Help! Goldfish disoriented?

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Ok so I did my regular backwash of my lava rock that I do every couple months. I've done this a few times no issues. Tested my water and all parameters are great. (Nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, ph, etc.) My ph is high but I don't think that's the problem as it has been high for a while now without issue. Noticed three fish in my skimmer basket this evening that looked dead but when I picked them up they were still breathing and moving so I put them back into the pond. The began floating on their sides then erratically swimming in a disoriented and strange manner and curling their bodies. I took them out and put them in a bucket. Came back in ten mins and found 4 more fish exhibiting the same behavior. Removed them as well. Every ten mins or so another one or two would start doing this as well. I'm now up to 15 goldfish that seem to be sick or who knows what. All have been removed and are in a bucket. 4 have died. One of the ones that died looked bloated and a little beat up but the others don't seem to be "bloated" per say. The only thing I can come up with is maybe poisoning? My husband spread some tick/ pest killer granules in the yard today but he said he was very careful to not get it into the pond. My koi, minnows, shubunkin, and other the other goldfish seem to be under no stress at all and are acting completely normal. I tried attaching a video but it won't let me so attached a pic instead. Some are at the bottom, some at top, some on their sides or even upside down before going nuts swimming frantically shaking, gulping, and curling. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated! I'm scared to death I'm going to wake up to a pond full of dead fish in the morning!
 

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Terra,
I'm sorry this is happening to your fish, it's got to be upsetting. I'd do a water changes on the pond, adding dechlor, as it's possible some of the tick / pesticide granules got in the pond. Can you add an airstone to the fish you've placed in the bucket, they'd benefit from extra O2.
 
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Woke up this morning and three fish in the bucket were dead but the others looked normal and I put them back in the pond and they happily swam away. There were 4 more dead in the pond skimmer though :/ it's so strange that only about 20 fish were affected! But thankfully I was able to save about half.
 

mrsclem

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It might be a silly question but you said chemicals were applied to lawn and you cleaned lava rocks. Is it possible the lava rocks came in contact with the lawn? Weird thing happen.
 
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It might be a silly question but you said chemicals were applied to lawn and you cleaned lava rocks. Is it possible the lava rocks came in contact with the lawn? Weird thing happen.


I did the lava rock in the morning and the pest killer that evening. I think it is just so weird it only affected some of the fish. And only gold fish! So weird!
 
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I just saw this post. Hope all is well. It's likely that the insecticide got into your pond by air. I would have changed all the pond water after the spray or I would cover the pond during the spraying.
 

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