Hello -
New to the forum - I am come here a very sad man. Something terrible happened to my pond/fish and I am not sure what the root cause is... it could be several things. I am at a point where I need to accept that they are all going to perish and think about how to move on. Let me say that having a place to come and write about this and hopefully have someone listen is very helpful.
History/info of pond:
- Small pond, all goldfish, about 150 - 175 gallons w/ waterfall.
- Was already in the house when we moved here in 2009 (not sure when it was originally installed although I think around 2000)
- All died once when a horrible pond service company cleaned the pond while I was away - they claimed the pump burned out so they left them w/o oxygen overnight. When I got back the next day the were all dead.I was devastated. I vowed at that time to take a more active role and never let anything like that happen again... now this.
Here a succinct version of how this unfolded:
Last weekend, I saw one laying on the bottom sideways - when you would try to retrieve him, he would swim off quickly. Things have gotten mush worse. One week later and about 9 of 14 have died (and they will soon all be gone). When I first noticed some were getting listless and not eating, I called the guy that used to care for the pond to help me (he is very good/reliable) - he came out right away, and they pH was spiked (they looked like they could't breathe). We gave them salt baths, moved them to a holding tank with multiple aerators - then drained the pond and washed the rocks and lily pads, and replaced with water from hose (well water). Fish looked better in holding tank but not 100%. We put them back in the pond when the temp warmed up and as I said, it's been a slow loss of fish each day. After the water change, the chemistry was perfect except for hardness (our well water is notoriously hard) so the pond guy had me adding salt. He has said that the hardness would not be killing them like this. The big ones died first - several little ones still seem very healthy and eat, but the larger the fish the more quick the death. Frogs still seems to enjoy the water.
Now to possible root causes:
I wish I could say i have no idea what happened, but I have some guesses.
1) Carnival fish - my wife (not blaming her) won 3 goldfish at a fair for our 2 year old son. I texted the pond guy to ask him if I could put them in the pond. He said they "should" be all right. So they were recently added - when we cleaned the pond, we never found them dead or alive. Did they bring a sickness to the pond. I
2) Gloves - I could literally beat myself in the head if this is the reason. I had some severe cuts on my hands so I wanted to wear gloves when I was pulling out the dead lilly pads and backwashing... so I grabbed gloves in the garage. I realize now that about 2.5/3 years ago I used those glove to spray some budding poplar trees that we had removed. I think I washed them after that but can't remember - needless to say, this has me worried, but if that was it, why not all the fish die at once, why are some still ok?
3) Spray - ok, so for 5 years I have never sprayed anything in the back yard (for weedkiller). Everyone told me I was crazy. So I did spot spray somewhat near the pond w/ Roundup. I have already read how that could have been a mistake but hear me out. I only sprayed very little and very close to the mulch. I had done this exact thing before (this season) with no repercussions. The pond guy is telling that it could have run down the hill into the pond when it rained. I talked to another pond guy that says he sprays Roundup and Trimec (so stronger commercial grade spray) near his pond all the time and never lost a fish. I am not ruling it out as the culprit and I know now it's never a good idea, so I won't do it again. Also, my neighbor sprays too... but again, he's done that since 2009 w/o issue.
4) Pond Clarifier - All last year I added 3/4 cup of pond clarifier after I backwashed and cleaned. Never had one issue. The pond guy said that's too much and this could have spiked the pH with the weird cool/wet weather we had. It's just another theory but why would they continue to die after we changed the water?
5) Food - could my food have gone bad? It sits in the island in our kitchen in a plastic container that has never been used for anything except that food - and they had been eating from this batch of food for weeks without a problem.
I know how much people are into fish here, and I know I made mistakes, trust me, I feel absolutely awful about this. I am 42 years old and was teared up last night when talking to my wife trying to figure this out. I work many long hours and so does she and we're trying to balance a young son - I am only saying that to give some context as to why I was spraying and doing something stupid like using random gloves - my head is not 100% in the pond space all the time. These fish made it through the harshest Winter you could imagine here in Pennsylvania - but then this.
What I am hoping to gain from this post:
Root cause: based on the info I provided can any one w/ expertise possibly deduce what happened? Are there any clues that I should look for that would point to the smoking gun?
Starting over: I want to make this right. I plan to divert any rain water that comes down the hill from possibly draining into the pond from the mulch - again, this has been happening for years w/o issue but I need to eliminate risk. Also, assuming we lose the rest of the fish, I will drain the pond, powerwash it, clean the filter/pump, and replace the lilly pads - to me, that is truly starting over but that's only my assessment. What are some recommendations for how to safely start again? What am I missing?
This is a very long post - thanks a ton to anyone that gives their time to helping me - so much appreciated.
