Country Escape's 2nd pond - Goldfish only

[j.w]

I think I have heard goldfish are actually hardier than the koi.

 

[CountryEscape]

At this point I'm not sure of anything. Maybe whatever I have is more susceptible to goldfish rather than koi, or someone came and sabotaged my pond while I was away ... anything could have happened. Think I'm going to bring a water sample in to the Health Department in town on Monday ... if I remember ... and see if they can test it for me for anything out of the ordinary, or anything that may be in the water chemicalwise. Going on internet this evening to see if I can find a microscope for sale cheap so that I will have that for future/current use.
Must get back outside, lots of things want to get done this weekend ... been "off" too long! :blueflower:

 

[sissy]

They sprayed by helicopters here in the spring around the power towers from a helicopter and sprayed the towers with something from the same helicopters .I saw it when they were doing it and covered my pond with a big tarp .I know one was a weed killer because every thing around the towers died and the other maybe was some type of maybe rust proofing maybe .They kept flying around the towers with these long extended arms that came out of the helicopter .They circled each tower 6 times .They never said what they were up too .I know farm ponds lost fish after that because it has been in the papers here .I can see the top of the towers they are a couple of miles from my home on a hill top .I can see only 3 power towers from my front porch .

 

[CountryEscape]

Well, I know that the plane sprayers were spraying for weeds earlier than a couple of weeks ago, but it was more than 30 days ago. The corn all around me got driven over by tall wheeled machine that barely made it over the corn, it was so tall. That would not have drifted, it was applied by hoses that hung way down between the corn. The planes sprayed fields around here, but not the ones that are around my house. I'd say the closest was maybe 1/4 mile from my house, so that should not have drifted this far. At this point, I almost want to call the kids that were here when I was gone the week that this all started, and see if ANYTHING strange was amiss when they came to feed and so forth. The puppies were born Sat., the day before I got home, and maybe they didn't feed the fish, too excited about the puppies, so they may have been dead on Fri. already, after they were here. So may variables.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I would say the industrial chemicals that were sprayed by plane in your area are to blame. These chemicals have a warning to to keep away from rivers, lakes, ponds and streams because they are so toxic. When I worked at this big green house making pond plants, 12 years or so ago, the fish would die the next day after they sprayed the greenhouse, no matter if pond was covered, the industrial strength was too strong, and applied by large blowers, which spread chemical better.

I would do a Large change of water as soon as possible....

 

[j.w]

But still it is strange that CE's koi were not hurt at all by this plane spraying incident. Something going on just in the goldfish pond. Wonder if something toxic fell into the pond somehow by accident? Do the koi eat the same food as the goldfish? Whoever was feeding them did they have something on their hands? Or could a dog w/ a fresh soap bath jumped in? Could a toxic plant have gotten in there or in the bog? Or is the bog just for the koi pond and the goldfish have a different filter? Or do you have the bog hooked to both ponds? Just trying to think of anything different that might have took place. All the fish are not dying. Whatever it is it happened pretty fast it sounds like cuz one fish started dying after another right when CE got home. I agree if it was me I would really, really do a large water change no matter what just to be safe. If it's something chemical that will help save some of them but if its not and one fish is passing it on to another then there will still be a problem w/o some kind of correct tx I would think.

 

[sissy]

I found out if it is the slightest wind stuff like that can travel over 2 miles as people a mile from the spraying reported that they had trees that looked all dead on the tops and one had pics of her gardens and everything looked terrible .She thought it was because of the cicada's this year but test's of the plants and ground should that it was the chemical they sprayed .She had to take her dog and cat to the vet also ,not sure what the test's showed but people around the power towers were talking about a class action suit .

 

[CountryEscape]

