Dead goldfish

[Amangum1231]

We just purchased a home and this pond was a part of the property. To our surprise, we had two huge koi, one smaller koi, and a beautiful goldfish. There were no instructions left by the former owner other than to feed the fish. I have lost two fish to date and the only thing I can think of is one of the turtles. I would not even know how to remedy the situation at this point.

 

[j.w]

@Amangum1231
Did the goldfish disappear or did you find the bodies? Could have been a heron, raccoon, hawk or ? Maybe set up a camera to see. I have a net over mine but your pond is huge! Not sure how to protect them.

 

[brokensword]

turtles can and do eat goldfish but it's not uncommon that they'll leave them alone. Especially in such a large pond, unless you have either sick/slow fish or a snapping turtle (which specializes in eating fish), it's probably not the turtle. You have a wide open pond which lends itself to predation from all sorts of critters, herons being the first to come to mind. Then there's hawks, egrets, raccoons, minks, otters, and owls. Did you find the dead fish or is it just missing? If you found it, did it look normal or was it decayed in some way that you might have a clue as to how it died? Fish do die, it's nature's way, and that might also be what happened. Need a bit more info, imo, to help further. If you have a predator like a heron, it'll be back.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome! There are a lot of reasons for fish to disappear.

 

[Amangum1231]

View attachment 137415@Amangum1231
Did the goldfish disappear or did you find the bodies? Could have been a heron, raccoon, hawk or ? Maybe set up a camera to see. I have a net over mine but your pond is huge! Not sure how to protect them.

I went out this morning to feed them and I was the goldfish floating in the water. This fish was right at 8 pounds and it has lived for years. I am so upset. My husband is going to try to see if there is a snapper in the pond by setting up a trap. I still have a tremendous white koi that I need to protect.

 

[brokensword]

I went out this morning to feed them and I was the goldfish floating in the water. This fish was right at 8 pounds and it has lived for years. I am so upset. My husband is going to try to see if there is a snapper in the pond by setting up a trap. I still have a tremendous white koi that I need to protect.

I doubt you have a snapper as it would have eaten the fish. That's what they do.

 

[Amangum1231]

I doubt you have a snapper as it would have eaten the fish. That's what they do.

I understand that part and we have just moved here and I did not talk with the sellers about the pond in detail. I find it odd this fish had survived for so long which is what breaks my heart. It was definitely a turtle by the markings on the fish. I have been around water habitats since I was a young child, but I have never seen these fish adapt to a dark water pond.

 

[j.w]

Well if it had bites out of it then I guess it was a turtle. Set the trap and see what happens.

 

[addy1]

I caught a snapper, used a treble hook, put shrimp on the hook, it took the bait. I slowly pulled it up, no harm to the snapper, then took it too a big farm pond. Took a few times before it hooked itself. I did not want to kill it but also did not want a snapper in the pond.