pond fish mysteriously dieing

[-goldfish-]

Hello,

I have garden pond, apx 7 ft x 4 ft and around 2 or 3 ft deep in the centre with a 1ft deep and wide sill around the edge. for a good few years we had a happy family of gold fish, that regularly bred and seemed to do just fine. they were introduced at various times from different, established ponds and we never had any problems with death or disease. just under 2 months ago we bought 4 new gold fish as we had lost the "big one" possibly due to age, it had come from a tiny pond in a house my mum bought along with some others. just under a month ago the gold fish started to mysteriously die. I found three floating, another couple about a week later and another a few days after that. I have just returned from a week away and the person looking after our animals said the fish had been fine, no deaths. however, today there is a floating fish, gasping and seemingly near death. this is the first sign of illness I have seen, the others just simply seemed to die. this fish seems unable to swim properly and has a large swollen and bumpy patch on its left side, around the rib cage area.

One of the earlier dead fish was one of the four that we recently introduced, could it be that they had a hidden disease?

we have never had a pump in the pond, we would have introduced one when we first stocked it if there were any problems. it has a couple of lilly plants and a large amount of what I call "oxygen weed" which we thin out when necessary. about a year ago a small amount of mint plant seeded itself but never caused any problems. Since being away it has grown and expanded quite a bit in the warm weather we are having.

Is there anything I can do to prevent any more fish from dying?

Thank you in advance for your help,

P

 

[-goldfish-]

completely miss judged the pond size, its apx 7x9 ft

 

[Troutredds]

Sorry to hear of your loss. Don't add any more fish. It may be an overstocking issue. Then again, It could be as you surmised: a bacterium or parasite intoduced by new fish. Either way, I'd do a partial water change and consider placing a small air stone on the bottom, to raise disolved oxygen levels. I'm new to pond ownership, but base these suggestions in years of aquarium keeping. I could also suggest water testing but that could lead to more questions...

 

[Mmathis]

Welcome, and sorry to hear about your fish!

The usual reasons for a sudden fish die-off have to do with water quality. Over crowding, over feeding, adding new fish that weren't quarantined could be issues to consider. These are some factors that can put stress on otherwise healthy fish. And when this happens, usually the larger fish will be the first ones to be affected.

Do you test your water for pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate? It would be helpful if you could tell us what those results are. How many fish do you have, and what are their approx. sizes? While you were away, did your neighbor feed your fish? Sometimes well-meaning people can over feed.

Apparently your pond was fine for many years and had reached a balance, but something changed that balance (and it often doesn't take much). I also understand that some parts of the UK are experiencing a heat wave, which can be extra stressful to the fish. The first thing I would do is ADD A PUMP to help circulate the water and add oxygen. And DON'T FEED THEM for a few days (or a week). They can survive on the algae.

There are many problems (diseases) that fish can get, but again, these are usually a sign of poor water quality. If you have a separate area (unused tank or kiddie pool), might want to remove and isolate the one with the swollen side. I won't go into the quarantine issue, 'cause right now your first priority is to save the fish you have. But quarantining any new fish before adding them to your pond is very important.

 

[Mmathis]

And as Troutredds just mentioned, a partial water change...

 

[-goldfish-]

Thank you both for taking the time to reply. Unfortunately the fish that I feared was dying died before I could quarantine it. There don't seem to be any more sick ones at the moment.

I couldn't say how many we have, there are a few black ones that are very hard to see. I would, of the ones left, say there are apx 7 larger ones that are about 3 to 4 inches long and maybe the same amount of apx. 2 inch ones. it has been mainly larger ones that have died, one about 5 inches, the others 3 to 4 and one smaller black one. They are fed a few pinches of flake food every 3 days. There is a possibility that they could have been over fed while I was away, although he says he fed them twice during the week, he didn't say how much he gave them.

