Ongoing saga of death

[Meyer Jordan]

Tests for chemical pollutants are only offered by professional labs. These can be found on-line and can be quite costly. They would likely not do you much good as the majority of chemical herbicides and pesticides are formulated to have a short half-life to reduce human exposure. In all likelihood a chemical pollutant would have dissipated by now. If it was indeed the culprit it would no longer be detectable.
Determining the cause of fish mortality is often only determined through the process of elimination.

 

[Faebinder]

Do you isolate the new fish for a couple of weeks at least to make sure they are not diseased?

 

[Dave 54]

@David604, I have lots of questions and suggestions for you to do and answer ?
What test kits are you using we normally recomend you use an API Pond Master test kit for the best results .
I'm a little confused by this sprinkler why does it only run a few minutes .
After removing al the rocks etc you have created more depth thus extra gallonage ..... are sure that this change hasnt left you filter system unable to cope with the extra gallonage your adding to the pond . ?
Appoximately how long had ths pond been left to do its own thing before you came along and set about changing the whole pond ?
The fish could have been used to the conditions they had previously lived in and you have asked too much from them by doing all these changes , the spraying could have been the straw that broke the camels back so to speak .
Could you tell me are the fish showing any signs of stress, or infection of any kind ?

Dave

 

[Nepen]

The house does have a whole house filtration/softener system and an RO system under the kitchen sink, which send small amounts of waste water into the upper pond.

Why send waste water into the pond?

 

[David604]

I would look at the pesticide/herbicide as the main culprit. All of your water parameters (as reported) look fine. I don't really suspect the roof run-off. Do you have an overflow outlet for the pond?

Heed Meyer on his queries.

I do have an overflow outlet for the pond, yes.

 

[David604]

Why send waste water into the pond?

I was told it was for water conservation and of no harm to the pond. I'll do some more reading on that.

 

[David604]

Do you isolate the new fish for a couple of weeks at least to make sure they are not diseased?

The first ones had been here a couple of years. The others were isolated in a separate tank after 1 died for 2.5 weeks and then were returned.

 

[David604]

Why send waste water into the pond?

IT was that way when I bought the house for conservation reasons. Seems to be okay? http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=435808

 

[David604]

@David604, I have lots of questions and suggestions for you to do and answer ?
What test kits are you using we normally recomend you use an API Pond Master test kit for the best results .
I'm a little confused by this sprinkler why does it only run a few minutes .
After removing al the rocks etc you have created more depth thus extra gallonage ..... are sure that this change hasnt left you filter system unable to cope with the extra gallonage your adding to the pond . ?
Appoximately how long had ths pond been left to do its own thing before you came along and set about changing the whole pond ?
The fish could have been used to the conditions they had previously lived in and you have asked too much from them by doing all these changes , the spraying could have been the straw that broke the camels back so to speak .
Could you tell me are the fish showing any signs of stress, or infection of any kind ?

Dave

Hi, that is the test kit I have. The previous owner had the sprinklers on for 4 minutes in the pond area. With all the issues, I tried keeping them off completely(but the plants need watering) and have tried 1 and 2 minute settings.
Before removing the rocks etc, the ponds never had a real filter. It had a barrel with some material and a bag of rocks. The rocks and gravel were intended to be the filter, I think. The previous owner tried to go completely natural(when we drained and cleaned it, it smelled like sewage). We had a filter added that the dealer said is good size for the ponds and has bio media and plants in the top of the filter(also added UV and main drain)

The pond was about 14 years old before I came along. I know the previous owner lost fish at least twice(I think once due to auto fill valve issues and another time because a relative sprayed round up around the area and 2 days later it rained and all fish died). I did not make any changes until the initial fish all died and then when we replaced them weeks later, another one from that batch died. At different times I have observed different behavior, from the fish looking frenzied, like they didn't like being in the water, to very lethargic and sideways.

PS - lot's of pics in my profile.

 

[morewater]

Divert the waste water away from the pond.

 

[Dave 54]

To very lethargic and side ways , it is quite possible that you have a parasite problem do you know how to do a scrape and do you own a microscope to check things out ?

Dave

 

[David604]

Divert the waste water away from the pond.

You really think so. I can do that if you really think it's necessary.

 

[David604]

To very lethargic and side ways , it is quite possible that you have a parasite problem do you know how to do a scrape and do you own a microscope to check things out ?

Dave

That happened when they were dying. I don't know how or have a scope. Different fish, with the pond being completely drained inbetween....

 

[Dave 54]

Buy yourself a decent microscope from Amazon we have a Bressor NG x 40 - x1204 with occulaar plus 100 slides microscope.
Scrapes are easy all you need is a credit card type card hold it at an angle of about 45 degrees then from jut after the gill casing gently scrape until you have a little nucus on the edge of the card then put this ubder glass in your microsccope
Quater it and look for anything that moves this will indecate what parasite you have then treat accordingly


dave .

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Parasites are often the problem as Dave54 indicated but since you have already performed two (2) treatments of Potassium Permanganate I think that it is highly unlikely that you have a parasite problem. Plain stress can not be ruled out.
Have the turtles exhibited any symptoms of distress?
Am I safe in assuming that you have not added any more fish?
Post the additional test results as soon as they are available.