PLEASE HELP. Sorry about the caps but this is urgent.
 

Please help.
We have a pond, about 3 x 4 x 4 (feet). We've had it for about 5 years
and everything was great. It contains about 40 goldfish but recently
they have begun dying. The dead ones are small and appear to be a
silvery \gold type colour.
We don't do anything to the pond other than feed the fish and clear
off the leaves and stuff off the surface and until now all has been
fine. We haven't changed the food nor put anything in the water. The
bigger fish seem to be OK but 5 have died in the last week.
There is no residue or anything usual about the pond. The fish are a
bit slow but that is just the cold (It's winter here England,
Brighton)
Could it be something to do with the fluctuating temperature we're
experiencing this winter?
Please, if you can help or recommend anything we'd be most grateful.
Thanks.

On Sat, 05 Feb 2005 14:23:56 GMT, Anthropy wrote:

Please help.
We have a pond, about 3 x 4 x 4 (feet). We've had it for about 5 years
and everything was great. It contains about 40 goldfish but recently
they have begun dying. The dead ones are small and appear to be a
silvery \gold type colour.
We don't do anything to the pond other than feed the fish and clear
off the leaves and stuff off the surface and until now all has been
fine. We haven't changed the food nor put anything in the water. The
bigger fish seem to be OK but 5 have died in the last week.
There is no residue or anything usual about the pond. The fish are a
bit slow but that is just the cold (It's winter here England,
Brighton)
Could it be something to do with the fluctuating temperature we're
experiencing this winter?
Please, if you can help or recommend anything we'd be most grateful.
Thanks.

You need to check the water parameters, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and
ph. Take a sample of water with you and see if they can test it there
and if the ammonia is high you can buy something to bind it while you
are at the shop. Over 90% of fish deaths are due to poor water quality.
It's likely you will need to change quite a bit of water so get a
tapwater conditioner ready for that, you normally put it into the pond
before the fresh water so that it treats the water as it goes in.

Let us know how things go and what the water tests were.

I take it there isn't any filtration, if so what type is it and is it
clean? If it has a biological section you mustn't clean that in
tapwater since the clorine will kill the biobugs, rinse it in old pond
water. Do you have a pump/fountain to increase the oxygen content?
Can't really say anything more without more info but it could be that
you have a layer of detritus on the bottom of the pond and the warmer
temperature has started it to breakdown and deplete the oxygen. If you
do have a lot of muck in the bottom don't scoop it out with a net at
the moment. It will just release poisonous gasses into the water and
make things worse.

Everything is just guesswork at the moment but I've given you some
starting points.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk

On Sat, 05 Feb 2005 15:08:52 +0000 (GMT), "Rodney Pont"
wrote:

On Sat, 05 Feb 2005 14:23:56 GMT, Anthropy wrote:

Please help.
We have a pond, about 3 x 4 x 4 (feet). We've had it for about 5 years
and everything was great. It contains about 40 goldfish but recently
they have begun dying. The dead ones are small and appear to be a
silvery \gold type colour.
We don't do anything to the pond other than feed the fish and clear
off the leaves and stuff off the surface and until now all has been
fine. We haven't changed the food nor put anything in the water. The
bigger fish seem to be OK but 5 have died in the last week.
There is no residue or anything usual about the pond. The fish are a
bit slow but that is just the cold (It's winter here England,
Brighton)
Could it be something to do with the fluctuating temperature we're
experiencing this winter?
Please, if you can help or recommend anything we'd be most grateful.
Thanks.

You need to check the water parameters, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and
ph. Take a sample of water with you and see if they can test it there
and if the ammonia is high you can buy something to bind it while you
are at the shop. Over 90% of fish deaths are due to poor water quality.
It's likely you will need to change quite a bit of water so get a
tapwater conditioner ready for that, you normally put it into the pond
before the fresh water so that it treats the water as it goes in.

Let us know how things go and what the water tests were.

I take it there isn't any filtration, if so what type is it and is it
clean? If it has a biological section you mustn't clean that in
tapwater since the clorine will kill the biobugs, rinse it in old pond
water. Do you have a pump/fountain to increase the oxygen content?
Can't really say anything more without more info but it could be that
you have a layer of detritus on the bottom of the pond and the warmer
temperature has started it to breakdown and deplete the oxygen. If you
do have a lot of muck in the bottom don't scoop it out with a net at
the moment. It will just release poisonous gasses into the water and
make things worse.

Everything is just guesswork at the moment but I've given you some
starting points.

Thanks for the help.
I will certainly take a sample of water and have it tested. Will the
petshop do it? or some kind of kit where I could do it myself?
The pond is very basic. It's in the garden and we tend to leave it
alone other then feeding and cleaning. It has no filtration system nor
any kind of pump or fountain.
Also, here in England right now it's winter but the temperature has
been erratic. On the occasional warm day I have fed the fish a small
amount of food. I know not to feed them under 55f which I haven't.
Could the feeding be the cause?
Is it significant that only (so far) the smaller fish have died?
Thanks.

Any pet shop that sells fish should be able to
test your water for you. They probably also sell
test kits (check the expiration date before purchasing).

I would not feed the fish at all during the winter months
to be on the safe side.

Your pond may have gotten overstocked over the years
and this is why you are having water quality problems at
this point.
Do you have a lot of plants in the pond? Plants help with filtration
but usually only in a lightly stocked pond.

