Is this fin rot?

[jenniferva]

I have lost several shubunkin of various sizes in the last 2-3 weeks and a growing number of my fish look sick. I didn't notice anything physically wrong with the dead fish like sores or white patches, but I've only had a pond for two seasons and I'm not really sure what I'm looking at. After losing two fish, I removed a significant portion of my floating plants so I could see if other fish were having issues. I saw three immediate issues: a 12" fish just sitting in the shallow end/no movement, a 2" fish flashing a couple times, and another one having swim bladder issues. I tested my water's ammonia, nitrite, phosphate, pH, and KH levels. The KH was low (~106), but I've raised it. I thought the fish looked a little more lively today after raising the KH, but then I found a live little guy (1") in my skimmer with his fins largely gone and another large fish acting lethargic. I haven't seen one of my yellow ones for a couple days, which means he's probably hanging out in the fish caves at the bottom of the pond. After closer inspection tonight I noticed several large shubunkins showing rough tails with the one pictured the best picture I could get to show the trailing ribbon like piece of tail.

Is this fin rot? If so, what's the best treatment for a pond? I've read the recommendations to quarantine the sick fish in a holding tank, but I'm worried that at this point I need to treat the entire pond.

Pond details:
16'x11'x 3'
0 ppm Ammonia
0 ppm nitrite
0 ppm phosphate
7.5 pH
200 KH (I added too much baking soda I guess, but I read it doesn't hurt the fish to have it too high)

I treat the pond each Saturday with beneficial bacteria, sludge reducing packets. I had been adding barley concentrate weekly, but reread the label today and realized I've been overdosing by putting it in every week. I don't think that it could hurt the fish though.

Thanks for any advice.

Jen
Alexandria, VA

 

[mrsclem]

The first thing I would recommend is to stop adding any type of chemicals. What type of filtration do you have on your pond? Any fish added lately? Just goldfish and how many?

 

[Lisak1]

I'm with @mrsclem - I know the pond stores sell those products as "essential" but really they aren't. And they probably aren't the cause of you current issue, but hey, we just saved you some money!

From your picture it's hard to tell if it's fin rot or just damaged. Getting caught in a skimmer could do that, as could spawning activity. But since you are losing fish I would guess something is going on. Those test numbers all look good, but it is important to know how you are filtering and how many fish you have in the pond. Have you added any fish lately?

 

[Mmathis]

@jenniferva Just curious, but what are you using to test your water — a liquid test kit or strips? Do you think you could re-test and take a picture of the results? I know, that sounds a little dumb, to be asking you to do this, and it sounds like I don’t trust you — it’s not that at all, so please don’t take offense. Not knowing how many fish you have (and their sizes), it just seems odd that all your numbers would be so perfect (even the KH at 106, while a little on the low side, isn’t that bad). It would just be helpful to have a little more information.

 

[jenniferva]

The first thing I would recommend is to stop adding any type of chemicals. What type of filtration do you have on your pond? Any fish added lately? Just goldfish and how many?

I have an aquascape biofalls filter using high density filter media. I put an extra piece of the filter pad in the skimmer to keep things away from the pump as a bonus bit of mechanical filtration.

I haven’t added fish since the spring when I made the pond bigger. The fish came from a neighbor’s well-kept pond. I had about 15 shubunkin and a few rosey red minnows. They spawned a few times and now I can’t really tell you how many fish I have. I think it’s over 30, but most are under 4”. I know it will be too many if I don’t rehome some next spring. I added a picture to show its current condition.

 

[jenniferva]

@jenniferva Just curious, but what are you using to test your water — a liquid test kit or strips? Do you think you could re-test and take a picture of the results? I know, that sounds a little dumb, to be asking you to do this, and it sounds like I don’t trust you — it’s not that at all, so please don’t take offense. Not knowing how many fish you have (and their sizes), it just seems odd that all your numbers would be so perfect (even the KH at 106, while a little on the low side, isn’t that bad). It would just be helpful to have a little more information.

No offense taken. I used a liquid KH kit from microblift and a liquid API kit for everything else. Just did another test...pictured. Tubes from left to right are: pH, ammonia, nitrite, phosphate.

 

[jenniferva]

I'm with @mrsclem - I know the pond stores sell those products as "essential" but really they aren't. And they probably aren't the cause of you current issue, but hey, we just saved you some money!

From your picture it's hard to tell if it's fin rot or just damaged. Getting caught in a skimmer could do that, as could spawning activity. But since you are losing fish I would guess something is going on. Those test numbers all look good, but it is important to know how you are filtering and how many fish you have in the pond. Have you added any fish lately?

There is a lot of spawning activity today. But the two fish I’m most worried about aren’t involved in that directly, but they are perkier and wanted to eat a little (my larger yellow and calico shubunkin)

 

[jenniferva]

I'm with @mrsclem - I know the pond stores sell those products as "essential" but really they aren't. And they probably aren't the cause of you current issue, but hey, we just saved you some money!

From your picture it's hard to tell if it's fin rot or just damaged. Getting caught in a skimmer could do that, as could spawning activity. But since you are losing fish I would guess something is going on. Those test numbers all look good, but it is important to know how you are filtering and how many fish you have in the pond. Have you added any fish lately?

I think the little guy I found in the skimmer was probably damaged by the pond pump, but coming after losing 5 other fish I didn't know what to make of it. The bigger fish don't hang out in the skimmer and I don't use a weir door to avoid fish getting trapped and the fish seem happier today.

I am thoroughly confused. Only a few things have changed in my pond over the last few weeks. Temperature change, significant removal of pond plants as the weather cooled, finding the dead fish, followed by more plants being removed. and the KH boost a few days ago. Is it possible to have too many plants? The added pictures show how many I have after thinning out the water lettuce and hyacinth. I kept a pretty dense covering during most of the summer with temperatures above 90 for most of July and August and the pond sitting in full sun for most of the day.

 

[mrsclem]

How badly did you overdose the barley extract? I have read on other forums and sites that people have had entire ponds of fish die after using too much. Mixed with the other chemicals you are using could be the problem.

 

[jenniferva]

How badly did you overdose the barley extract? I have read on other forums and sites that people have had entire ponds of fish die after using too much. Mixed with the other chemicals you are using could be the problem.

 

[jenniferva]

I didn't consider barley extract and baking soda chemicals, but I guess they are. I think I started using the extract in May when I was having water clarity issues. After the first dose, instructions say to put in 2oz every week for four weeks and then switch to 3oz per month. I put in 2oz of extract just about every Saturday from May through last week. I don't want to use a UV light and that was my alternative solution.