change. If the pond temp was more then 10 degrees cooler then the bag temp they would go belly up very quickly.

Hello surfhead,

so you remmend us to have salt at home for emergency situacions, don't you?

I didn't know anything about salt. I have researched it, and understand how and when to use it now. I wish I had known. I feel so stupid for not knowing something that important. However, I did examine the little guy/gal and there was a bony prominence sticking out of it's belly. It looked like maybe the bone near the bottom fin was broken and had punctured the belly. There was also bleeding under the skin near the tail. I'm wondering if the fish didn't get hurt thrashing around in the bucket-to-bag-to-pond transfer. Apparently my friend received the fish from another friend and he waited 2 days to bring them to me. That's alot of opportunity for thrashing about, not to mention the stress of three different water environements in about 4 days.

Canovas, salt has its place, but not sure how much it will do in an emergency. Its good for QT tanks and good for stressed koi. I will also use it in a hospital tank after I have treated the fish. But for a fish that will die in a few hours unless something is done....salt won't do a whole lot. Salt is actually an irritant. In response to the irritant the koi will create additional slime coat. the slime coat is the natural defense againt bacteria and parasites. Salt is great when the koi is stressed as the slime coat is lost when they are stressed.

Tonya, that is a lot of moving about for the koi. Not sure if it was injured or not, could have been and the last move to your pond was just enough to put it over the edge.

I am sorry to hear about your koi. You said you floated the koi for 1/2 an hour but it didn't say you slowly added pond water to the bag. PH change or shock is much worse then a temp. change for fish. Not to say either is good. Please try that next time you add a fish.

So sorry.....

I'd like to ask if you know anything about KHV?
It is always best for new koi to be quarantined before placing them in a pond with existing fish.

Please search the web for info..

Sorry about your fish. :(

New water...was it city water with chlorine in it? Did you add chlorine binder?

Tonya I think you are right about the fish being injured prior to it going into your pond. I would very much agree with bonniein about KHV and other koi diseases. Why I thought that I would speak up here is on what tinytwo said. Fish can be shipped and stay in a small bag for one reason only and that is the fish exhale CO2 which causes the PH in water in the bag to drop. When the PH drops low enough the Ammonia is no longer toxic so it doesn't affect the fish. When that bag is openned the CO2 is now released and the PH starts to go up and the ammonia becomes toxic. Putting small amounts of pond water in the bag to help equalize the PH can keep the fish in the high Ammonia for extended periods of time. So should be moved immediately to fresh water. The answer depends on how long the fish have been in the bag and how good the water was when the fish were put in the bag and if pure O2 was put in the bag. It also depends on how much ammonia the fish are putting in the water. If the fish are in the bag a few hours or less than equalizing the PH won't hurt but if the fish have been in the bag a long time getting them out quickly is very important.
Mike

Thanks for all the information. I think the fish was injured. But, I have salt on hand now. I don't think it was a PH problem. My friends pond and my pond have about the same PH. The fish was only in the bag for that 30 minute period. It's all a moot point now anyway. My koi did not make the winter freeze. The golden orfes are fine, but when the ice melted the koi were dead. Before you ask, I do have a pond heater, I did clean out the bottom of the pond before winter (maybe not well enough-still got some leaves), and it is 3 1/2 feet deep.