I think I may be able to get my hands on a pump tomorrow, I'm not sure what kind it is with out having another look tomorrow, but as long as it aerates the water I imagine it will be all right. I will do a partial water change tomorrow as well and get my hands on some tests for pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate as soon as possible.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Mmathis]

Keep us updated!

 

[Dave 54]

Please could you tell me what all your water perameters are i;e Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate Ph Kh did you Quarentine these goldfish before you put them in the pond Please ?
Nines out of ten putting fish directly into a pond without a months Quarentine you'll end up with a problem sometimes deadly .
Most folk either have a QT pond or QT tank where they can treat their fish should any problem arise.
Could you give me a discription of the problem on the side of the fish a better discription is needed is the wound on the side of your goldfish like this , are the scales raising around the area affected ?
Is the area a dark red?
The answers to those questions are important, to give you a correct diagnoses as to your problem .
Next the life span of a Goldfish if you correctly look after them is 40 years dont write it off as ah well its got to being old because it isnt, to many people have this attitude and because of it far to many lives are lost which in my book is very sad .
I have a feeling that your problem may well be an Areomonas infection which you'll need to treat with an antibiotic.
Now the problem is though, your going to have to take a swab and ask the vet to test what the bacteria is i;e either gram Positive or gram negative , you cant treat the fish until you know which it is and it would be a waste of time treating with a gram positive treatment when it is infact a gram negative infection if you can see where I'm going with this,
The easyiest way is for you to take a very good photo of the problem and post it so we can see if my hunch as to what it is is correct.
If I am correct then you'll also need to tell me when the last time you did a waterchange was ?
Also when was the last time your filter was cleaned also the correct amount of how many fish you have in the pond ?
Areomonas infections usually start up with over stocked ponds poor water conditions etc ,some people think I'm blunt in my British ways so sorry for being blunt but it is imperetive that you have to act now because if I am correct this will kill the fish if no treated quickly and its not a nice way to go.

rgrds

Dave

 

[dieselplower]

As Dave said, the new fish could have brought something into the pond that is killing the original fish. I also am sure that not having any type of pump in the pond during hot weather is causing low oxygen levels in the pond, which exacerbates the problem.

 

[-goldfish-]

Dave54 - I dont know the water parameters at the moment. I will try and get some tests tomorrow. I don't have a photo of the most recently deceased fish, but I have had a look at photos of various goldfish illnesses and would say that it was most similar to abscesses.

We did not quarantine the new fish before introducing them. I just didn't consider it. All of our original fish were made up from various groups at different time, and we never had any problems with them. Though in hindsight I realise that they were all from established ponds rather than shop, these were the first shop bought ones we have introduced to the pond and so should have been quarantined and most likely caused all the recent deaths.

When I do a partial water change tomorrow and set up a pump I will try and count the fish and note their rough sizes. at this point I don't think it can be a case of over crowding, but most likely a disease or illness introduced with the new fish, possibly contributed to by a lack of aeration. when I have done the tests for Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate Ph Kh I will post them.

Many thanks for your help

 

[Dave 54]

Not a problem sadly fish keepers sometimes learn lessons the hard way and I'll be truthful with you until Val my Partner bought me my first ever fish health book I was the death of goldfish .
I moved onto koi and to prove to you fish can be very long lived we have two koi in our pond who are now 27 years old koi can reach 80 years if looked after .
If you can post a photo thats near enough what our goldfish are suffering from others as well as ourselves are more than willing to help you.
It may help you in ths time of extreem temperatures that we are gettimg in the US and the UK to add a few extra airstones if you have one of the large koi ones it will help you no end as I said to another fishkeeper today adding numerous extra airstones help the koi airpumps have up to twelve mainfolds you can use and airstone spaced around the pond can add much needed air into the system you can also add airtones to your filter.
I still have a feeling that this is an areomonas infection so speed will be of the essence on this one .
I'm at a koi show all tomorrow but charles or another will probably be able to help .

rgrds

Dave