Common goldfish, water to hot?

[Kris P Bacon]

I got this rescue from a 10 gallon. Poor guys tankmate died days before. His/her body is about 7 inches, minus the tail. In my new 120-150? gallon pond. I was just reading that water temps should not exceed 80.

My pond, here in SW Florida gets up to 86, around 2-3 pm. Fish seems fine, very active. I have an indoor tank, 30 gallon. Should it me moved into it? Only other occupant would be a gentle, hopolo catfish, about 4 inches long (had it over 6 months, does not seem to have grown at all) Not even summer yet, i expect temps in summer to get to 90.

Help, dont want to rescue this fish just to cook it! I know a 50 is reccomended but coming from a 10, a 30 must seem a mansion.

 

[addy1]

In the dead of summer my pond water climbs to mid 80's The fish do fine.
My ponds are all full sun, even though I have a lot of water I also have a lot of hot sun.

 

[Gemma]

You could shade part of the pond to cool it off a bit

 

[Stephen Noble]

Your goldfish will be fine. As mentioned above, providing shade helps. Unfortunately, you can't use water lettuce or hyacinth in Florida. But water lilies are excellent. And, that fern growing over the water will greatly help. Most important...keep the bioload low in your pond. In my opinion, a 120-150 gallon pond is just right for one goldfish.

 

[Kris P Bacon]

Your goldfish will be fine. As mentioned above, providing shade helps. Unfortunately, you can't use water lettuce or hyacinth in Florida. But water lilies are excellent. And, that fern growing over the water will greatly help. Most important...keep the bioload low in your pond. In my opinion, a 120-150 gallon pond is just right for one goldfish.

Legalities? It grows all over here.

 

[Lisak1]

Legalities? It grows all over here.

They are both illegal to buy or possess in some states, including Florida, because they can (and have) become invasive. We can still get them here in northern IL, but they have been banned in Chicago (oddly).

"Water hyacinth is an economically important plant for the water gardening industry. For this reason, the sale of water hyacinth has not yet been prohibited by the State of Illinois, as the debate continues on whether it survives a cold winter, according to Pat Charlebois, INHS aquatic ecologist. Many states, and the City of Chicago have prohibited the sale of this plant."

I can end the debate for them - water hyacinth doesn't even like when the temps fall below 50 degrees in my pond. But common sense doesn't always apply (see: Chicago). It appears the concern may be that they seeds can be eaten and deposited back into the waterway by fish or birds, which may be a valid concern.

And you're right - whenever we are in Florida we do see water hyacinth in the natural waterways, but it is clear that they are trying to control it. If they don't it will take over any waterway.

 

[Stephen Noble]

It grows all over because in the past, thoughtless and careless people released it into Florida's waterways. They are not native to Florida. Here is the Florida regulation: https://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/wp-cont...4.011_ProhibitedAquaticPlantsList_Feb2012.pdf

 

[Bluerooster]

I don't recall the exact figures but last year my pond would get to over 90 degrees and hold that temp for an extended period of time.
As ugly as it was, I flopped a piece of "R-Max" in, and let it float, untill cooler weather.

 

[Kris P Bacon]

Pond update.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

You could always purchase a shade sail.

With the warmer temperatures it's also not a bad idea to add more aeration.

 

[Waterbug]

Hard to say if the indoor tank would be better or not. Also hard to say at what point a temperature will kill. It's a stress thing. Size of fish, water quality and length of time the temperature is high matters. In a really small pond the temp can drop at night giving the fish a chance to recover. Bigger fish can get into O2 issues faster than smaller fish and warmer the water the less O2 it can carry. But then a very small shallow pond has very good gas exchange due to the large surface area ratio to volume.

Ammonia converts from safe ammonium (NH4+) to toxic ammonia (NH3) as water temperature increases and pH is a factor in this. So if you're only testing Total Ammonia you really have to factor in temperature and pH too.

So it is hard to say because temperature is only one factor. To assume any exact temperature is safe is not exactly true. You really want to be considering other factors too.