Chris.
New to the forum - I am come here a very sad man. Something terrible happened to my pond/fish and I am not sure what the root cause is... it could be several things. I am at a point where I need to accept that they are all going to perish and think about how to move on. Let me say that having a place to come and write about this and hopefully have someone listen is very helpful.
History/info of pond:
- Small pond, all goldfish, about 150 - 175 gallons w/ waterfall.
- Was already in the house when we moved here in 2009 (not sure when it was originally installed although I think around 2000)
- All died once when a horrible pond service company cleaned the pond while I was away - they claimed the pump burned out so they left them w/o oxygen overnight. When I got back the next day the were all dead.I was devastated. I vowed at that time to take a more active role and never let anything like that happen again... now this.
Here a succinct version of how this unfolded:
Last weekend, I saw one laying on the bottom sideways - when you would try to retrieve him, he would swim off quickly. Things have gotten mush worse. One week later and about 9 of 14 have died (and they will soon all be gone). When I first noticed some were getting listless and not eating, I called the guy that used to care for the pond to help me (he is very good/reliable) - he came out right away, and they pH was spiked (they looked like they could't breathe). We gave them salt baths, moved them to a holding tank with multiple aerators - then drained the pond and washed the rocks and lily pads, and replaced with water from hose (well water). Fish looked better in holding tank but not 100%. We put them back in the pond when the temp warmed up and as I said, it's been a slow loss of fish each day. After the water change, the chemistry was perfect except for hardness (our well water is notoriously hard) so the pond guy had me adding salt. He has said that the hardness would not be killing them like this. The big ones died first - several little ones still seem very healthy and eat, but the larger the fish the more quick the death. Frogs still seems to enjoy the water.
Now to possible root causes:
I wish I could say i have no idea what happened, but I have some guesses.
1) Carnival fish - my wife (not blaming her) won 3 goldfish at a fair for our 2 year old son. I texted the pond guy to ask him if I could put them in the pond. He said they "should" be all right. So they were recently added - when we cleaned the pond, we never found them dead or alive. Did they bring a sickness to the pond. I
2) Gloves - I could literally beat myself in the head if this is the reason. I had some severe cuts on my hands so I wanted to wear gloves when I was pulling out the dead lilly pads and backwashing... so I grabbed gloves in the garage. I realize now that about 2.5/3 years ago I used those glove to spray some budding poplar trees that we had removed. I think I washed them after that but can't remember - needless to say, this has me worried, but if that was it, why not all the fish die at once, why are some still ok?
3) Spray - ok, so for 5 years I have never sprayed anything in the back yard (for weedkiller). Everyone told me I was crazy. So I did spot spray somewhat near the pond w/ Roundup. I have already read how that could have been a mistake but hear me out. I only sprayed very little and very close to the mulch. I had done this exact thing before (this season) with no repercussions. The pond guy is telling that it could have run down the hill into the pond when it rained. I talked to another pond guy that says he sprays Roundup and Trimec (so stronger commercial grade spray) near his pond all the time and never lost a fish. I am not ruling it out as the culprit and I know now it's never a good idea, so I won't do it again. Also, my neighbor sprays too... but again, he's done that since 2009 w/o issue.
4) Pond Clarifier - All last year I added 3/4 cup of pond clarifier after I backwashed and cleaned. Never had one issue. The pond guy said that's too much and this could have spiked the pH with the weird cool/wet weather we had. It's just another theory but why would they continue to die after we changed the water?
5) Food - could my food have gone bad? It sits in the island in our kitchen in a plastic container that has never been used for anything except that food - and they had been eating from this batch of food for weeks without a problem.
I know how much people are into fish here, and I know I made mistakes, trust me, I feel absolutely awful about this. I am 42 years old and was teared up last night when talking to my wife trying to figure this out. I work many long hours and so does she and we're trying to balance a young son - I am only saying that to give some context as to why I was spraying and doing something stupid like using random gloves - my head is not 100% in the pond space all the time. These fish made it through the harshest Winter you could imagine here in Pennsylvania - but then this.
What I am hoping to gain from this post:
Root cause: based on the info I provided can any one w/ expertise possibly deduce what happened? Are there any clues that I should look for that would point to the smoking gun?
Starting over: I want to make this right. I plan to divert any rain water that comes down the hill from possibly draining into the pond from the mulch - again, this has been happening for years w/o issue but I need to eliminate risk. Also, assuming we lose the rest of the fish, I will drain the pond, powerwash it, clean the filter/pump, and replace the lilly pads - to me, that is truly starting over but that's only my assessment. What are some recommendations for how to safely start again? What am I missing?
This is a very long post - thanks a ton to anyone that gives their time to helping me - so much appreciated.
Chris.