Goldfish on its side

[Susan]

This is after the fact but I am curious. I have some large goldfish, several years old. Summer of 2014 one of them started lying on its side at the bottom of the pond. At first I thought it was dead but when I went to scoop it up it swam away. It was like this for several months: it fed enthusiastically but swam more like a tadpole than a fish. It made it through the winter with the other fish and lived until the summer of 2015. Then all of a sudden it died. I'm wondering what caused this? Don't want to lose any more: they are my pride and joy especially since a couple of years they had babies

 

[sissy]

do you test your water ,how big is the pond and what kind of filter do you use

 

[Susan]

do you test your water ,how big is the pond and what kind of filter do you use

It is a 60 gallon. I do not test the water. I have a Pondmaster filter/bubbler. I change the filter once a week.

 

[CometKeith]

Hmmm... 60 gallons sounds pretty small if the goldfish are large. I would suspect your water quality is not optimal and that is creating disease in your fish. What was okay a few years ago may not be sufficient now. For example a 10" fish produces 100 times more waste than a 2" fish.