Fish die one by one, new pond, can you help?

On 29 Mar 2006 16:57:34 -0800, wrote:

We had a small 85 gallon pond for the past few years and it did well.
We lost a few fish at the start, but once we learned a few things and
got our bio filter going, the fish thrived very well.
Now we have a 220 gallong pond and due to some birds, had to start over
with most of our fish. We have a couple of koi, some comet's, fantails,
and black Moors. The fish have been dieing one by one. Sometimes a
week or two apart, sometimes a few days apart. one black moor died, one
small fantail, and a few comets. The biggest fantail and the koi all
look well, but then, so did the ones that eventually died.
When I look at the dead fish, they are floating in a plant. the yhave
nothing I can identify such as ick. One of the goldfish that died today
had a pointy tail, not a fishlike tail like you expect to see on a
goldfish. Maybe this is a clue?
I have a UV (9w) Bio Fishmate filter, and I am stil running on old in
water bio, pump driven filter. I was running them both until the new UV
filter kicked in. I have a lot of geen algea on the pond walls and
pebble bottom. I removed some of it from one section of rocks, and it
remained mostly clean fo about 4 days. i think there might be a little
green forming, but i can't be sure. is the 9w UV big enough for my
pond? The Fishmate is rated to 1000 gallons and i think it is the
perfect size for my 220 gallon pond in Florida. The pond only gets
partial sunlight on one side, and only for a small portion of the day.
the rest of the pond stays in the shade. I will send a picture to
anyone that wants to help. I can also examine the dead fish, when I get
the next one, but only if i know what to look for. The water was not
toxic the last time i checked, and I will check it again this weekend.
There are about 20 tiny fish in this 220 gallon pond. The biggest ones
are the bottom feeders, and they are growing at a rate that defies
logic. the fish eat better at night when i turn the pond light on,
othewise they do little to come up for food during the morning hours.
MAybe it is the cool nights that turn them off to food by morning, and
the afternoon sun that brings them back to life. We have been having
cool evenings this past week, 48 to 52 F. Days are up around 80, or
lower. Thanks to all that try to help. Try to Cc: me if you can. Joe
and Stacy, Jensen Beach

Sounds like you have too many fish, imho, at this time. Whenever you have a
problem, you must check water chemistry first thing. It is akin to taking a
human's temperature. Please fill out the sick pond form below:

Sick Fish or Sick Pond Form

Please describe your problem, including fish characteristics, like;
whirling, flashing, gasping at surface, wounds, etc.:

Pond Size in Gallons? (litres*.26=US Gallons):

Water Source (Well, Irrigation, City?)
If City how is water treated?: =

Time in Operation?
(How old is the pond/water?):

Liner type? (EPDM,PVC,RUBBER,Cement/Concrete etc):

Fish Population?
Type? Size? QTY, Time in Pond:

Food? Type and Frequency of feedings.:

Pump Type, IN/OUT of pond, GPH etc
(Describe your filtration system as well as possible):

Prefilter media type? Last cleaned?:

Filter is BIO or Mechanical? Last cleaned? How?:

Carbon added? How much? When last changed?:

Aeration? Waterfalls? Bubblers?
Venturies?:

Water Temp?

pH?:

KH?:

Ammonia (ppm or mg/l):

Nitrite (ppm or mg/l):

Nitrate (ppm or mg/l):

Water Color, cloudiness, odor?:

Water changes? (% of pond volume and how often):

Additives used (water conditioners etc):

Tests done by self or another?:

Weather (what's it been like lately?):

Medications used?:

What Zone or Country of residence?:

~ jan

See my ponds and filter design:
www.jjspond.us

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website
~ jan/WA
Zone 7a

I could go into all the other pond related stuff again, but this is a
parasite problem as already explained to me. Can you tell me more about
what type of drug I am shopping for to kill the parasite? I will do
the 25% water change, and clean up as much of the pod as I can in the
process. I examined another dead fish last night and the tail was
rotted off and the rot was spreading up to the scales. I will want to
treat the pond as fast as possible. Thanks for the help.

http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/disease/disease.htm
always start with big water changes. your pond is more like a tank.
clean all the filters
add some salt
Add 1 teaspoon of salt per 5 gallons. This can be increased to 3 teas. per 5 over a
few days. Use rock salt with no additives.
do 3 potassium permanganate treatments
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/d....htm#POTASSIUM

wrote:

I could go into all the other pond related stuff again, but this is a
parasite problem as already explained to me. Can you tell me more about
what type of drug I am shopping for to kill the parasite? I will do
the 25% water change, and clean up as much of the pod as I can in the
process. I examined another dead fish last night and the tail was
rotted off and the rot was spreading up to the scales. I will want to
treat the pond as fast as possible. Thanks for the help.



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Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
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Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

Thanks for these links to weloveteaching, it is the best source I've
ever seen on how to keep my fish healthy. If I had this a year ago, i
would still have some of my biggest koi and fancy goldfish.