Van island pond

[Spring 12]

Hi thanks for letting me join ! I have a garden pond 12 by 24 by 2.5’ ive had it 7 years and never had much morts maybe 1 or 2 a month . A few issues with predictions. This summer we had very warm weather ! 84+ degrees in the pond i had allot ofmorts and 4 out of 5 koi die i had 175 goldfish and they were dying 1/2 a day i added water to keep it up due to evaporation 250 gal every few days ! The problem is the goldfish are still dying its winter now and my pond is filling with evestrough water and spilling over so its changing every few day i have filters and areation . But still im loosing 1/2 a day they look healthy just dead ?

 

[Dimelius]

Welcome! First of all water tests and maybe some pics can help a bit to understand.
Goldfishes seems normal like fin, skin, eyes etc or not? Pic of em will help too.
More info about set up, plants etc...
30 celsius isnt a problem, your pond seems enough deep to keep water cooler...
if a pond is balanced is hard that all go wrong and half of the fishes die...
too much dead fishes to be not a problem.

 

[poconojoe]

What are morts?

Losing 250 gallons every few days seems like you have a leak somewhere.

I'm assuming evestrough water is water from your roof. Have you always been getting water from there or is that something new you started doing?

Is it possible contaminants are getting in the pond and killing the fish? Maybe from the roof drains or from ground run-off. Fertilizer from you or your neighbors maybe washing into the pond from ground run-off?

175 goldfish seems like an awful lot of fish. Maybe your filtration is not adequate for such a large fish load. Things might have been ok up until this point, but maybe your pond has reach a tipping point where it can't handle the amount of fish waste. Those fish keep getting bigger and are producing a lot of waste.

Do you have a liquid reagent type test kit? Your water parameters might give a better picture of what is going on.

What exactly are you using for filtration?

 

[Dimelius]

What are morts?

Losing 250 gallons every few days seems like you have a leak somewhere.

I'm assuming evestrough water is water from your roof. Have you always been getting water from there or is that something new you started doing?

Is it possible contaminants are getting in the pond and killing the fish? Maybe from the roof drains or from ground run-off. Fertilizer from you or your neighbors maybe washing into the pond from ground run-off?

175 goldfish seems like an awful lot of fish. Maybe your filtration is not adequate for such a large fish load. Things might have been ok up until this point, but maybe your pond has reach a tipping point where it can't handle the amount of fish waste. Those fish keep getting bigger and are producing a lot of waste.

Do you have a liquid reagent type test kit? Your water parameters might give a better picture of what is going on.

What exactly are you using for filtration?

morts is dead, it's french.

 

[brokensword]

'1 or 2 morts a month' is NOT normal nor unconcerning; I MIGHT have 1 or 2 morts OVER WINTER, and that's it. You need to check out the params, assess your bioload, scrutinize the pond bottom for an over abundance of decaying matter, add many more plants or even better, install a bog filter. There's a problem, obviously; the above needs addressing as most ponders with success in ponding don't have these 'morts'.


Yikes! That came on a bit too strong; sowwy. Hard to imagine that many fish being lost for any length of time! Hope you do a bit of researching and get back to us with a plan for success!

 

[j.w]

@Spring 12
Sorry this is happening in your pond. Definitely something wrong I assume w/the water. Might be too many fish. Is your filter really dirty when you clean it and do you have to clean often, more than usual? We could use a lot more info here to help.

 

[poconojoe]

morts is dead, it's french.

Ah! Thanks!
I thought it was some type of fish!

 

[poconojoe]

Post up your test readings for analysis.

The test kits with the liquid reagents are best. The type with test strips are said to be inaccurate.

 

[addy1]

Welcome to the forum!

All great advice above, also post some pictures when you can of your deceased fish and the pond itself.

 

[Spring 12]

Ok morts are dead fish ! Foryears i have had 160+ gold fish and 6 koi . I live in the Pacific Northwest and in the winter I get probably a full change of water every week due to rain in the summer it is very hot and windy here my water drops half an inch a day I don’t have a leak and with such heat I was adding water this summer because it was evaporating I’ve never had any amount of Dead like this and they continue to die even in the winter.. I also have a much larger pond that is 30‘ x 40‘ and 5 feet deep that are used to keep water for agricultural use I have 2000+ goldfish in there . And i havent had any morts in there ?

 

[brokensword]

Ok morts are dead fish ! Foryears i have had 160+ gold fish and 6 koi . I live in the Pacific Northwest and in the winter I get probably a full change of water every week due to rain in the summer it is very hot and windy here my water drops half an inch a day I don’t have a leak and with such heat I was adding water this summer because it was evaporating I’ve never had any amount of Dead like this and they continue to die even in the winter.. I also have a much larger pond that is 30‘ x 40‘ and 5 feet deep that are used to keep water for agricultural use I have 2000+ goldfish in there . And i havent had any morts in there ?

the larger the pond, the more latitude you have with water parameter and fish load issues. The smaller pond is also shallower. Did you do a check to see how much decaying debris/mulm is on the bottom? That's probably the source of any ammonia buildup. You should test the water as noted above; use the liquid (API) test kits as the strips are not very accurate. I'd say you might not have enough filtration or it isn't working well enough to keep up with your fish load. Hot weather exacerbates such problems, including the fact warm water holds less O2 than colder water. What type of water movement do you have? You noted aeration; what kind and how much? Aeration happens at the SURFACE, not with all the bubbles on their way up. If you have no floating plants and/or marginals, this lack of plants will also contribute to water parameter issues. I'd say by the pics, you could use more plants. If you want a 'better' filtration system, search here for 'bog filter' and see if it interests you; most of us that have them don't report such morts, and I can vouch for being 'overstocked', having more/larger fish than you, smaller pond (14x18'x~5' deep) and none of your issues. But I have bog with lots of plants, lots of floating plants, 3+ waterfalls, one aerator, and a partridge in a pear tree. No, wait, scratch that last--the season just kidnapped me for a moment!

Get some tests, think about all the advice you've got so far and compare to your methodology. Another quick thought; any way for pesticides/fertilizers to wash into your pond?

 

[JRS]

Welcome!

 

[Spring 12]

Ok i have two filters one canister and one sand i cleaned pond out in the summer and net so not much debris gets in . Todays dead

 

[brokensword]

you NEED to get a liquid test kit and find out what your water params are; ammonia, pH, nitrites, nitrates, KH; really hard for anyone to help without that info.