Sick Comets

Last evening 3 of our 6 Comets were floating just below the surface of the
water, not much movement just floating. Now one more is in doing the same
thing. I tried to feed them but they had no interest in food.
We checked the Ph, ammonia & nitrate levels, all were in the normal range.
The pond is approximately 300 gal with the 6 adult Comets & 4 or 5 babies
(the little ones seem fine). We have not added any plants or made any
changes to the pond other than topping up the water level maybe 5% every
couple of days.
Does anyone have any thoughts on what could be ailing these fish?
Thank you for any help.
Jody

On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 05:26:35 GMT, "J. Lamont" wrote:

Last evening 3 of our 6 Comets were floating just below the surface of the
water, not much movement just floating. Now one more is in doing the same
thing. I tried to feed them but they had no interest in food.
We checked the Ph, ammonia & nitrate levels, all were in the normal range.
The pond is approximately 300 gal with the 6 adult Comets & 4 or 5 babies
(the little ones seem fine). We have not added any plants or made any
changes to the pond other than topping up the water level maybe 5% every
couple of days.
Does anyone have any thoughts on what could be ailing these fish?
Thank you for any help.
Jody

Hi Jody, Answer what you can:

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?:

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
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

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


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

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

"~ jan JJsPond.us" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 05:26:35 GMT, "J. Lamont" wrote:

Last evening 3 of our 6 Comets were floating just below the surface of
the
water, not much movement just floating. Now one more is in doing the same
thing. I tried to feed them but they had no interest in food.
We checked the Ph, ammonia & nitrate levels, all were in the normal
range.
The pond is approximately 300 gal with the 6 adult Comets & 4 or 5 babies
(the little ones seem fine). We have not added any plants or made any
changes to the pond other than topping up the water level maybe 5% every
couple of days.
Does anyone have any thoughts on what could be ailing these fish?
Thank you for any help.
Jody

Hi Jody, Answer what you can:

Pond Size in Gallons? (litres*.26=US Gallons):
Approx 300 gal

Water Source (Well, Irrigation, City?)
If City how is water treated?: =
City water/treated with Laguna Water Prep. Last night we drained 25 % of the
pond & topped it up again.

Time in Operation?
(How old is the pond/water?):
This is the third Summer of operation

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

Fish Population?
Type? Size? QTY, Time in Pond:
6 adult Comets-6-7 babies we can see.

Food? Type and Frequency of feedings.:
Tetra Pond Flaked Fish Food. Feeding, a as much as they eat in a few minutes
every evening.

Pump Type, IN/OUT of pond, GPH etc
(Describe your filtration system as well as possible):
Pondmaster 450 gph for the waterfall. We also have a trickle tower with a
140 gph pump. The pond is very clear when it starts to look like it needs it
I hook up a homemade filter using a 20 I. bucket filled 1/2 with lava rock &
pillow filler, (I haven't had to do this since early June) We also have a
barley bag to control the algae.

Prefilter media type? Last cleaned?:
all we have at this time are the sponges that are on the pumps, they are
cleaned every week.

Filter is BIO or Mechanical? Last cleaned? How?:
BIO (trickle tower-never cleaned) In use since May/03

Carbon added? How much? When last changed?:
No Carbon.

Aeration? Waterfalls? Bubblers?
One waterfall, yesterday we added a water fountain in the middle of the pond
to get more air to the fish.

Venturies?:
None

Water Temp?
8:30 AM ( PMT) 64 F.

PH?:
(Same time) 8

Ammonia (ppm or mg/l):
NH3 +NH4 - 0 mg/L.

Nitrite (ppm or mg/l):
NO2 0.3 mg/L.

Water Color, cloudiness, odour?:
Water Clear /Slight odour

Water changes? (% of pond volume and how often):
5% every couple of days in warm weather

Additives used (water conditioners etc):
Water Prep & pH adjuster (pH was 8.5 on Tuesday)

Tests done by self or another?:
self & husband

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

Medications used?:
None

What Zone or Country of residence?:
Canada, BC, Vancouver Island
Hope this helps.
As of this morning fish (5) now are lethargic and floating near surface,
one appears to have small white spots all over body & all the tail fins are
starting to look tattered.
Jody


~ jan
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

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


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

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

My fish had this earlier this year it is ick. Salt is the recommened
treatment. I ended up using Cloat (bought at Petsmart) for my fish. I have so
many plants that did not like salt. The Cloat killed the ick really quick and
everyone is healthy now. If you don't have salt sensitive plants try salt (not
table salt, koser), it is cheaper.

it sounds like there was a big temp drop and they got ich. Treat with formalin and
malachite green, like Quick Cure every other day 3 times. change some water each day
and I would really suggest a cheap air pump and a couple big airstones.
When the last treatment is done, add some salt, like 0.9 lbs per 100 gallons added in
thirds every other day. bring salt up slowly to give everything time to adjust.
Ingrid


"J. Lamont" wrote:
Approx 300 gal
Aeration? Waterfalls? Bubblers?
One waterfall, yesterday we added a water fountain in the middle of the pond
to get more air to the fish.
Water Temp?
8:30 AM ( PMT) 64 F.

PH?:
(Same time) 8
Weather (what's it been like lately?):
Hot
As of this morning fish (5) now are lethargic and floating near surface,
one appears to have small white spots all over body & all the tail fins are
starting to look tattered.
Jody


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

That's odd, formalin is suppose to be safe with plants (other than algae).
I know I've used it, but only one treatment to lower the numbers of free
swimmers, never hurt the plants or the filter with just one dose. Formalin
usually is burned off in 12-24 hours. ~ jan


On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 22:31:10 -0400, "NJ" wrote:

treatment with formalin...remove your plants, if you have any, and keep
them out of the pond for at least 10 days. We had a dead bird in our
skimmer that passed on a parasite problem two years ago in our pond. Pulled
all the lilies and water lettuce for the recommended 7 days and dosed the
fish in the pond. We were thrilled when the treatment saved two fish and
destroyed all the string algae, but we lost all the plants we put back in.
I'd be sure to wait a good stretch before re-introducing all plants.

NJ
wrote in message
...
it sounds like there was a big temp drop and they got ich. Treat with
formalin and
malachite green, like Quick Cure every other day 3 times. change some
water each day
and I would really suggest a cheap air pump and a couple big airstones.
When the last treatment is done, add some salt, like 0.9 lbs per 100
gallons added in
thirds every other day. bring salt up slowly to give everything time to
adjust.
Ingrid


"J. Lamont" wrote:
Approx 300 gal
Aeration? Waterfalls? Bubblers?
One waterfall, yesterday we added a water fountain in the middle of the
pond
to get more air to the fish.
Water Temp?
8:30 AM ( PMT) 64 F.

PH?:
(Same time) 8
Weather (what's it been like lately?):
Hot
As of this morning fish (5) now are lethargic and floating near surface,
one appears to have small white spots all over body & all the tail fins
are
starting to look tattered.
Jody


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.



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

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

yeah.. it blows off fast. Ingrid

~ jan JJsPond.us wrote:
That's odd, formalin is suppose to be safe with plants (other than algae).
I know I've used it, but only one treatment to lower the numbers of free
swimmers, never hurt the plants or the filter with just one dose. Formalin
usually is burned off in 12-24 hours. ~ jan


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.