Goldfish jumping after adding salt

[anitapond]

Hi, all! My pond is roughly 500 gallons, and it's 5 years old. I have some goldfish that have been acting lethargic and hiding (3). I bought myself a quality microscope and did a scraping yesterday - I didn't see any parasites on the slide, but this is the first time I ever did a scaping. My fish show no outward signs of parasites; it's just their behavior. Tested the water - ammonia is 0, ph, nitrate, nitrate all where they are supposed to be. Added prazi yesterday - I had gill flukes last year, and prazi did the trick. Two of the fish seem a little better today, however, one got worse. I netted it and performed a salt dip - 3 tablespoons salt to 1/2 gallon of water; dipped fish for about 2 minutes. I put him back in the pond, and he started swimming (which he hasn't done all day today). I dumped the 1/2 gallon of "salt water" I used for the dip into the pond. Now the other fish in the pond are "jumping." Why?????

 

[sissy]

All I can think is to much stuff instead of all that stuff do a water change and .Goldfish do not live in salt water .

 

[sissy]

Could be lack of oxygen also and also changes in water temps .

 

[Waterbug]

Nothing described would account for jumping. To summarize you added 3 tablespoons of salt to your 500 gal pond. That's like 0.003% which is pretty much nothing.
The dipped fish started swimming. All the other fish started jumping...the dipped fish didn't? Describe the jumping. A few times, over and over, all together, stayed at the surface after jumping or darted around, etc.

My guess has to be the cause is something not mentioned. Otherwise the possibilities are pretty much endless.

Tested the water - ammonia is 0, ph, nitrate, nitrate all where they are supposed to be.

I read this almost in very post requesting help. One or two are given as a specific number like ammoina 0. Then a bunch of other stuff are said to be "normal". When pounded over and over to post the actual numbers they rarely appear. I have to assume people know they're suppose to test, but don't and don't want to be asked to do so. Instead they want a diagnosis based on a lack of info or maybe even misinformation. Makes me wonder if Dr House is right.

When I read nitrite or ammonia is "safe", "normal", "where they are supposed to be", etc., it sends up red flags.

I'm not casting aspersions on you anitapond, just trying to understand where people are coming from so a better diagnosis can be had.

 

[anitapond]

Nothing described would account for jumping. To summarize you added 3 tablespoons of salt to your 500 gal pond. That's like 0.003% which is pretty much nothing.
The dipped fish started swimming. All the other fish started jumping...the dipped fish didn't? Describe the jumping. A few times, over and over, all together, stayed at the surface after jumping or darted around, etc.

Waterbug - your summary is correct: 3 tablespoons of dissolved pond salt to 500 gal of pond water; thus, I agree, pretty much nothing. That's why I can't figure out why the fish reacted by jumping. I would say about 3 or 4 jumped a few times from the bottom of the pond to the top, others darted around briefly. Nobody stayed at the surface, actually they went deeper. The dipped fish is no longer swimming - he made his way back to his hiding spot behind a plant, just laying there again.​

I read this almost in very post requesting help. One or two are given as a specific number like ammoina 0. Then a bunch of other stuff are said to be "normal". When pounded over and over to post the actual numbers they rarely appear. I have to assume people know they're suppose to test, but don't and don't want to be asked to do so. Instead they want a diagnosis based on a lack of info or maybe even misinformation. Makes me wonder if Dr House is right.

When I read nitrite or ammonia is "safe", "normal", "where they are supposed to be", etc., it sends up red flags.

I'm not casting aspersions on you anitapond, just trying to understand where people are coming from so a better diagnosis can be had.

Funny you say this, only because it is exactly what I was thinking as I typed the test results! I understand what you are saying - I've been in this hobby long enough to know that actual numbers are helpful. So, I apologize that I was too lazy to post actual results the first time. Here they are: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, and pH 8.1 (which is usual for my pond).​

I have a waterfall running, so oxygen is not the problem, and fish are not hanging out by the waterfall or at the surface. I have a feeling I'm dealing with a parasite here.

 

[Waterbug]

Funny you say this, only because it is exactly what I was thinking as I typed the test results! I understand what you are saying - I've been in this hobby long enough to know that actual numbers are helpful. So, I apologize that I was too lazy to post actual results the first time.

No problem, I've just been curious.

3 or 4 fish jumping a few times wouldn't concern me...not saying it shouldn't concern you. It doesn't sound completely strange to me, but I wasn't there. I mean jumping could be a sign of parasites, but not a solid sign. It sounds sudden, affected multiple fish and short lived. To me that rules out long term type stuff like water issues, etc., which is almost everything.

Fright is possible. Who knows what fish see and what does and doesn't scare them.

If you have a submerged pump, UV, etc., you could check for shorts. First sign I normally get is being able to feel it when I touch the water, but that's not always accurate. You can make sure the pond is grounded, one end of a bare copper wire into the ground, other end into the pond IN THAT ORDER. That can even trip the GFCI if there's a problem. Next use a voltage meter to test between water and ground. Next remove the ground wire and test again with the meter. Long shot, but easy to test.

If you're concerned about parasites I think you probably already know the drill. You have the microscope, you already did the salt dip at the proper dose (rarely see that). You just have to keep working thru the steps. I also assume you know about KoiVet. Hard to beat that source.

 

[Shirley Lewis]

Hi, all! My pond is roughly 500 gallons, and it's 5 years old. I have some goldfish that have been acting lethargic and hiding (3). I bought myself a quality microscope and did a scraping yesterday - I didn't see any parasites on the slide, but this is the first time I ever did a scaping. My fish show no outward signs of parasites; it's just their behavior. Tested the water - ammonia is 0, ph, nitrate, nitrate all where they are supposed to be. Added prazi yesterday - I had gill flukes last year, and prazi did the trick. Two of the fish seem a little better today, however, one got worse. I netted it and performed a salt dip - 3 tablespoons salt to 1/2 gallon of water; dipped fish for about 2 minutes. I put him back in the pond, and he started swimming (which he hasn't done all day today). I dumped the 1/2 gallon of "salt water" I used for the dip into the pond. Now the other fish in the pond are "jumping." Why?????

I think you have a electrical problem that was acerbated by adding the salt water to the pond. Salt breaks down when added to water and becomes a conductor of electricity. Unplug everything and see if fish calm down.

 

[addy1]

Four year old post, Shirley...............

 

[Smaug]

I think you have a electrical problem that was acerbated by adding the salt water to the pond. Salt breaks down when added to water and becomes a conductor of electricity. Unplug everything and see if fish calm down.

Water is conductive enough all by itself that such a miniscule amount of salt would have next to nothing on the way of additional conductivity. Unless the short happened at exactly the time the fish started jumping then it's highly unlikely to be a short.