Dead Goldfish
Mark Aston
Posts: 13
I recently built a new pond, about early April. Its 750 Litres. I have added Hornwort and Water Crowfoot. The pond also has Lillies, Pickerel Weed and Iris. I left the pond for about 6 weeks so that it became established. Once the Crowfoot covered about half the pond I bought some goldfish. They have been there about 6 weeks now and have been living happily. There is a filter and pond pond pump which cascades.
So I believe the pond is well oxygenated, and the fish have 'appeared' to be happy. About a week ago, one of the fish turned a bit yellow. The others haven't changed. Just got in from work and the fish that turned yellow has died. I would like to understand why, in case the other fish become ill too.
How do I diagnose the problem?
There has been no 'gasping for air'
Could I have overfed the fish?
Posts
Thanks pansyface. I realise that sometimes this sort of thing happens, but want to know if the others are at risk too. Your comments are helpful and make me worry less. I'm going to get a test kit at the weekend, to check the nitrates etc. My concern is, if it is poor water quality, not sure how to fix it since I've put all the right plants and filters etc..one step at a time though.
Odd what you say about bullying. There are a couple of red comets, and a black goldfish too. The black one is always last to feed since the red ones seem to chase him off. The one that died was normally the first to feed, and thought it would be OK. Maybe the red ones are temperamental strikers (
) and doing things without me seeing.
Sometimes fish just die for no good reason. If there is no noticeable fungus on it (white blotches) and you have tested the water with a pond testing kit and it is ok, then you just have to accept it. Your pond is less than 200 gallons and you seem to have a lot in it - make sure it is not too crowded with either fish or plants. There should be around a max of 5 inches of fish per 100 gallons of water.
Are you feeding them flake or floating sticks? I assume they are 2 inch goldfish in which case you are probably feeding them flake. It is a bit more difficult to tell with flake as it tends to sink so you have no real idea whether it is getting eaten or not. A few pinches of flake is all that you need. Feed them once a day in the morning so they will have digested the food before night time.
They are small at the moment - under 2 inches, so plenty of space. I was told to feed them three times a day during the summer - flakes (then stop after temp drops below 10 degrees). Though it tends to be twice during the week, and 3 at the weekend. Just a pinch at a time.
The tail does look in two parts (bit missing in middle) but there is no other visible damage (from bullying).
I'm not sure there are blotches, but the fish is yellow - (was orange) on one side and is almost white on half the other side. I assumed that was more discolouration. I just scraped it and the white did not move - would it come off if it were fungus?
I'll try feeding once a day in the morning and see if anything changes - I assume they will get enough feed for the Winter ?
Mark are you aware of new pond syndrome ?, it may be the problem.
I checked the water, and the ammonia was a little high, but not dangerous. PH was just over 8. However no Nitrates or Nitrites. I think this shows that the 'good bacteria' in the filter are not sufficient to do their job yet. So, I bought some bacteria to boost the system. I changed a third of the water to dilute the ammonia.
Its been about 2 weeks now and no more dead fish. So it could well be New Pond Syndrome. I'll check the levels in the water tomorrow to see if the pump is now working more effectively.
Thanks for all the comments, really helpful