pslewis

I have a pond, been there for 9 years - got 9 small goldfish at that time - been keeping them in the pond ever since.

They have grown to about 8 inches in length and a very good girth.

Now, all of a sudden they are dying on me - only 2 left!!!

They appeared to go blind a few days ago, with a kind of fungus growth over their eyes, got rid of the fungus with salt baths - changed the water in the pond gradually over 2 days .... but today they are all dying!!

I actually suspect the neighbour over the fence, as when I change the water, lots of it runs into his borders - I have told him that its superb for his plants - indeed they are growing very well, BUT he don't like it. Therefore I do it when he is on holiday!!

He has a new gardener, and I reckon he 'may' have mentioned it to him and he has poisoned the water ................. has anyone any idea what happens when a pond is poisoned????

Pete

ukhuskynox

Pete, you got a fungal infection, get your self down to a local decent fish shop and get some treatment pdq www.fishkeeper.co.uk

Andy

ukhuskynox

and www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk has some good advice etc

BuRR

If you do suspect sabotage, and wish to report the matter, then I suggest you get the water professionally analysed before you approach the police. Makes the whole job much easier, and quicker.

pslewis

Thanks all - I have changed the water now, in a final last desperate attempt to save them!

Cheers for all the help

Pete

Tiggs

wouldnt have thought GOLDfish would be your thing! boom boom!


and how much water do you "change" at once to **** off the neighbouh? is it healthy to dump that much water at once?

pslewis

Yes, wondered who would pick up on the Gold point!!

I tend to leave the hosepipe running all night, about 9 hours, on a low flow so all the water is changed I suppose.

Been doing it spring and autumn about 3 times each season for 9 years now and its all been fine

Pete

*Sonic*

Same thing happened to me, and I lost two fish, got some fungal treatment, and the rest survived, cept the cats & Herons got 3 more

AllanB

Does sound like a fungal infection especially with the eys going white. Saying that some fish seem to survive quite happily after ging blind.


Can't keep up with the number of fish I've lost in that last 20 years. Its very furstrating especially when you've had them for so long. One fish thats soldiers on is my golden rudd. It must be at least 15 years old !

One thing that is odd , since adding a proper filter all the insect life has gone and most of the fish have died/ gone.

Do you think the filter is too big for the pond ?


AllanB

EvilBevel

Pete,

Doing water changes that way may not be the best... you are effectively giving the already sick fish a chlorine/choramine bath.
Try spraying the water in at a 45° angle, which should get rid of most chorine.

Best advice is to have the water checked, and maybe a dead fish too. Fungus isn't very common in ponds (much more in aquaria), and often points to other problems (pesticides ?) and is a "last stage". It may or may not be sabotage, could just be fertilizer etc run off into your pond.

Salt dips works against parasites/bacteria, but I don't think it does anything against fungus.

A suggestion: get a tank (Rubbermaid etc) with an airstone, put the fish in there, and consider emptying/disinfecting the pond, but again, have water/dead fishy checked by your pet store.

Alan, no, a filter can not really be "too big". It can only "work" as much as the fish load producing ammonia (the basic food for nitrifying bacteria), and should have absolutely no impact on insects (the "end product" is mainly nitrates). I suspect something else is wrong. For a Koi pond filters that are about 1/3rd of the size of the pond are recommended

A little test kit to check pH, nitrite and nitrates can help in cases like this.

Also, try asking your question on the rec.ponds newsgroup, quite a few qualified people on there, but they will ask you about your water parameters.

HTH,

Theo

David Lock

1) Why don't you get a small submersible pump to partially empty pond into drain in your patch to stop upsetting neighbour? Or if you already have a pump add an extension to the outlet and run into drain or whatever.

2) I don't think you should change ALL water like that - too much chlorine coming in. You can use something like "Fresh Start" to knock out the chlorine.

Hope they recover or off to the Coconut Shy (spelling?). DL

Gordo

doesn't sound like sabotage, if you poisoned a pond, the fish would just die quickly. Almost certainly some kind of infection - people have made the points already but:

- changing the water does nothing except subject the poor sods to lots of chlorine and dilutes the problem briefly
- you need to use a proper treatment (there are several 'multi' treatments on the market if you can't recognise the syptoms they describe on the packaging)
- I'd echo the pump point above, although how many people really change their water in ponds? a decent filtration system with a well set up system shouldn't need changes - just occasional top ups if the rain isn't sufficient

good luck
Gordo

EvilBevel

Gordo, water changes are a point of discussion, but I don't want to go off topic too much.

It all very much depends on size of pond/fish load etc, but personally I change about 1% of the water every day (purging the filter every morning) as logic seems to suggest that if you only rely on rain, you will get a concentrated ion/nitrate soup after a year or 2.

Agreed that pesticides/poison would kill the fish much quicker than this.