Fish acting lethargic

[Meyer Jordan]

Strips.

Thought so. How long have you had them?
Strips are good for ball park readings. They are not very accurate and will lose testing integrity with age, especially if in humid conditions.
Invest in an API Master Test kit. These are liquid reagent tests and are much more accurate with a much longer shelf life.

 

[Jetta]

What's the temperature of the water? Cooler water temps will slow your fish down.

And just one suggestion - adding chemicals to the water when you are already concerned about your fish may not be the best approach. What do you mean by "water conditioner"? Bacteria probably won't hurt anything, but I don't know how it would help either.

Sorry just saw this one and the water temps have stayed in the 70s most of the week, today they were closer to 80 with the heat we've had the past few days.

 

[Jetta]

Thought so. How long have you had them?
Strips are good for ball park readings. They are not very accurate and will lose testing integrity with age, especially if in humid conditions.
Invest in an API Master Test kit. These are liquid reagent tests and are much more accurate with a much longer shelf life.

Ordered one yesterday! After I got back a chlorine reading I was worried they may have lost their ability to read! I'm in Mississippi so humidity is a lifestyle!

 

[Jetta]

The pond or tank doesn't cycle without a source of ammonia such as fish (or by adding ammonia while doing a fish less cycle)

You could (or should have) moved the filter from the stock tank as well as the fish on the same day/time. If you moved the filter without the fish there would be no source of ammonia to keep it going.

I have two pumps and had two filters, I put the larger one in the new pond and filled my new filtration tank with old medium. And that was done the day of the move. I had the pump in there bare for several days to gas off any chlorine, Even though I used dechlor.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Gotcha

Maybe that's why you didn't get an ammonia reading. Just a bit of nitrite (which is less toxic than ammonia but can still be dangerous to the fish )

Hang in there, hopefully this will get over with quick and your fish will be back to normal soon.

One thing I forgot to mention though, if you are still feeding I would stop. At least until you no longer have any nitrite reading. When you do start again do so lightly and slowly.

 

[Jetta]

Thanks

 

[IPA]

@Jetta , I threw out 3 jars of strips recently. One was for pools and had free chlorine and tested zero on tap water, maybe chloramine doesn't show, but gave me concern after reading about the accuracy of strips, if anything was accurate. Good job ordering a proper kit. Any improvement in their behavior?

 

[Jetta]

@Jetta , I threw out 3 jars of strips recently. One was for pools and had free chlorine and tested zero on tap water, maybe chloramine doesn't show, but gave me concern after reading about the accuracy of strips, if anything was accurate. Good job ordering a proper kit. Any improvement in their behavior?

Not yet, they are all mostly lethargic, with one still sitting on bottom. Every once in while they will come to the surface, but mostly they are staying deep.

 

[IPA]

@Jetta , I am looking at pool liners and finding a lot, like most, treated with fungicides and all kinds of stuff bad for fishy stuff. Can you get them back in the stock tank ASAP unless you can verify with the manufacturer, not supplier, that it is untreated liner? I just don't think that they would be acting this way from a cycle alone especially if you are showing 0 ammonia. I don't know what to tell you about the water, 100% change might be too drastic, I'm pretty sure I had fish surviving in poor water and when added to good water died immediately. Tropical fish. But I am leaning heavily towards the liner being the problem.
I think you need all the expert advice here on what to do if the liner is the issue.

 

[IPA]

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=7615

 

[IPA]

When adding dechlorinator (any type) if you are adding water straight to the pond from a hose you need to treat for the total volume of pond water (not just the amount of water added)

Is this correct? what percentage of chlorinated water can I add without having to add any dechlorinator?
@Jetta , any update, I hope you fish are ok.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Yes, it is correct. Not sure how much is safe to add with out dechlorinator as I always use it. Not worth risking my fish to save a little money.

 

[Jetta]

Sorry about the no updates, everything is still the same, water is green though so hopefully we are cycling ok. All my levels are wnl. Fish are still alive though.

 

[IPA]

Sorry about the no updates, everything is still the same, water is green though so hopefully we are cycling ok. All my levels are wnl. Fish are still alive though.

So fish are better and you think the liner is okay? I know you wanted EPDM so would be a good reason, and excuse, to upgrade.

 

[Jetta]

Yes, I've mentioned to my sweety that it might be the liner..... He's taking a wait and see approach too lol

 

[Jetta]

Another week in and my pond is super green lol. Yay! My fish are still lying low, but better. They are coming to the surface finally.

 

[Lisak1]

my pond is super green lol.

The fact that it's green makes me feel better - less chance that it's a treated liner that's causing your fish to have some issues!

 

[Jetta]

My one and only koi died yesterday, I came home and he was dead.... My other fish are acting fine right now, better than before. I have what appears to be ammonia burns on my fish, I'm not sure, it's just the only thing I can come up with from research. My ammonia levels have been 0 since the first initial reading. But my Goldie that is the biggest has a black spot on her back and a black fin. My sarosa isn't showing any signs of ill health, and I can't really tell on my spotted ones. Should I use melafix? Attaching photo to show what she looked like in June and now

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Ammonia burns the gills rendering them unable to absorb Oxygen, so the fish suffocates. Ammonia would need to be at extremely high levels to burn skin.
These black areas appear to be lesions/ulcers. These could be caused by many different vectors, but are now likely secondary bacterial infections. A full complete treatment with Melafix may staunch the progress of these infections. It is worth a try. If it fails the only other recourse is isolation treatment with a stronger antibiotic.such as Tetracycline. Medicated food is, sadly, no longer available without a veterinarian prescription.

 

[IPA]

My one and only koi died yesterday, I came home and he was dead.... My other fish are acting fine right now, better than before. I have what appears to be ammonia burns on my fish, I'm not sure, it's just the only thing I can come up with from research. My ammonia levels have been 0 since the first initial reading. But my Goldie that is the biggest has a black spot on her back and a black fin. My sarosa isn't showing any signs of ill health, and I can't really tell on my spotted ones. Should I use melafix? Attaching photo to show what she looked like in June and now

As you are probably aware, most illness outbreaks in pond and aquarium fish are due to poor water quality.
Please test ammonia, nitrite, and KH as a priority and then pH, nitrate and phosphate initially and occasionally until you get the water issues resolved. Also test the source water you are using and "over" aerate the pond.

Possible illness is Myxobacteriosis, a form of Columnaris. I don't know if you can get the medication Phenocide specifically to treat Myxobacteriosis; or treating for Columnaris is effective. You absolutely need to address the water quality issue and give your fish a fighting chance.

My opinion would be to begin a water change regiment until you can discover and fix the water quality issue.