I have had a pond for 2 years. The koi have done fine, except when a raccoon got some of them. I tried adding some goldfish this year, but they keep dying off. Does anyone have an idea what is going on? Can they eat the same food as the koi o.k.?
koi living, gold fish not
Woodspirit: We feed our koi and the bigger goldfish pelleted food. For the smaller goldfish we feed them goldfish flakes.
Are both koi and goldfish purchased from the same source. If not your goldfish source may be providing you with unhealthy fish to start with. How long do they survive in your pond?
Yes I am buying them from the same source, in fact, from the same tank. I am using the floating koi sticks. The goldfish seem to be eating them too...
Sounds really strange. You might want to run it by your source. Koi and goldfish are in the same family. Both are carp. I'm not sure which of the two, if there is a difference, are hardier. I do think I remember hearing that koi produce a lot more waste. I'll check out my koi and pond books when I get home tonight.
the source was Wal-mart, lol
That is strange. My koi and goldfish are doing well. In fact last year the goldfish had babies. I do believe Wal-Mart was where we got ours. If the goldfish are small, they can't eat the koi sticks too well. But their should be other things they can eat in a pond outside. Very strange indeed.
Now that you say Walmart, not so strange. I stopped going by the tanks when I stop for food for my fish, 5 koi and 1 almost 8 year old gold fish. Every time I walked by I saw a minimum of 4 sometimes 5 fish floating belly up or lying dead at the bottom. I asked one of the workers in the fish department why they had so many dead fish in the tanks and he told me that the staff just didn't have time to keep the dead ones fished out. That wasn't what I meant.
Since, I think, all Walmart stores are supplied centrally, I'm betting the tanks at your Walmart are better maintained. By that I mean, dead fish fished out more efficiently!
A word of caution. This is just MHO... If you buy more fish at Wal-mart, or any source that you don't know well, always quarantine them before placing with your already healthy fish. Many books will suggest quarantine for all new fish regardless of their source.
Good Luck
I have seen one occaisionally floating around dead at our Wal-mart. I wonder if they just keep them out more efficiently here too. I will buy some goldfish flakes and see if they do better. Also if I do buy anymore, I will get them on Monday afternoons, when they first come in and then I will isolate them for a couple of weeks. thanks for all the suggestions.
Woodspirit are your goldfish the fancy goldfish or common ones?
The reason I ask that is fancy goldfish don't have much for an immune system. They are more sensitive to their environment than the koi.
FYI I always ALWAYS keep my new fish separate from the ones I have had for at least a month now. That way if they have anything wrong with them they won't give it to my healthy ones and besides in my little pond they can be treated more easily. A rule of thumb usually is keep new ones separate for at least 2 weeks.
yes, they have the fancy tailfins especially. Kind of a triple fin and swim a little funny because of them. All their other fins are very long and ethereal too.....
That is probably the bulk of your problem then. Those fancy frillly fins are a result of selective breeding of fish that are closely related usually. Their immune system tends to be pretty depressed in my experience. The plainer goldfish can be very pretty too. You might try shebunkins, long tailed comets, and any of the other single tailed goldfish if you really want to have goldfish in your pond.
I would buy my fish ONLY at a reputable fish store or pet shop rather than take chances at diseases and parasites that might come with the cheaper fish that are sold in the other stores where the employees don't have time to care for them properly. Good luck. Let us know how you do if you decide to try some more.