Goldfish dying in pond

[KB1ankenship]

Hello everyone, so my fish that was looking bulged out, is now skinny. Not sure if it just got better or what, but it is now not bloated looking at all. I guess thats a good thing.

I havn't had time to go out and get a strawberry pot yet, as I have been helping with my dad a lot, but today when I was at his house, he gave me a strawberry pot. He was growing in it last year, but right now it was just filled with dirt and a dead plant. Before I use that, is it ok it was once used to grow with? I plan on giving it a scrub out before using, but if there is something I am not thinking of...

I also have a wire basket I was thinking of using as a stand, is there any issue with putting that in the pond?

 

[JohnHuff]

A good scrubbing will be perfect. And no metal in the pond, it will leach out stuff.

 

[Waterbug]

Clean with plain water. Doesn't have to be super clean.

Some metals can a problem, copper for example. Some metals can be a benefit, steel (iron) for example. A wire basket doesn't sound very strong, you might try the setup outside of the pond and see if the basket seems strong enough. If it is steel it probably wouldn't last too long. Be sure to protect the pond bottom. I assume this is a preform and they're much weaker than something like EPDM.

 

[j.w]

Can you get your hands on a plastic milk crate or something similar as that would work good for raising the pot up.

 

[sissy]

those crates like jw was saying they sell at walmart or even a laundry basket will work.I only feed my fish 2 or 3 times a week they will not starve .Office supple stores have them but not cheap there

 

[j.w]

Not to be contrary sissy but I'm thinking that a stone strawberry pot full of rocks is gonna collapse a plastic laundry basket lickity split

 

[KB1ankenship]

Thanks for the input. I like the idea of a milk crate, as I want something with openings in it for the fish to be able to go in and out of. I have cleaned out the strawberry pot, but have not found the rocks I want to put in it yet.

For now, until I get the strawberry pot going, a buddy of mine had me set up a temporary type filter and constant water change. We took two 15 gallon plastic bins with lids, and used one for a filter, and one for water addition. For the water to be constantly added to the pond, we drilled a hole in the bottom of the plastic bin, and put I think 1/8 inch tubing into it. The tubing is capped off on the end and we used small nails to punch holes in the tubing at the end. We filled the bin with water, and put the tubing into a gallon jug, and with a few more holes, and an egg timer, we got the flow to around .15 - .2 gallons an hour. Until my girlfriend finds the perfect wooden barrel she likes for the backyard, the plastic bin seems to be working ok for now.

To give me a temporary filter, my buddy found a 250 gph pump in my shed the previous owner left. On one of my filter/fountain boxes, we swapped out the 140 gph pump for the 250 gph pump, on the fountain tube, added a t bar with a flow control knob and put tubing off the t bar going out into the other 15 gallon bin. We drilled a hole in the top of the 15 gallon bin, and ran the tubing from the pump through the top of the bin, down to the bottom. We then filled the bin with 120 sponges from the .99 store, and 10 bio balls that did not fit into the fountain box due to the larger pump. On the top side of the bin we drilled another hole, and have the same 1/8" tubing coming out back into the pond.

We played with the flow knob until we got it to fill the bin with sponges just enough that the tube going back into the pond is not 100% under water, it is sucking a little air with the water as well. When you stand right next to the plastic bin, you can hear it sucking air. To keep the bin from sucking in so to speak, we punched holes in the top lid to let air go in.

Here are pictures of my additions from this weekend:









I am now also starting to get a green layer on all my rocks, and a little on the sides of the pond, but my water is clear, so that is all good with me, but my ammonia level is still around 2.0. I am still using the ammo lock, and hopefully, I will soon start to see a reduction of ammonia.

 

[koiguy1969]

Hello everyone, so my fish that was looking bulged out, is now skinny. Not sure if it just got better or what, but it is now not bloated looking at all. I guess thats a good thing.

SOUNDS LIKE ITS A FEMALE.. was full of eggs.... spawned, or atleast released her eggs.... now, no longer full of eggs! its the fastest slim down plan in the world for fish.

 

[KB1ankenship]

If my goldfish had eggs, will I see baby fish at some point, or will the other fish eat them?

 

[j.w]

The eggs they can find they will be eaten but if any eggs somehow get hidden in a nook or cranny in rocks or plant roots you could get a few babies. The more hiding spots for the fry also the more of them will survive. I always have a few that survive each year but I have lots of plants floating and roots sticking in the water.

 

[crsublette]

Fish love caviar too !!

Sounds like you're on the right track KB1. Remember, algae consumes ammonia directly so your algae is likely to grow pretty fast and thicker as long as there is free ammonia. Once ya get your strawberry pot trickle tower growing bigger bacteria colonies, then hopefully the algae will slow down its growth a bit. Eventually, you will need to brush off some algae if it gets too unsightly for ya. When ammonia drops to 0ppm, slowly back off on the ammonia binder chemical. This is what I would do

I am in the process of building myself a small strawberry pot trickle tower as well for my quarantine tank. (( currently working on paying bills, not supposed to be here, so shoosh!! ))

I got one of these, Orbit irrigation 8 manifold for drip, that I rigged to connect to a fountain pump. Each 1/4" tube is going to have one of those drip bubble spray emitters. Strawberry pot is going to sit on top of a milk plastic crate, so I can hide manifold and pump in the crate, underneath the pot. My strawberry pot has 8 openings on the side so gonna have a 1/4" tube go to each opening. The manifold screws on one side of a T on the fountain pump; the other side of the T brings a tube up the center, of the strawberry pot, that connects to a 1/4" T adaptor, which will supply two bubble spray emitters at the pot's top . The fountain pump I am using is 330gph with 17.8 foot head height; high head height so that I have enough pressure for all of the bubble sprayers.

I am getting a bit fancy, complicated so that it will look like a neat little fountain.

 

[KB1ankenship]

When you get your strawberry pot filter going, please post pics as I would really like to see how it turns out.

 

[Litzi1964]

I agree with the posters who said they felt the pond was overloaded. I also agree that "feeder" goldfish are usually kept in poor conditions, so they have high mortality anyway. I'm concerned with adding large numbers at once. When I started my pond last year, I added only 2 goldfish at a time, weekly for a month. I stopped at 8, and my pond is about twice your size

 

[Dave 54]

The poor conditions that the feeders can sometimes come in wont be helpful with your problem of over stocking !!!....
There are two waterfalls present but I can see nothing in the way of a pond filter nor can I see a U/C-C clarifier in eveidence so I would say your pond is whoefully under filtered with no U/V-C last but not least you have gravel in the bottom of your pond which can hide alsorts of nasty things .
Please tell me if your fish are going down with dropy i;e swelling then the scales stick out or there any red sores or ulcers on your fish?
Unless you get all the issues raised I can see that your going to continue to get problems.
Another thing you brought up test strips ( not very accurate), you would do far better by your fish by buying either API test kits i;e Ammonia, nitrite,nitrate PH for starters then GH and KH once you have the hang of things .
Charles will now go on aout how importamt KH is ( yes it is but you need the basics first...and thats to sort out your ponds problems as they now are.
Once your problems are in order you can think about getting rid of a few fish thus reducing the stocking level of your pond...
In the mean time you need to weigh up how many gallons your pond is, this is important , you need to know it exactly so that when treating your pond you know how much treatment to add to the water each time.
Omce that has been taken onboard we have to look at pond and filter maintenance i'e making sure your filter is working propperly and your pond is kept clean plus weekly waterchanges all have to me looked into .
Once you have the basics it gets easier nd a routine is startedwhich you should sick to 24/7 only reducing water chanhes as we come into winter ,

rgrds

Dave