help my fish are dying

[cinder]

I have about a 500 maybe 600 gal pond. It has a water fall and also a urn vase with media also connected to a different pump. I also have added a 2 stone aerator . Since the 4TH of July i've lost 7 fish. Not all at once on the 5 th I lost 1 fish then the next morning another one died. On friday I lost 3 so I did a complete water change added the declorinator and the mIcroblift ph and they seemed fine until on Sunday I lost another one. He didn't look to healthy so I guess I wasn't surprised. I took a water sample into the pond store I deal with and they said it was fine. They looked at the fish and they didn't appear to be sick. They told me to treat the water with broad spectrum so I did and did a 25% water change twice. But today again another fish has died. I went to a local pet shop for some fresh food for the fish because although my food wasn't old I wanted to make sure that nothing was wrong with the stuff I had. The woman at the pet shop said alot of people from my area are saying the same thing . There fish are dying. Any body have any suggestions? ? I've had 3of my fish for at least 3 years and all the others were babies of the fish. The 3original fish are still ok but I don't want to lose them also. They are the shubunkins.

 

[sissy]

do you have a liquid water test kit like API .Also what are the temps of your water .

 

[cinder]

No I have the test strips but when I took s a sample to the store they said it was fine. And the temp is about 70

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

How many fish do you have, or how many did you start out with? What size are they? Have you noticed any unusualy behavior among these or any of your other fish -- like gasping for air, swimming irratically.....? Have you recently done anything different or have you added any new fish? Do you get run off from your yard that goes in the pond? And as Sissy asked, do you have a water test kit?

 

[cinder]

I started with 3 and they had babies so I had 12 total the 3 I started with are about 8 inches the rest were from 5 inches to just maybe about 3 inches. I only noticed 1 fish grasping for air but that wasn't the first fish that died. I haven't added any new fish or added anything different except a little of the barley extract . I was getting some string algae and I really hate to add harsh chemicals. I really don't get any runoff from the yard it's close to the house and the gutters go down the drive not in the direction of the pond . No water test kit just test strips.

 

[CometKeith]

I'm sorry about your fish. Usually if you find fish dead in the morning it's because of low dissolved oxygen in the pond. A lot of times this hits long time pond owners as their fish get larger. It can be very dramatic with a lot of fish dieing at once. I would do anything possible to get your water moving as much as possible. Also keep in mind that the most oxygenated water is at a thin layer at the top. When you do water changes you can disturb that and you may be adding less oxygenated water than whats in your pond currently. Also sometimes an excessive amount of plants can reduce oxygen concentrations either by covering the pond too much and inhibiting gas exchange or using up oxygen at night. This is a pretty dramatic example but a local zoo lost 54 stingrays in just a few minutes this week when O2 levels dropped where they were contained. http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/12/us/dead-stingrays-chicago-zoo/

 

[cinder]

Good morning and thanks for info. I never really find them in the morning usually later in the day. And I usually see them all. This morning when I checked the pond the 3original fish and 1of the babies were swimming as normal!! Chasing each other and tugging on the plants 1of the other babies although he wasn't at the top gulping for air he looked a little sluggish. But he was swimming around. I did test the water and everything seems ok. I'm really at a loss. I have water lettuce and hacyinates but they only cover less then half the pond . Last year I had more than that and I didn't have a problem then. Although i have my pond for about 7 years I originally had a pre formed. Last year we flooded and I replaced with a liner and its bigger now. I've never lost any fish so I'm really looking for any help I can get. Thanks again

 

[Dave 54]

I'm sorry about your fish. Usually if you find fish dead in the morning it's because of low dissolved oxygen in the pond. A lot of times this hits long time pond owners as their fish get larger. It can be very dramatic with a lot of fish dieing at once. I would do anything possible to get your water moving as much as possible. Also keep in mind that the most oxygenated water is at a thin layer at the top. When you do water changes you can disturb that and you may be adding less oxygenated water than whats in your pond currently. Also sometimes an excessive amount of plants can reduce oxygen concentrations either by covering the pond too much and inhibiting gas exchange or using up oxygen at night. This is a pretty dramatic example but a local zoo lost 54 stingrays in just a few minutes this week when O2 levels dropped where they were contained. http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/12/us/dead-stingrays-chicago-zoo/

I have to agree with Comet keith on this one its the only explanation I can think of too for such ddramatic losses like this as heart rending as it is see bellow :-

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/wkrec/LowOxygenandPondAeration.htm

Dave

 

[cinder]

I've added a 2 stone aerator and I have 2 pumps running , do I need to put a fountain in there also?? Will that help? I guess since I have never had any problems like this I'm confused and I'm trying to understand my problem so I can fix it. Any info is greatly appreciated.

 

[MariaTeresa]

If many people in the area are experiencing the same problem (as the woman at the pet shop said), perhaps the town was spraying chemicals recently? I know that here they will sometimes use planes to spray for mosquito control.

 

[cinder]

If that is the case can anything be done to save the remaining fish?

 

[Rach]

It's very sad, I had the same issue. Lost 12 fish over a few weeks. I tested the water for everything, all fine. I had experts come round and said even though I saw a couple of fish acting as if lack of oxygen in his opinion it wouldn't be as I have a shallow stream where the water runs over small slate clippings oxygenating the water as it passes down. I watched them closely separating any slow looking ones and eventually it stopped. Lost 14 and had 9'left. I also treated it for sick fish with product from shop.
No idea to,this day what it was and fingers crossed not more incidents

 

[cinder]

Thanks for info . I was thinking I was doing something wrong. But hopefully it levels out . I really hate to lose any more . I'm sorry you also lost so many fish but thanks for sharing.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I have to second the idea that this is a chemically induced problem. The fact that it has involved several ponds in the area strongly points in that direction. Low Oxygen levels rarely occur in garden ponds and when they do they are rarely low enough to cause a problem if the pond fish are Carp (Koi) or Goldfish, both of which are well documented in their tolerance of extremely low (3 mg/L) Oxygen levels. Goldfish have been known to survive for hours in a completely anoxic environment.

 

[Mmathis]

Have you done a water change?