Dead Fish - Algae and Gills

[Andy41]

Hi,

I noticed a fish in the pond today that looked very unhealthy, with Algae growing on his back in a thick matt.

When i removed him from the pond for a salt bath i noticed that the Gill flap on one side of him was completely missing, and he looked generally in poor shape, so i decided to put him out of his misery.

I've got one other fish that has the algae growing on the back, but it's just a light covering at the moment, nothing like this guy, and the fish is swimming around normally which means haven't caught him yet.
Here's a couple of pics of the dead fish.

Has anyone seen stuff like this before?

cheers,

Andy.

 

[sissy]

never have I seen that ,have you tested your water ,something has to be wrong there

 

[Tula]

I've never see it before either I'm so sorry for the loss of your fish. Could it be a fungus of some type. The missing gill plate almost sounds like a bacterial infection though.

I'll be following this thread to see what we learn.

 

[SouthernCross]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Could the culprit be saprolegniosis?

The article linked below mentioned a green fungus:

http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/disease-prevention/second-is-fungus.aspx

 

[Tula]

It does sound like it could be this, especially the description of the dead skin falling away....like the gill plate on your fish.

 

[Mmathis]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Could the culprit be saprolegniosis?

The article linked below mentioned a green fungus:

http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/disease-prevention/second-is-fungus.aspx

Well written article, in that it addresses that "diseases" are opportunistic, and are a symptom of a larger problem (interesting, though, that the writer didn't address the 9 or so GF that this poster has in a 20 gal. tank...).

 

[Dave 54]

Hi Andy god I dont know I take half a day off and you come up with this problem .
Ok I'm no detective here and I think I've picked up on something else namely what looks to be like what we call gill rot or sticky gills which would tie in with your other problems you have presented with over the last few months and there is a common denominator connecting all of these problems , you have water quality issues that need to be addressed asap
When was the last time you did filter maintenance water changes etc your going to have to put togther a rolling maintenance and water change program that you must make time for and do
What are all your water perameters your going to have to buy a pond drop test kit not the strip kit as it seem's to be leading you astray somewhat .?
We need to get things back on track , the fish that is also effected needs a salt bath as you did with the koi that had the same problem a while back, if you remember?
You need to locate the problem that is causing you to have repeted issues, be that your filters coupled with perhaps an out of date UV-C bulb and lack of waterchanges , I dont know its not my pond your the man on the scene tell me whats going on so I can visualize Please my friend ?

Dave

 

[Andy41]

Hi Dave,

I don't want you getting bored!

The filter (a 300 liter stone/gravel filter) gets cleaned once a week by back flushing and running compressed air through it. Half of the water from the stone filter then goes through another 300 litre barrel (this time filled with sponges) to act as a bio filter, and the other half is gravity fed into a bog garden.

The pond is 21000 litre, so the only water change that is done is when the filter is cleaned. I lose about 600 litres (which i use for watering the plants) and that is then replaced with water from the mains. The filter runs for 14 hours a day (8am - 10pm).

I'll buy myself a water testing kit. The strips say everything is ok, but you might be right.

The weather has warmed up quickly in the last week and i've got a lot of algae coming to the surface of the pond at the moment, but this problem existed before that, so i doubt it's connected.

The UV bulb was replaced in April, so that shouldn't be a problem.

If i can catch the other fish then i'll give him a salt bath as well.

cheers,

Andy.

 

[Andy41]

@SouthernCross... thanks for the link.

 

[Dave 54]

Hi Dave,

I don't want you getting bored!

The filter (a 300 liter stone/gravel filter) gets cleaned once a week by back flushing and running compressed air through it. Half of the water from the stone filter then goes through another 300 litre barrel (this time filled with sponges) to act as a bio filter, and the other half is gravity fed into a bog garden.
Your running your filter between

The pond is 21000 litre, so the only water change that is done is when the filter is cleaned. I lose about 600 litres (which i use for watering the plants) and that is then replaced with water from the mains. The filter runs for 14 hours a day (8am - 10pm).

I'll buy myself a water testing kit. The strips say everything is ok, but you might be right.

The weather has warmed up quickly in the last week and i've got a lot of algae coming to the surface of the pond at the moment, but this problem existed before that, so i doubt it's connected.

The UV bulb was replaced in April, so that shouldn't be a problem.

If i can catch the other fish then i'll give him a salt bath as well.

cheers,

Andy.

