Is this just a walmart fish thing .. ?
I have lost prolly 6 fish so far in the pond
with no apparent fish problems, they are fine
and all zooming around the pond playing hide
and seek and looking like there having fun.
then i check on them the next day and i got
a dead one .. then fine for a few days then
another dead one .. and so on ...
looking over the dead fish i see no external
injuries or anything.
this last fish, the comet was about 4 to 5 inches
long and been in the pond for 2 weeks now.
Purched him on 08/01/05
just a few days ago it was a Koi that passed on.
Ph 7.8 @66.8 (Hanna digital Ph Pen)
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 40
Nitrite 0
GH 300
KH 180
just extra info
Electrical Conductivity (Total disolved solids)
EC 541 66.8 EC/TDS (Hanna pen)
Fish keep dieing
Wal mart fish always die. Go to a pet store and buy some feeder goldfish. They grow quickly and are tough.
I've gotten quite a few goldfish and even a few koi from Walmart in the past. Most have lived but that does not help you figure out your problem. Are you adding any Algae Fix or Water Clarifier to the water? Those products can deplete the oxygen if you do not have adequate aireation (spelling?) In the apst I have killed my fish using thesse products. Sounds like you may be having an oxygen defiency or something along those lines. What about the daytime water temps. When I put fish in my iron bathtub pond the water got too warm and several fish died. Hope you figure it out.
i havent added anything cept for de-chlorenate the top off water and i do that in a seperate
tub then pump it to the pond. the pond is under a maple tree so its shaded most of the time.
i dont think the temp gets over 75F. and the pond has a waterfall.
sounds like you may just be getting "stressed" or sickly fish. I agree I would try getting some from another source...I've done well with goldfish from Petsmart or a pet store.
How long has the pond been running? What is it made out of? How many gallons and how many fish? What kind of filter? How old is the longest-surviving fish? Have you tested for disolved oxygen? What is your cleaning routine?
I know that's a lot of questions, and I have the sneaking suspicion that you've answered them elsewhere, but the more information you can give us the better we'll be able to figure it out.
Your test numbers look good, I wouldn't worry about any of those. Nitrate of 40 isn't causing this, but it is a little higher than usual for a pond, maybe add some plants to use up that nitrogen?
Your pH is a tad high, on the upper range of what goldfish like. I doubt that is the cause of the die off just FYI. Goldfish can stand a wide range from 6 to 8 pH. Do have a waterfall or something to put a O2 in the water. Could be low O2 levels but you'd normally know this from the fish gulping at the top of the water. Do you get any run off from farm land? Could be a chemical used on a farm. How big is the pond? Small ponds are harder to keep balanced than big ponds. Mine I just top off with a garden hose straight from the tap, because I know it's big enough not to have an effect and they breed like rabbits. If you have a Co-op in your area they have fish trucks that come around a few times a year and sell mainly game/pan fish for ponds. But most around here also sell Kio, cheap compaired to what you'd pay at a petstore. I get 6" for $4.00 each and I can hand pick the colors I want from 100's of them. They are not show fish, but they are pretty nonetheless.Those fish are raised localily so they are not stressed and use to the local enviroment, water, temps, etc. Wal-Mart fish ... who know's where they come from ... prolly got a tag somewhere that says Made in China.
I agree the Ph is up there but its rock solid and the pond is 6'x6' x aprox 8 inches deep.
I figure around 100 to 150 gallons. yep i have a waterfalls and the fish love it , they race
right up to it and let the water knock them back under. i have just a few parrot feather like
plants, i think with out going out and counting, about 4 or 5 that are about 2 foot long.
The pond has been running for a month now and nice and clear, bio-filter getting a
nice green layer on the top. and its built up off the ground level becouse of maple
tree roots.
Hmmm I am perplex as to the problem other than where you got them. I only go "THIER" if I really have to. I'd try getting some fish some place else, float them a few minutes to acclimite them to the water, say 30 minutes or so add a little water to the bag incase the pH is far different from yours' and with luck the fish death should stop.
Im perplex also , I'm down to 4 fish now out of 7 since the 1st of August and so far they
seem to be doing fine, having fun , eating good , hiding on me alot .. LOL ..
biofilter has a good build up of alge or whatever , nice green stuff on the top and around the
charcoal and im starting to get a green alge build up on the bottom of the pond. water
is stll nice and clear so im not going to worry about it.
ph is still stable at 7.8 - 7.9 and so on...
Simple question? Did you recently refill your pond? We had low water levels and stuck the hose in. Killed 6 fish. . . forgot about the chlorine in our tap water. . . OOPS!
Well now we have only 4 little feeder fish that are growing fast. They even come if you tap the water. Not bad for under $2 at the pet store.
Now if I can only get them to last the winter!
yes on the refills , but i fill a 20 gal tub and then add dechlorinator to it let it
sit for 5 to 10 minutes then pump it to the pond with my extra pond pump.
this time (yesterday) i pumped it into the biofilter so the new water had
to pass over/through the charcoal before it hit the pond.
VbSparky... I don't know about NY, but it Texas with the heat those fish would be floating in no time if the depth was only 8 inches. Also, you won't be able to over-winter in it for sure, but I guess you already know that. Here it has to be at least 2 foot with moving water to survive. Always keep your waterfall or pump running, and don't over feed. You mentioned having a biofilter; get a good bacterial product to get your organizisms working for you. The filters do not need to be cleaned unless they are extra loaded with debris, it will throw off your biological balance. We were constantly cleaning ours at first, until someone advised us. It caused more problems than it helped.
Hope you can figure out the problem, don't give up.
Sheila in TX
This message was edited Aug 24, 2005 6:48 AM