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  • Results 1 to 6 of 6

    Thread: I need help with dying goldfish

    1. #1
      JanetMermaid's Avatar
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      I need help with dying goldfish

      I need suggestions. I haven't had fish in a very long time. I used to build ponds, and I knew all about fish care, but that was almost 15 years ago and I'm embarrassed to say I've forgotten a lot -- plus we built 20,000 gallon ponds stocked with 24-36" koi so they were a bit of a different world than what I now have. To complicate the issue, products where I now live (in Spain) are different than those I had access to back in the states.

      My pond is 1200 liters (about 317 gallons) with a pump that runs 24/7. I've added plenty of plants and a barley bale. I've also added bio-starter to kick-start the healthy bacteria a pond needs. I initially bought eight small goldfish. Everything looked great. The pond went through its normal cycle -- turned green then cleared up nicely. All numbers read fine. There is trace ammonia, but that's it. The pond has been active for about 3 weeks. Previous to that it was an ornamental fountain but it went dormant and green over the winter. Instead of cleaning and chlorinating it, I cleaned it and turned it into a small pond.

      One of the fish must have been sick when we bought it. I've now lost five fish. I visited the local aquarium store and got antibiotics for the pond -- I treated it 4 times and did a 50% water change. It hasn't seemed to make a difference.

      I fully expect all the remaining fish to die. The one pictured is close. As you can see, it has a milky film all over it. I'm also seeing shredding/deterioration of the fins. All of the fish now hang directly beneath the water flow, so their gills are damaged enough they are having trouble "breathing".

      I have two questions and welcome other suggestions as well:

      1. Any idea what this is? After some research I'm thinking it is cotton wool disease. I'm not set up to do individual salt baths and isolations. I'd like to treat the whole pond.

      2. Once the last fish dies (or (unlikely) recovers) how do I treat the pond so new fish don't get sick too? I can do a full water change, but that won't eliminate every "nasty" from the pond walls and plants. Plus I don't want to kill the good bacteria that's growing. In the US I'd have done an almost total water change and treated the entire pond with malachite green. I don't think I can get that here.
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      "Zimbabwe's Shona people believe mermaids are fearsome enchantresses capable of wreaking vengeance on wrongdoers." -- HARARE, Zimbabwe
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    2. #2
      richtoybox's Avatar
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      Janet,

      Three weeks is a little early for the cycle to have completed, so I would suspect part of the problem is new pond syndrome. Stress of too much ammonia. Have you checked the KH, as a stable pH would help both the filter and the fish. I would not be putting antibiotics in the pond as they kill bacteria, good and bad, making the cycle go much longer. If the KH is over 100ppm, then I would be suspecting parasites, which become problematic with fish that are stressed and the cycle is definitely stressful. Low KH would cause pH swings which are stressful.

      Assuming it is parasites, I would be looking for a product that has formalin and malachite green, which you may or may not have there. Don't know. But the fish/aquarium stores should be able to recommend products for ich and flukes. The use of high dose salt could be useful except that you want to keep the plants and they would not survive 0.6% (5 pounds per 100 gallons) salinity that I would recommend for most parasites, but for ich, it would have to stay in the pond for a couple of weeks.
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    3. #3
      JanetMermaid's Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by RichToyBox View Post
      If the KH is over 100ppm, then I would be suspecting parasites, which become problematic with fish that are stressed and the cycle is definitely stressful. Low KH would cause pH swings which are stressful.
      I have a test strip for everything but ammonia. I had to order that test off Amazon!

      Nitrite is .10
      Nitrate is 0
      gH is 14
      kH is 10
      pH is 8 (our water here is naturally "hard" so this is the normal reading)
      Cl is 0
      Ammonia is <.25
      "Zimbabwe's Shona people believe mermaids are fearsome enchantresses capable of wreaking vengeance on wrongdoers." -- HARARE, Zimbabwe
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    4. #4
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      I would be looking to the local fish stores for products for treating ich and flukes. Sorry that I don't have access to the locally available meds. Water numbers look pretty good.
      Zone 7 A/B
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    5. #5
      Grumpy is offline Senior Member
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      From your first description, this fountain/pond was there before your arrived? Are there any piping & fittings that look unusual to you? Thinking of lead or copper, ...

    6. #6
      JanetMermaid's Avatar
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      Quote Originally Posted by Grumpy View Post
      From your first description, this fountain/pond was there before your arrived? Are there any piping & fittings that look unusual to you? Thinking of lead or copper, ...
      The fountain had been filled in and was a flower bed. I could see the pretty blue tile sticking out from the dirt so I contacted the former owner and asked if the fountain had held water. He said yes but they didn't like mosquitos. we dug it out and tested and sure enough it was water tight. We had to install new plumbing and it's all PVC. There was a copper drain pipe, but we cut it off and sealed the hole then covered it with tile.
      "Zimbabwe's Shona people believe mermaids are fearsome enchantresses capable of wreaking vengeance on wrongdoers." -- HARARE, Zimbabwe
      "All men, and most women, have descended from apes... except for redheads, who have obviously descended from cats " -- Roark
      Proud member Yada Yada Yada YADA club!

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