We have to get on top of this Andy and pretty rapidly too my friend otherwise your going to have more losses , I dont know what test kits your going to buy but Tetra or API do good ones for the pond .
JBL is a more complicated kit that costs alot of money to buy and even more for the replacement kits themselves and is a german make but personally stick to either of the above.
Next get your dealer friend out there to see ifhe can identifiy just whats causing all your problems .
Hang on a moment your running your filter for 14 hours a day why do you do that please mate (this is your problem) filters should be run 24/7 365 days a year , this may be the smoking gun here Andy ?
By running the filter only 14 hours a day your effectively killing your beneficial bacteria off in the filter then when you switch on again all this is being flushed into the pond .
From now on run it 24/7 and is most probably the cause of all your problems , its a bit like disconecting your toilet then flushing it "all the crap will get flushed over the floor yes" so we know not to do this, well in this case its all being flushed back into the pond and your fish are having to live as best they can in the water thats being supplied to them.
Plan of action for today , buy some microbe_lift PL filter pad innoculent , then strip out your filter pressure wash all your filter sponges and dose with the Microbe_lift PL then leave this all running 24/7 pay attention to what it says on the instructions then follow them closely
Next plan read some material about the correct running of aa pond like with the eBook I sent to you another good one would be the Interpet Manual of fish health or also as your keeping both The Interpet Manual of koi Health then impliment their teachings
Boy am I looking forwards to that (those) pints your going to have to buy me here might even work out to be a run down the Strasse in a minute and may i remind you beer is getting expensive mate here in the UK

Dave

 

[Andy41]

ok, i'll keep it going 24/7 and see if that helps.

I'll bring a crate of beer with me for all the help you've given me on here.

cheers,

Andy.

 

[Dave 54]

Think nothing of it my friend once we get this ironed out things should pick up for the better dont forget you'll need to clean your filter out the one holding the sponges then give then a good clean , the Microbe_lift PL should give you the bacterial base you'll need for that filter in the mean time concentrate on getting this right one step at a time
We have to think about the fish that needs helping as well as your filters , I take it the other is a bead filter or presure filter yes ?
Weve hopefully found your smoking gun , why turn off the filters though mate ?
Got to do my own maintenance today , the weather here is at the moment rather inclement hopefully though the sun should shine through later today as the waterchange bit takes some time


Dave

 

[Andy41]

@Dave - Just did the test stipe check and got this. :

ph=7.2
KH=6d
GH=7d
N)2=NO3=0

The reason for turning off the pump during the night? One of the neighbours complanied about the bubbling sound during the night. I've adjusted it a couple of times, but there's just no way to remove all the air from a gravity fed system, and it bubbles a bit when it goes back in the pond.

By the way, how much water do you recommend changing, and how often?

cheers,

Andy.

 

[Dave 54]

My setup is 1.000 gallons imperial and I do a partial water change once a week of around about 40% of my water.
Now dont get me wrong here Andy but what style windows do they have out in Austria, double or treble glazed would be my best bet yes ?
Then there is no way a neighbour could her the water bubbling , basically we had this ourselves in our last flat and the guy next door "above", was convinced he could hear and was being distubed by our tanks to the point he was gong to report us to PCC for excessive noise .
So one day I went to see him and told Val that she should switch all the airpumps to the systems then Val came in and I said to Gary I can understand your problem but there is no noise that I can hear from your flat , to which he snapped back yes there is I can hear it now :MAD: .
So at that Val turned around and said you can , he said yes so she said well thats funny I turned everythng off 5 minutes ago then took him down stairs to show him "end of our problem",
It seems some people are jobsworths or perhaps jelous so let them complain about the noise because there isnt a noise abatement officer who would say your creating exessive noise because you cant be.
Even if you have to turn the airpump down a peg at night you'd still not creating that much in the way of noise my friend perhaps thats your way forwards but personally with the weather warming up your going to need the air in the pond I'd say screw em mate its your home your garden and its your rght to do what you like in them within reason and a pond bubbler is within reason thats if you want to keep your fish healthy .
I doubt wether the bubbles cause much in the way of noise polution perhap gasump the person complaining and ask the noise abatement people to take a deceble reading they would come down on your side not their's:MAD: I recon
As to your readings Andy I dont trust the test strips give them too me drop kit yes and then I'll trust them.

Dave

 

[Andy41]

@Dave... This isn't related to the dead fish... at least i hope not,... but to the big Koi.

I've noticed she's been flashing over the last few days, and today jumping out of the water quite a bit. She's also taken to hiding herself more, and has lost interest in food. I'd put this down to spawning, but search the forums here it sounds like it's either water quality or Parasites... when do you think?

cheers,

Andy.