Howdy Everyone

[L.S.]

I live in Texas and have an approximately 1,000 gallon pond. It is about 10 feet long and 4 feet wide but is an odd shape. The deepest area is 3 1/2 feet but I have a large shallow area also. I have about 12 goldfish that are about 3-5 inches. A waterfall provides aeration. I have had the pond for about 3 years. Within the past year I am starting to lose 1 goldfish every few months. The other ones all seem healthy and only 1 fish dies at a time. (There is one out there now that I believe is dying). I have used Pondcare test strips and all seems to be in range with no nitrates/nitrites. Water is crystal clear and I have a great filtration system. I don't understand why only 1 fish will die every few months and the others are fine? At our previous house (same town/same climate) I had a larger pond for 14 years with about 30 goldfish and I never had any die. Well, 1 or 2 over the years probably of old age, but nothing like I am seeing now with this pond. Anyway, I am sad to see another one of my beautiful fish out there dying! Anyone got any ideas on what would be causing this?

 

[Big Lou]

Welcome LS.

Do you regularly add water to your pond?
Do you use decholorinator?
Are there any signs of injuries to your dieing/dead goldfish?
What chemicals do you put in your pond?
Any toxic leaves, berries or such falling into your pond?
Is there a lot of debris on the bottom?
Please tell us about your pump and filter.
Pictures please. Photos are always welcome.

What part of Texas if you do not mind revealing? I ask because some of us may be able to reference you to pond shops that troubleshot just such issues.

 

[callingcolleen1]

is there any sign of injury? falling rocks can injure fish. Hard to say what it could be. Any sign of sickness. Are they scratching against rocks?

 

[addy1]

to our group

Do the fish show any signs of anything wrong, red gills, bumps, deformity etc?

 

[j.w]

L.S

 

[L.S.]

Hi Everyone-
Thanks for all the responses! To answer some of the questions....I do add water occasionall , but only a couple inches. Any more then that and I add dechlorinator. I do not put any chemicals into the pond. I guess you could say it's organic! There is a little debris from falling leaves but I do a pretty good job at removing them, so not much. Plus the water kit I have shows 0 Nitrates/nitrites. The pump and filter are Laguna brand and the pump is 2200/gal per hour or there about. The fish that is now dying and the other fish that have died so no signs of trauma. They look normal, except for being dead. . It is only 1 fish every couple months, however all the years in my old pond I never had that happen. The other fish are all happy and healthy, or appear to be. I do have pictures I took , but I am not the most computer savvy and will work on getting them loaded on here in my next post. Water is sparklinng clear.

 

[L.S.]

Hi Everyone-
Thanks for all the responses! To answer some of the questions....I do add water occasionall , but only a couple inches. Any more then that and I add dechlorinator. I do not put any chemicals into the pond. I guess you could say it's organic! There is a little debris from falling leaves but I do a pretty good job at removing them, so not much. Plus the water kit I have shows 0 Nitrates/nitrites. The pump and filter are Laguna brand and the pump is 2200/gal per hour or there about. The fish that is now dying and the other fish that have died so no signs of trauma. They look normal, except for being dead. . It is only 1 fish every couple months, however all the years in my old pond I never had that happen. The other fish are all happy and healthy, or appear to be. I do have pictures I took , but I am not the most computer savvy and will work on getting them loaded on here in my next post. Water is sparklinng clear.

I just was out at the pond and the sick fish was floating. Thought he was dead and netted him but he suddenly came back to life. However, when he was in the net, suddenly I saw that he does have an injury! Toward the back of his body there is a gash. A clean gash like a knife would make. You can see his flesh! The gash is about 3/4 of an inch long. I have good pictures, but I just got a new Galaxy phone and am having trouble downloading pics to here. Will keep trying.

 

[dieselplower]

Hello and welcome. Sorry to hear about your fish. Are there any sharp edges in the pond, for instance a plastic pot with sharp edge or something like that? Other than that I would suggest the beak of a bird or the claw of an animal? Having a shallow end allows predators a place to climb into the kind and hunt for easy prey. How many fish do you have in there and what size are they? Also, what is your ammonia reading? Ammonia is far more toxic to fish than nitrate, although I don't think this is currently your issue.

 

[Priscilla]

Hello and welcome! So sorry about your fish.

I have found the easiest way to get a picture from my phone to my computer is to email it to myself and then open the email on my computer and save the pictures on the computer. Fast easy simple.

Hope that helps you.

 

[L.S.]

Thanks Priscilla! I was able to use your suggestion and got this picture on here finally of my injured fish. Will get more pics of my pond for anyone interested but for now I wanted people to see my fish and his injury. This fish is about 4 or 5 inches long. Can no longer see him in the pond so I think he must be in the seaweed hiding or dead on the bottom. R.I.P.

 

[L.S.]

Thanks Priscilla! I was able to use your suggestion and got this picture on here finally of my injured fish. Will get more pics of my pond for anyone interested but for now I wanted people to see my fish and his injury. This fish is about 4 or 5 inches long. Can no longer see him in the pond so I think he must be in the seaweed hiding or dead on the bottom. R.I.P.

 

[L.S.]

Thanks Priscilla! I was able to use your suggestion and got this picture on here finally of my injured fish. Will get more pics of my pond for anyone interested but for now I wanted people to see my fish and his injury. This fish is about 4 or 5 inches long. Can no longer see him in the pond so I think he must be in the seaweed hiding or dead on the bottom. R.I.P.

Finally got the pond pics up, however some of them you have to look sideways I didn't see a rotate button. Ugh......I am going to have to learn better computer skills!

 

[addy1]

For some reason phone photos seem to like being sideways.

Nice clear water, great growing of the aracharnis, the fish must love it.

As far as the injury, do you have herons? Almost looks like it was stabbed at and missed. I had a heron grab a fish, drop it when I screamed at it (first time I found at we have herons in Maryland) the fish had a wound just like that.

 

[mtpond]

WELCOME L.S.!

 

[Guy]

Going on the fact that you never seem to have fish missing just injured I would probably look out for a skinny heron...........kidding, have you or the neighbours got cats?