Strange goldfish behaviour

This morning I found one of my shebunkins doing something strange.

It is about six inches long including long tail.

It stays in one end of my small preformed pond with it's head down.
Every now and then it races around and then comes back and does the
head down routine. I suspect I will lose him. No other fish is
exhibiting this behavior YET.
__________________________________________________ _____

I have been wanting to ask you "guys" about my general pond conditions
anyway.

I have a 100 gal main pond with another 30 ? gal "pond with waterfall"
going into it.

I have about 10 fish, half two inches or so, half five inches or so.

A pump with filter is in the main pond and drives a fountain and water
to the smaller pond/waterfall. I adjust the fountain to give as little
splash a possible.

This setup is about 3 and a half months old. Get's 4 or so hours of
direct sunlight.

There are two lilies, dwarf variegated rush, pickerel rush and
hyacinth currently growing in the main pond. I had some parrot's
feather and swamp marigold. Both have died out.

The pond is kinda L shaped, one arm of the L is toward the East, and
the other arm is toward the South. The "waterfall" is in the elbow of
the L.

A yellow lily is in the deep part of the "south end". It has two heads
and has been putting out pads and flower like "crazy".

Originally I had a "red" lily in the deep part of the "east end". It
flowered once with few pads and proceeded to die out. ???

I got a great looking pink lily - big head, lot's of pads and even a
bud on it to replace the dead one. That particular bud died, but the
plant sent up many pads and eventually a flower that was really nice.

But like the dead plant, this one had many holes appear in the pads.
They just rot. Now it is down to about three pads and a small bud. I
have used pond plant tabs. Growth is very slow.

I am in Central Florida and the pond water has gotten as high as 90
degrees F. A few days ago I saw what looked like Cyclops in the pond.
I haven't seen any in last two days.

I am trying to keep the pH around 8 or more with Sodium Bicarbonate. I
have a pH meter.

Total Alk: 120 *

Total Hardness: 75 *

Ammonia: 0 by Nessler kit

Nitrite: 0 *

Nitrate: 40+ *

(* these by test strips )

Hope this hasn't been too much info. I thought this might ring some
"bells" for some of you.

WLW

nitrates that high are too high for an outdoor pond. if you dont have aeration, add
some and the temp is too high. start doing partial water changes .. 30% to get the
water cleaned up and the temp down. you may need more shade.... or...
you need a bigger pond. Ingrid


Weldon Wallick wrote:

This morning I found one of my shebunkins doing something strange.

It is about six inches long including long tail.

It stays in one end of my small preformed pond with it's head down.
Every now and then it races around and then comes back and does the
head down routine. I suspect I will lose him. No other fish is
exhibiting this behavior YET.
_________________________________________________ ______

I have been wanting to ask you "guys" about my general pond conditions
anyway.

I have a 100 gal main pond with another 30 ? gal "pond with waterfall"
going into it.

I have about 10 fish, half two inches or so, half five inches or so.

A pump with filter is in the main pond and drives a fountain and water
to the smaller pond/waterfall. I adjust the fountain to give as little
splash a possible.

This setup is about 3 and a half months old. Get's 4 or so hours of
direct sunlight.

There are two lilies, dwarf variegated rush, pickerel rush and
hyacinth currently growing in the main pond. I had some parrot's
feather and swamp marigold. Both have died out.

The pond is kinda L shaped, one arm of the L is toward the East, and
the other arm is toward the South. The "waterfall" is in the elbow of
the L.

A yellow lily is in the deep part of the "south end". It has two heads
and has been putting out pads and flower like "crazy".

Originally I had a "red" lily in the deep part of the "east end". It
flowered once with few pads and proceeded to die out. ???

I got a great looking pink lily - big head, lot's of pads and even a
bud on it to replace the dead one. That particular bud died, but the
plant sent up many pads and eventually a flower that was really nice.

But like the dead plant, this one had many holes appear in the pads.
They just rot. Now it is down to about three pads and a small bud. I
have used pond plant tabs. Growth is very slow.

I am in Central Florida and the pond water has gotten as high as 90
degrees F. A few days ago I saw what looked like Cyclops in the pond.
I haven't seen any in last two days.

I am trying to keep the pH around 8 or more with Sodium Bicarbonate. I
have a pH meter.

Total Alk: 120 *

Total Hardness: 75 *

Ammonia: 0 by Nessler kit

Nitrite: 0 *

Nitrate: 40+ *

(* these by test strips )

Hope this hasn't been too much info. I thought this might ring some
"bells" for some of you.

WLW








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endorsements or recommendations I make.

Weldon Wallick wrote:

Hi WLW,

Ingrid has you covered to help your water quality, a little salt might also
help the goldfish. About 13 ounces for your 100 gallons, will help the fish
and won't hurt the plants. Regarding the plants....

I had some parrot's
feather and swamp marigold. Both have died out.

Marsh Marigold goes to sleep in the summer, so it may not be completely
dead. Up north, Zone, 7a I can keep mine going by putting it in a patio
pond, that gets very little sun, I do this by mid-June.

A yellow lily is in the deep part of the "south end". It has two heads
and has been putting out pads and flower like "crazy".

Many yellows are shade tolerant, chromatella in particular. Many reds &
pinks are not. You might want to start a new thread called Shade Tolerant
Lilies and see what you get for answers.

But like the dead plant, this one had many holes appear in the pads.
They just rot. Now it is down to about three pads and a small bud. I
have used pond plant tabs. Growth is very slow.

Remove all damaged growth and see if that helps, if not, take the plant out
and dig up the rhizome, if mushy and very stinky it has crown rot, toss it
in the garbage, do not compose. Do not reuse the dirt in the pot, rinse pot
well. ~ jan

See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
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