I lost a fish today which was very sad, and I need advice on what I could do/done differently to avoid this for my other fish. (7 other fish between 4-6")
This goldfish was young, about 3 inches, and I had it between 1-2 months; it has not grown unlike some of my others. It had never been as sociable with the other fish but at first it would sometimes hang out with one at a time, however it spent more and more time alone and less time eating. I sometimes saw the biggest fish chasing it around a bit and then it would hang out alone more, but it did not seem to be overly bullied, it just seemed to spend increasing time by itself. This past week it was not only alone but listless, hanging in one area or another for long periods of time near the top, instead of cruising along eating algae constantly like the others. If it was startled though it would swim away quickly. I looked at it closely and could not find any visual oddities of any kind.
I have done water testing (api drop kit) and the only thing problematic had been ph swings. The pH has gradually climbed higher since initial pond install in April. When I first put fish in it (in May) it was around 7.5. Lately when I test it in the late afternoon/evening it is usually around 8.4, however, earlier in the day it is lower and some days even in the evening it will be way lower, for example a couple weeks ago it dropped as low as 6.8. The ph of my well water at the tap is 6.4 and it also rains frequently, I also top off the pond if it drops about an inch from heat (last time was about a week ago). I had not added anything to intentionally change to ph previously, but I understand the day/night swings can have to do with the amount of plant life (which has gradually been increasing) in the pond, and the gh and kh levels. So I recently got a kit to test gh/kh (2 days ago) and they were quite low: Kh 3 drops/53.7 and gh 4 drops/71.6.
As all other water tests were good, I thought the ph swings might be stressing this fish too much and last night I added 1lb baking soda and 8 oz epsom salts to try to raise the gh and kh a bit and help stabilize the ph swings (recommendations were to add more than that but I wanted to go slow). My intention was also to add some oyster shells to further help the kh, and some calcium chloride to further help the gh, both to further stabilize ph, but I haven't bought those yet. However this evening I found the stressed fish dead, and looked like it had been dead for more than a few hours (I was not able to check earlier today, but I saw it yesterday afternoon). Of course my concern is that I pushed it over the edge, and I don't know what I should have done instead.
Here are the current stats:
Pond size approx 2000 gallons
Kh: 5 drops/89.5 (up some)
Gh: 5 drops/89.5 (up some)
Ph: 8.4 (same as 2 days ago at this time, but it fluctuates a lot)
Phosphate, ammonia, nitrite: 0ppm nitrate 5ppm.
What did I do wrong?
This goldfish was young, about 3 inches, and I had it between 1-2 months; it has not grown unlike some of my others. It had never been as sociable with the other fish but at first it would sometimes hang out with one at a time, however it spent more and more time alone and less time eating. I sometimes saw the biggest fish chasing it around a bit and then it would hang out alone more, but it did not seem to be overly bullied, it just seemed to spend increasing time by itself. This past week it was not only alone but listless, hanging in one area or another for long periods of time near the top, instead of cruising along eating algae constantly like the others. If it was startled though it would swim away quickly. I looked at it closely and could not find any visual oddities of any kind.
I have done water testing (api drop kit) and the only thing problematic had been ph swings. The pH has gradually climbed higher since initial pond install in April. When I first put fish in it (in May) it was around 7.5. Lately when I test it in the late afternoon/evening it is usually around 8.4, however, earlier in the day it is lower and some days even in the evening it will be way lower, for example a couple weeks ago it dropped as low as 6.8. The ph of my well water at the tap is 6.4 and it also rains frequently, I also top off the pond if it drops about an inch from heat (last time was about a week ago). I had not added anything to intentionally change to ph previously, but I understand the day/night swings can have to do with the amount of plant life (which has gradually been increasing) in the pond, and the gh and kh levels. So I recently got a kit to test gh/kh (2 days ago) and they were quite low: Kh 3 drops/53.7 and gh 4 drops/71.6.
As all other water tests were good, I thought the ph swings might be stressing this fish too much and last night I added 1lb baking soda and 8 oz epsom salts to try to raise the gh and kh a bit and help stabilize the ph swings (recommendations were to add more than that but I wanted to go slow). My intention was also to add some oyster shells to further help the kh, and some calcium chloride to further help the gh, both to further stabilize ph, but I haven't bought those yet. However this evening I found the stressed fish dead, and looked like it had been dead for more than a few hours (I was not able to check earlier today, but I saw it yesterday afternoon). Of course my concern is that I pushed it over the edge, and I don't know what I should have done instead.
Here are the current stats:
Pond size approx 2000 gallons
Kh: 5 drops/89.5 (up some)
Gh: 5 drops/89.5 (up some)
Ph: 8.4 (same as 2 days ago at this time, but it fluctuates a lot)
Phosphate, ammonia, nitrite: 0ppm nitrate 5ppm.
What did I do wrong?