What happened around those towers was awful, Sissy. I sure would be raising some heck if that happened around here!!!
Here's what I do know: The kids fed the same food to both ponds, and they had a specific amount to feed daily. My fish don't eat any more than what I tell them, which is about 1/2 cup between both ponds, so about 1/4 cup of food. No way that was too much, and same food, so not the food.
I have not drilled the kids about if they had anything on their hands, but they are farmers, they raise hogs, they have to wash before going in or out of the hog lot, so they are VERY careful with diseases, and I'm not worried they had anything on their hands, they never put their hands into the water.
I don't give the dogs baths very often, and it's been several months now (I know, I'm bad ...), so that would not be it. The dogs DID get the flea/tick/worm pills and they DO drink out of the stream which feeds the goldfish pond, but I can't imagine that what they ate would have gotten into the water. But, good thing to think about.
The goldfish pond has a huge bog, no new plants added to it for well over 30 days (it's going crazy with what is in there, no room for anything more. LOL)
The koi pond has a bog, too, but only about 1/4 the size of the goldfish pond bog, and the water from koi pond does not exchange with the goldfish pond, unless I overflow the koi pond, then it overflows into the stream and DOES get into the goldfish pond. However, the goldfish pond water cannot go into the koi pond. So, again, koi are all fine, nothing looks amiss in that pond at all, just the goldfish pond.
Good news is no dead fish since beginning of the week that I have noticed. Did learn another new thing, as I had some fish dead on the bottom, others floating. Fish die and sink, then when they start decaying, they begin to float. Probably elementary, but I didn't know that. I wondered if they died from something different, as some were found floating, others sunk, and the guy told me that.
I have no idea if I should have done this, but of the 6 fish in the Q-tank, 3 were left in there, went through full treatment and water change, 2 of them were wanting food the last 2 days and swimming around, so they got put back into the goldfish pond. The last one seems to be struggling. Also, the 3 I put in a bucket of water to see if it was solely a water issue were just hanging in there at the bottom, not wanting to come up for food, so I put them in the Q-tank and treated it again (the 3 didn't go through the second treatment). Will give them 2 days, do a water change, see if any improvement. There are 2 or 3 fish in the goldfish pond that I see regularly at the surface, not really gulping air, but not swimming around like the rest.
Seems so strange to me ... how can some fish be sickly, others perfectly normal acting? And, I did a HUGE water change today again. Probably removed at least 25% again before adding fresh. The reason I don't want to do the slow change is that it would simply be mixing with what is in there, and I want to get as much of the water out as possible before putting new in, more of a drastic change than simply mixing it in.
Another thing: I thought frogs should have shown problems if it was a water issue before the fish, but I have tons of little bullfrogs in both ponds, and a turtle that has moved into the goldfish pond for the last week, and all of them are fine. So, whatever the issue is, it's just going after SOME of the goldfish. There are also 3 koi in that pond, and so far, none of them have any sickness issues. Baffling, to say the least!

 

[j.w]

Yes I am baffled to the highest degree also. If they have all stopped dying then even if you never find out I guess it is a good thing in that regards anyways. Maybe just like some of us humans that die from a certain disease but others survive. Just the stronger ones make it through.

 

[sissy]

do you think something could be in the bog

 

[CountryEscape]

You know I wondered that, Sissy. Today I went into both ponds, koi pond first, and trimmed lilies. They while I was in the goldfish pond, I felt around the bottom, and there is nothing down there, no matt of gunk or anything. I noticed the water clover, parsley and penny wart all spilling over from the bog into the pond. I trimmed it all way back, and had a pretty good sized heap of stuff I pulled out of the pond! This is what it looks like now. Wish I had taken a pic "before".

So, that brought up another idea for possible problem, plants that may cause problems in the water, but not in a bog. However, I have penny wart growing into the koi pond (trimmed that back, too), but not water clover or water parsley. I can't imagine that either of these would be toxic for fish, though, since they are pond plants. Creeping jenny was also growing into the pond, but only a few pieces in each pond.
Still totally baffled, but no dead fish for 5 days now, so something is getting better. I have a feeling it's the water changes I've done. Will do another big change on Wed. The guy told me to do them every 3 days, that way the water temp won't be constantly changing, since well water is much colder than the pond water.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Sometimes strange things can happen and you may never know for sure what happen. Maybe the plants were way too thick and started smothing the water surface too much, or maybe the small goldfish were most affected more by the toxins cause they are smaller, who knows for sure, but at least it is good to hear that the fish are not dying anymore.

 

[CountryEscape]

Well, I would have thought small would have died first, but maybe, like humans, teenagers are more hardy than infants or adults! The first 5 I lost, 3 of them were over 7", my largest fish in the pond. I have had all sizes die. One that is still hanging on in the Q-tank is a pretty Comet. Doesn't look good for it, but we shall see.

 

[addy1]

So frustrating to have no clue what is going on.

 

[CountryEscape]

Yep, Addy, that's the hard part. Dave sent me a whole book, but I can't open it, have no idea if it's just too large to open or what. It's many pages, and I think in PDF format, but it won't open. Maybe I need to wait longer. And, no microscopes in the stores until Christmas. Guess I was not prepared for this at all! Lost the last fish in the Q-tank, so that's that. I put 2 of them back into the pond a week ago, they were eating, swimming, seemed fine. Glad I did now. Only one dead in pond since then, but it was not one that I put back in there. Water changes seem to be the key in my situation. Will remember that next time ... hoping never to have a "next time", though.