all the goldfish died....need some advise....how long to wait

[houseguitarshop]

I want t thank you for posting the answers to all of those questions! All of that is information that is helpful when we try to help & figure out what's going on.

And as to that last question......um, sorry but I chuckled at your answer [no disrespect intended]. Yes, death & floating would be considered unusual, BUT what the question is getting at -- did you notice any unusual behavior BEFORE the death & floating part.

Were they flashing, gasping at the surface? Did they all die at once? Do you know if they died at any particular time of day -- like, did you find them dead in the morning?
!

When I posted, I wrote that to be humors and at the time did not think of any behavior unusual.

Now, I remember that one of the larger 15cent fish was chasing some of the smaller goldfish, possibly bullying? not sure.

they all died during that night and the next day. there was one feeder fish that lived one more day. The rest of the fish are fine, mosquito fish and cory cats

 

[houseguitarshop]

Your mistake was to buy an add a feeder goldfish which are know vectors of disease and your problem you didnt think about QTing this feeder , you just went straight ahead as though QTing issnt neccessary which you have now found to your cost it is .
As Maggie has just said you may well by adding that one extra fish tipped the balence on a system that isnt fully cycled .
Sadly its been an expensive leason to learn but you wont go making it again .

Dave

lesson learned. It was not too expensive though of a lesson. I had 5 fanciness around $3-4 usd each so thats is about $20 of fish.

 

[houseguitarshop]

Hi Sorry about your fish. Did you do any water tests? It is still a fairly new pond and you might have high ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate.Also do you have a lot of water movement and dissolved oxygen? Feeder fish are known to carry all sorts of diseases. If you would go to the store you bought them you might be surprised how many dead ones are taken out of the tank every morning. They are over crowded and over stressed and don't make a good addition to a new pond without qt first. Ypu don't need to sacrafice a fish to see if the pond is healtthy. You can watch the pond and wait at least 4 weeks to make sure more don't die and check the water parameters too. Also 70 degrees is a little hot. I would try cooling the pond with plants and anything else you can block the sun with.Good luck! We have all be there at one time just starting out.

because the pond is small, I have been keeping a heater in it to maintain temp during heavy storms.

I have a pump rated for 750gph, that pumps the filters and waterfall, I also have two 150gph pumps, one in each pond that circulates the ponds. I also have to air pumps, one pumped into each pond.

 

[houseguitarshop]

I did not think 70 was too hot, it has good shade though alot of the day, gets full sun from 3pm to dusk

it also should have alot of oxygen, I run two air pumps also.

 

[houseguitarshop]

thanks for posting everyone. I will just take care of the fish I left for this season.

 

[Dave 54]

lesson learned. It was not too expensive though of a lesson. I had 5 fanciness around $3-4 usd each so thats is about $20 of fish.

Its not about the cost of the fish that matters what you need to take onboard is that you need to learn some more about the hobby otherwise you'll be just trowing good moey after bad.
What you need to take onboard is lives lost because of a stupid mistake people where warning you about in that QTing fish has to be first second and third in your mind for any future fish you decide to keep , which means you need to set up a QT unit dedicated to keeping all your fish alive


Dave

 

[houseguitarshop]

dead fish will eventually happen to everyone in this hobby. I agree a QT is the best and safest method.

Forums can tend to get very negative fast, and that is why I was hesitant to even post this info. People can get very upset about life and that is understandable.

something caused my Goldfish to die and all I am doing is trying to figure out what it was and how to not have it happen again.

thanks again to everyone who posted to this thead and keeping it information.

 

[addy1]

I lost my first group of fish in my pond. New pond, running for around 2-3 months, figured all was good. Put in the fish, they all died except 4 within 24 hours, some immediately. That is when I found out our well water had a ph of 5.4, the pond, even after running for months was a ph under 6. I put those poor fish into acid water.

It happens, I lose a fish now and then, always try to figure out why, but sometimes they just die.
Our biggest issue is winter, I lost a few this last winter, so this next winter, adding another pond breather to my big pond, one in the deep end, one in the walk out end. All the dead fish were at the walk out end. So maybe a gas build up down there, maybe. 12-18 inches of ice...........
The 1000 gallon stock tank pond all lived, smaller pond with just one breather.

I usually stock my pond then add no more, they produce fry very nicely. In saying that I did add some this summer, (no qt set up) bought them from the hatchery and had no issues. Yes could have been a disaster, but all worked out. The feeder fish I stay away from.

 

[houseguitarshop]

I think since my pond is small and I live zone 3-4, I am going to drain it into and aquarium in the basement so I can enjoy it in the winter. The aquarium is a 72 gallon bow front with overflow and sump and I have lots of lights.

The cory cats would not survive a winter, as they are tropical fish. that is why I have a heater keeping the pond about 70 degrees at night gets a little warmer during the day

 

[addy1]

You treat yours well! No way I could haul all my fish in for the winter, for one thing I can not even catch one , darn things are quick! And I would need one huge tank in the house.

 

[houseguitarshop]

we will see if I can catch them or not

 

[addy1]

I drain my small deck pond to get the fish (four fan tails) and tadpoles out, they won't live up there over winter, it freezes solid. Then refill it for the plants, they survive the freezing.

 

[Lisak1]

This is a friendly place @houseguitarshop - no worries about posting here. You'll hear lots of suggestions and recommendations, and we won't all agree, even with each other. But in the end we all want the same thing - for you to enjoy your pond! There is definitely a learning curve, but a willingness to ask questions will go along way in moving your knowledge forward.

Good luck catching your fish! I have a signature method that involves getting in the pond and convincing them that they want to be caught. It's about 2.6% effective. So maybe don't try that!

 

[addy1]

Lol. They come running when I am in the pond! Nibbling on legs, almost can pick up by hand. But have a net, poof gone

 

[CometKeith]

Houseguitar, Without beating a dead horse to death or a dead goldfish to death for that matter either, I still think lack of dissolved oxygen is the most likely culprit. Typically when fish die overnight that is when there is the lowest levels of dissolved oxygen. Also with your pond so warm it is not storing the dissolved oxygen that it can at lower temps. Just my two cents that usually when there is no sign of disease and fish die suddenly overnight in the summer it is almost always low dissolved oxygen that is the problem. Sometimes just a small increase in bioload will trigger a fish kill.