all the goldfish died....need some advise....how long to wait

[houseguitarshop]

In my small pond I put 4 fancy goldfish in. They were doing great atleast for 4 weeks in the pond no issues. Then I decided to pick up a couple little 15 cent feeder goldfish and I put them in.

Well it only took about two days then all the goldfish were dead. I pulled the last one out last night. I suspect it was a disease that only affected the goldfish. I have mosquito fish that are fine, and cory cats that are fine.

here is the description of the pond

Made up of two ponds, 5ftx3ft 20" deep and 6ftx4ft 30" deep. The small pond flows into the large pond connected by a small bog. there are also two smaller bogs filters and a small pool. total is around 300 gallons.

The temperature is around 70 degrees and the water is clear.

My question is. How long should I wait before putting a few fancy goldfish back in?



Other useful information:
* Water temperature? 70 degrees
* Pond size and how long has it been running? been running for 2 months
* What is the name and size of the filter(s)? homemade bog filters
* How often do you change the water and how much? 30 percent water change once a week
* How many days ago was the last water change and how much did you change? this week
* How many fish in the pond and their type? 8 cory cats, 4 mosquito fish
* What kind of water additives or conditioners have you used? Only de-chlor *total pond* and tap water
* What do you feed your fish and how often? once a week (flake)
* Any new fish added to the pond recently? feeder gold fish
* Any medications added to the pond? no
* List entire medication/treatment history for fish and pond
* Any unusual findings on the fish? no
* Any unusual behavior like staying at the bottom, not eating, etc.? is death and floating unusual behavior?

 

[rodsboys]

I've always found with new liners even after you broom/rinse the heck out of them you are never really "safe" till you get a good coating of algae on it. But it could be as you suspect that the feeders brought in some disease with them. Unfortunately if that were the case it will never really go away without some kind of treatment while fish are still in the pond. Perhaps you can catch the fish, quarantine them for 6 weeks, and if nothing happens to them you could try introducing fish again as the pond will likely be ok after a 6 week absence of fish to host disease.

 

[houseguitarshop]

thanks for the comments, there are no more gold fish in the pond. There are mosquito fish and cory cats. The mosquito fish breed in the pond already. Now there are lots of mosquito fish.

Would the mosquito fish and cory cats be able to carry the disease now that it is introduced to the pond? Or would it be a goldfish only thing.

I really do not want to treat the entire pond water, and getting the fish out would require a full drain & water change. I could completely drain the pond water into my a 72 gallon aquarium with overflow & sump that is setup in the basement, put the fish in the tank, then re-fill the pond with new water, and treat the fish in the aquarium.

to test, Ill probably buy another goldfish in a few weeks and put him in, if he dies, well..... then it is still present, and I need to do something, if he lives.......then it should be okay without doing anything

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Mosquito fish are known carriers of many diseases.

 

[Lisak1]

Well aren't you essentially quarantining your fish IN your pond? If you leave the ones you have and don't add any new fish, time will tell if they are going to be affected. Once you've passed the QT period of 4, 6 or 8 weeks, depending on your preference, then you could try to add new fish and see what happens. In the meantime, you could get some new goldfish and QT them in your aquarium - keep everyone separate for the QT period and once you're sure you aren't losing fish in the pond, you could introduce your new goldfish.

However, in the meantime I think your mosquito fish are going to breed like bunnies and you'll have more fish than your pond can handle. Are you sure you want mosquito fish in your pond?

 

[Nepen]

I would second waiting for at least 6 weeks. most parasite should not be able to continue their life cycle. And then try again.

 

[Lisak1]

I meant to add - I think you have a bigger pond than 300 gallons. I didn't run the calculator, but it sounds like more than 300 gallons to me. Important to know if you do end up treating your pond.

 

[Mmathis]

I want t thank you for posting the answers to all of those questions! All of that is information that is helpful when we try to help & figure out what's going on.

And as to that last question......um, sorry but I chuckled at your answer [no disrespect intended]. Yes, death & floating would be considered unusual, BUT what the question is getting at -- did you notice any unusual behavior BEFORE the death & floating part.

Were they flashing, gasping at the surface? Did they all die at once? Do you know if they died at any particular time of day -- like, did you find them dead in the morning?

Feeder fish have a reputation for not being the healthiest fish, since they are kept in over-crowded tanks with questionable water quality, etc. However, that's not to say they are all diseased. Most of us quarantine any new fish before we add them to the pond -- QT in a separate tank for up to 4 weeks [some do more, some do less]. And I have purchased feeders before that were perfectly healthy.

And if a pond is borderline stocked with fish, adding even a couple of new ones can upset the balance, esp. if the biofilter isn't fully cycled. Not saying that's what happened, though.

So sorry to hear! But hang in there!

 

[Dave 54]

Your mistake was to buy an add a feeder goldfish which are know vectors of disease and your problem you didnt think about QTing this feeder , you just went straight ahead as though QTing issnt neccessary which you have now found to your cost it is .
As Maggie has just said you may well by adding that one extra fish tipped the balence on a system that isnt fully cycled .
Sadly its been an expensive leason to learn but you wont go making it again .

Dave

 

[CometKeith]

Hi Sorry about your fish. Did you do any water tests? It is still a fairly new pond and you might have high ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate.Also do you have a lot of water movement and dissolved oxygen? Feeder fish are known to carry all sorts of diseases. If you would go to the store you bought them you might be surprised how many dead ones are taken out of the tank every morning. They are over crowded and over stressed and don't make a good addition to a new pond without qt first. Ypu don't need to sacrafice a fish to see if the pond is healtthy. You can watch the pond and wait at least 4 weeks to make sure more don't die and check the water parameters too. Also 70 degrees is a little hot. I would try cooling the pond with plants and anything else you can block the sun with.Good luck! We have all be there at one time just starting out.

 

[ronahalpern]

Ouch! Very sorry to hear about your dear fish!

 

[addy1]

Keith, 70 degrees hot? Mine runs 80 plus in the summer.

 

[CometKeith]

Hi Addy. I wasn't thinking of the water temp per se more by how much O2 it has. Higher temp water holds less dissolved oxygen. With all your streams and feeder ponds I'm sure your dissolved oxygen is very good but i would't be so sure of that for a newer pond. Does this make sense?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Keith, don't forget that Koi and Goldfish are two of the most tolerant fish of low DO levels.

 

[addy1]

Hi Addy. I wasn't thinking of the water temp per se more by how much O2 it has. Higher temp water holds less dissolved oxygen. With all your streams and feeder ponds I'm sure your dissolved oxygen is very good but i would't be so sure of that for a newer pond. Does this make sense?

I missed that! Thanks