newish pond

wrote in message
ups.com...
I did contact the supplier. He says they've had ulcer issues in some
of the smaller fish due to stress (to note: I've not lost any larger
then 4-5" yet) but fairly certain no KHV-- what can I say...

## Ulcers are caused by a bacteria, not stress as such. Any injury and the
aeromonas (sp?) move in, create an ulcer and kill the fish. This was a
pathologic problem we and many others were dealing with back then. The
Koi-Zyme prevents it by out-competing the pathogenic bacteria. Stress is
never good for fish but it doesn't cause ulcers. Somepeople say they're not
contagious but I believe they are. It started with a few fish and spread
rapidly. There was no undue stress on these fish and I was hearing about
pondkeepers around me dealing with the same problem. As mine koi and
goldfish died off one by one despite antibiotic shots and creams - the fish
behind the house that never came in contact with them remained unaffected.
When the man replaced all the koi he told me about Lymno-Zyme (same as
Koi-Zyme). I've used it ever since and now even when they're tearing
themselves up spawning there are no infections and no ulcers. It's worth
the $16.00 a year as far as I'm concerned.

He
recommends I add salt to .05. Seem like a good idea? We have a lot of
solar salt lying around that we use in our water softener system. It
seems some use it here w/o objection. Any idea at what dosage I should
be using for a 3500-4000 gal system?

## Salt in the pond is useless as far as I can see and the plants hate it.
To use enough to do any good (for certain parasites) you lose your plant
filtration. Salt does nothing for ulcers.

btw- our pond is concrete with a multicoat system applied. we have a
waterfall that runs down some boulders as well. i'm hoping salt will
not adversely affect this?

## Salt is useless unless you have high nitrite levels meaning there's a
nitrogen cycle problem - or it's not established yet.

Thanks very much everyone. You all have been a tremendous help.

## :-)
--
McKoi.... frugal ponding since 1995...
My Pond Page http://tinyurl.com/cuq5b
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