dead fish

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my fish have survived in this small garden pond for over 3 years . they were tiny goldfish in the house and we aclimatised them to the pond. they are all six inches long now. yesterday i found one dead and today another. someone say the rocks could be to blame . I am wondering if it could be the plant leaves dropping in. the frogs are all fine .
 

addy1

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I doubt the rocks, after all this time, are causing an issue. If it was the rocks they would have died faster.

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JohnHuff

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Some more info would be helpful. How big is your pond? Do you feed the fish a lot, filter the water?
 
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Impossible to tell what kill the fish.

It's isn't unusual for small problems to accumulate as a pond gets older. The person saying the rocks are to blame may have been referring to a common concept of muck collecting in a pond due to rocks. This gets shorten to rocks = muck = bad. Muck is home to a bacteria that produces hydrogen sulfide which in high enough levels can kill fish.

However for ponds that are never cleaned, no vacuuming, no bottom drain system, etc., the same amount of muck collects whether there are rocks or not. Also, hydrogen sulfide at levels enough to kill fish normally kills every fish in the pond within a rather short time period. This is not normally seen with muck but instead when lots, I mean lots, of uneaten food accumulating. Muck isn't a rich source of food for the bacteria but fish food is. There are other organics that could provide lots of food, like fresh lawn clippings, etc.

Leaves normally aren't a huge problem, but can be for some leaves and the volume. This relates to pond size, number and size of fish, amount of water movement and temp. Leaves generally becomes a big problem once they start breaking down, and if you live in a cold climate it gets worst under the ice.

If you're interested in learning about what your pond might be up to the best place to start is at the beginning. And that is water testing. In order of importance imo... Ammonia, nitrite, KH, GH, pH, temp, salt, O2. The first 3 tell you 99% of what is needed to keep fish alive.
 
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Definitely need more info,
- size of pond
- gallons, depth
- location
- filtering system
- air bubbler
- plants
- recent weather conditions when the fish died
- did they die during night or day?
- were there any signs of distress like fish "gulping" at surface
- do you feed them? If so are they eating like normal?
- any signs of lesions or marks on the dead fish?

The death could have been anything from pond water chemistry, lack of O2, predators, disease, normal old age.

But I doubt very much if it was the rocks. It might of course depend on the type of rock you put in and when you put them in. Normally rocks are fine. Soft rocks like limestone, some shale, rocks with high iron ore or other trace mineral content might possibly cause problems. But probably not suddenly after 3 years and it would be doubtful if two fish would have died at almost the exact time, it would be more a chronic thing.

I would suspect something like pond chemistry or O2 levels.

Craig
 

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