Indoor pond and sick catfish

[MarinaDelRay]

Hello all,

My family has an indoor pond in our atrium that we have had a couple years with about 7 fish including catfish, koi, goldfish and Chinese hi fin sharks. No plants. We have it filtered with activated charcoal and a waterfall to keep it oxygenated. Here recently we had one of our catfish die so we changed the water 10 days ago. Now the other catfish which normally is yellowish in color is more white with scratches on its side, white sores growing and peeling of the skin. We changed the water again yesterday but the fish don’t want to eat and hanging around the catfish. We checked the pH, alkalinity, hardness, etc and it is all pretty normal. pH is 7.2 alkalinity was kind of high but I think that is due to the fact that we have hard water. Attached are some pictures. Can anyone please help? Don’t want to loose another fish

 

[mrsclem]

Hello

Hello all,

My family has an indoor pond in our atrium that we have had a couple years with about 7 fish including catfish, koi, goldfish and Chinese hi fin sharks. No plants. We have it filtered with activated charcoal and a waterfall to keep it oxygenated. Here recently we had one of our catfish die so we changed the water 10 days ago. Now the other catfish which normally is yellowish in color is more white with scratches on its side, white sores growing and peeling of the skin. We changed the water again yesterday but the fish don’t want to eat and hanging around the catfish. We checked the pH, alkalinity, hardness, etc and it is all pretty normal. pH is 7.2 alkalinity was kind of high but I think that is due to the fact that we have hard water. Attached are some pictures. Can anyone please help? Don’t want to loose another fish

Hello MarinaDel Ray- sorry you lost a fish. How large is the pond and do you have any type of filtration besides the charcoal? What size are the remaining fish?

 

[Tula]

Welcome , sorry about the loss of your catfish. @mrsclem asks good questions that will help members assist you. Are you adding dechlorinator when you do these water changes? How much water are you changing at one time?

 

[j.w]

@MarinaDelRay
Looks almost like the fish has injured itself by scrapes on rocks and now it has infection or fungus growing. I am just guessing tho and hope someone w/ disease experience can help you better.

 

[MarinaDelRay]

Hello thank you for your responses. We have a filtration system that has filters and UV light as well. We more recently added the charcoal to the system, about a month and half ago. The tank is an odd shape. Roughly about 300 gallons. It is 4 feet wide by 3 feet in one section (the middle), 2 feet wide by 2 feet in another (the left side), and a foot wide by 2 feet on the right side. Its about a foot deep throughout. The other fish are 10 inches (koi), hi fin shark is about 3 inches, and the other 3 are about 4-6 inches. We are on well water, not city so there isn't any chlorine. We have not been adding any dechlorinator. When we do the water changes we do about 2/3 of the water. We add water with one hose as we take out with another.
There are some rocks with some sharper corners and the catfish likes to hide in them. He is about 10-12 inches and he used to fit in that area alot better when he was smaller.

 

[mrsclem]

I think that is your problem. Your fish were small and have grown! Guessing your filters cannot keep the water healthy. Koi get big, fast! 300 gallon if fine for a few goldfish but way too small for koi and catfish. How do the other fish look?

 

[MarinaDelRay]

They are all healthy and happy swim around and all.

 

[Lisak1]

Obviously they are not all healthy - you have one dead fish and at least one more that is sick, sad to say. And sick fish are definitely not happy. Things will only get worse as your fish continue to grow. What made you decide to add the charcoal to your filter? When you change the water do you treat for chlorine? Are you checking for ammonia or nitrates in your water testing?

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group!

All good ?'s above. I tend to think you have too many fish for your pond as they have now grown in size.

 

[Faebinder]

300 gallons for that many fish is just a recipe for death even though the fish are currently small sized. I bet their growth rate is slowed down by this too.

 

[JamieB]

It’s time to build a bigger pond. You need roughly 1000 gallons per koi, for it to have enough water to dilute all the waste, plus filtration. I’d guess the catfish will require about the same. You can research various ways to make an indoor pond, and I’d suggest you add in a small bog with waterfall, the bog will filter, provided you have plants in it, and the waterfall will oxygenate the water.

 

[JamieB]

Meanwhile, set up a big tote, the bigger the better, with 1/2 water from your pond, half fresh dechlorinated water, and a good pump/ filter. Move your sick fish over, and look it over carefully. I’d start off by just adding stress coat, then let us know if it’s got odd growth of white spots that look like it has sand or salt, white tufts, or anything else like that.

 

[SherrysPond]

You need a much bigger pond for those fish

 

[Lisak1]

I wonder if this will be one of those times that the poster hears what they don't want to hear and ghosts. It can be hard to get advice you weren't anticipating or that goes counter to your plans. But hopefully the comments will be taken in the spirit they were intended - to help the poster enjoy a healthy pond and to help the fish get into a suitable environment.

@MarinaDelRay - hope you're still reading!

 

[Mmathis]

@markjlemmon The thread you have posted to is almost a year old, and I don’t think that the OP has been back with us since then.

But hello and welcome! Why not go over to our “introductions “ topic and tell us about yourself and your ponding experiences! And we love to see pictures of other’s ponds, too! You seem to have some knowledge of ponds. Do you have a pond?