Hey guys, I wanted to share an experience with everyone that I hope I never have to go through again. I also wanted to share to inform anyone with Koi about this illness. Last weekend I noticed a few of my baby Koi acting odd. They were laying on the bottom of the tank and acting as though they didn't have balance. The other ones were racing around the tank in a panic. I then panicked. My water parameters were perfect so I didn't know what was going on. The also seemed to be having a prblem breathing, but were not piping at the top of the water. They just looked like they were straining to breath. Two days later the condition deteriorated. All the fish were acting crazy. Either swimming wild and then when they would come to a rest they would lay on their sides.
I noticed that there mouths looked more pointed than normal and their eyes were a little sunken in.
I went on the internet and looked up sunken eyes on Koi and found pages of an illness called Koi Herpes Virus. It fit the description of my fish perfectly and is an extremely contagious virul infection that causes necrosis of the gills and the eyes to sink in. Death rate is 90% of all infected and there is no known cure. Cases of this illness began being reported in the US around four years ago and currently they are working to have it known by the USDA and other environmental organizations as a recognized disease. Luckily it can't infect goldfish kept with the koi. They disease is known to occur in cooler temps. If anyone needs info on this topic go to your search box and type in "koi with sunken eyes"

At this moment eight of my babies are dying with this condition and I wanted everyone to be aware of this illness who does have Koi. This is need to know information as it is capable of wiping out whole ponds of fish in a relative short time, and no known cure as of yet.

Thanks for listening guys.

Here are some links to more info on this virus

www.singaporekoiclub.com/knowledgebase/latestvirus.html

www.akca.org/kht/virusalert.htm

Wow, Sushomee, that is horrible! I am so sorry about your koi!! Were you able to find out where they could have gotten that from? Great, another koi illness hanging over our heads! This just stinks!