Some pet shops will take excess fish off your hands. It is
the law in some parts of the US to keep people from
releasing fish into the wild. I advertised my excess fish with
a local club in our area and my fish were caught and adopted
by new pond keepers.

good luck and hope things settle down for you!
kathy

On Sat, 05 Feb 2005 15:39:23 GMT, Anthropy wrote:

Thanks for the help.
I will certainly take a sample of water and have it tested. Will the
petshop do it? or some kind of kit where I could do it myself?
The pond is very basic. It's in the garden and we tend to leave it
alone other then feeding and cleaning. It has no filtration system nor
any kind of pump or fountain.
Also, here in England right now it's winter but the temperature has
been erratic. On the occasional warm day I have fed the fish a small
amount of food. I know not to feed them under 55f which I haven't.
Could the feeding be the cause?
Is it significant that only (so far) the smaller fish have died?

As Kathy says you shouldn't really feed on the occasional warm day
since the fish need to be active for long enough to digest the food.
That may happen occasionally down south there but it's unlikely up here
in Yorkshire. A larger specialist shop is more likely to test the water
for you than a small pet shop and you should be able to find a larger
range of test kits and water treatments there as well.

Stocking should be low on an unfiltered pond. The Practical Fishkeeping
website http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk has a stocking guide and
pond volume calculator that's worth looking at.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk

The PetSmart shop chain certainly do free water tests, and most aquarium shops will also test a water sample for you if you ask. You won't need much (50ml?) but try and take it fresh and also in a clean sealed container with as little air space above the water as possible (ammonia is volatile). And if they use the Tetra test sticks (a little stick that says it tests everything) bear in mind that these can be very inaccurate for nitrite (I've switched back to using liquid test kits).

Good luck!

Rodney Pont wrote:
On Sat, 05 Feb 2005 15:39:23 GMT, Anthropy wrote:

Thanks for the help.
I will certainly take a sample of water and have it tested. Will the
petshop do it? or some kind of kit where I could do it myself?
The pond is very basic. It's in the garden and we tend to leave it
alone other then feeding and cleaning. It has no filtration system
nor
any kind of pump or fountain.
Also, here in England right now it's winter but the temperature has
been erratic. On the occasional warm day I have fed the fish a small
amount of food. I know not to feed them under 55f which I haven't.
Could the feeding be the cause?
Is it significant that only (so far) the smaller fish have died?

As Kathy says you shouldn't really feed on the occasional warm day
since the fish need to be active for long enough to digest the food.
That may happen occasionally down south there but it's unlikely up
here
in Yorkshire. A larger specialist shop is more likely to test the
water
for you than a small pet shop and you should be able to find a larger
range of test kits and water treatments there as well.

Stocking should be low on an unfiltered pond. The Practical
Fishkeeping
website http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk has a stocking guide
and
pond volume calculator that's worth looking at.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk
The pond is definitely overstocked. You need to reduce the number of
fish soon even in winter the water quality will be poor. Never be
tempted to feed the fish on nice warm days in the winter because they
can't digest the food which then rots in their stomachs killing them.
Good luck.

On Sat, 05 Feb 2005 14:23:56 GMT, Anthropy wrote:

Please help.
We have a pond, about 3 x 4 x 4 (feet). We've had it for about 5 years
and everything was great. It contains about 40 goldfish but recently
they have begun dying. The dead ones are small and appear to be a
silvery \gold type colour.
We don't do anything to the pond other than feed the fish and clear
off the leaves and stuff off the surface and until now all has been
fine. We haven't changed the food nor put anything in the water. The
bigger fish seem to be OK but 5 have died in the last week.
There is no residue or anything usual about the pond. The fish are a
bit slow but that is just the cold (It's winter here England,
Brighton)
Could it be something to do with the fluctuating temperature we're
experiencing this winter?
Please, if you can help or recommend anything we'd be most grateful.
Thanks.

It could be a number of things. Taking a couple water sample to be
tested begins troubleshooting the problem. Fish can be very sensitive
to many substances such as paint, adhesives, pesticides, detergents,
etc. which are seemingly non-toxic to humans. If anything, changing
the water or moving the fish to a temporary tank might save them.

Goldfish can tolerate cold water well, but can be traumatized with
fast temperature changes. Have you always had 40 fish in about 350
gallons? "Do not exceed one inch of goldfish to one gallon of water,"
or in your case all of your goldfish can be up to 8.75" and your
capacity is reached.

Please let us know how the goldfish are doing.

When you say the temperature was over 55 deg. did you mean the air or
the water? The water temp is the one that matters to fish.

Don

Anthropy wrote:
Please help.
We have a pond, about 3 x 4 x 4 (feet). We've had it for about 5 years
and everything was great. It contains about 40 goldfish but recently
they have begun dying. The dead ones are small and appear to be a
silvery \gold type colour.
We don't do anything to the pond other than feed the fish and clear
off the leaves and stuff off the surface and until now all has been
fine. We haven't changed the food nor put anything in the water. The
bigger fish seem to be OK but 5 have died in the last week.
There is no residue or anything usual about the pond. The fish are a
bit slow but that is just the cold (It's winter here England,
Brighton)
Could it be something to do with the fluctuating temperature we're
experiencing this winter?
Please, if you can help or recommend anything we'd be most grateful.
Thanks.

yOU NEED TO CLEAN POND MUCK OUT AT LEAST once a year. And add a veggie
filter.



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