Goldfish suddenly dying!

[Tmilz]

Good morning! I have two outdoor ponds, 400 gal and about 100 gal. 2 waterfalls, 2 good filters and 2 fountains. Just added 4 bubblers as well. Water chemistry is spot on and i have a continuous ammonia checker but also test frequently. Lots of plants in pond as well. Noticed some babies last week so moved them to the small pond for their safety.
This week was unusually hot here so i kept doing water changes to keep the temp under 80. Also added an umbrella for shade. Fish were a bit sluggish hanging at the bottom of the pond not to interested in eating so i added 4 bubblers thinking they needed more oxygen.
This week 4 of my fish died within 2 days. No physical signs if illness i could see. I immediatly did another water check and nothing was off. No i am worried about my other 3 fish. Any suggestions?

 

[j.w]

@Tmilz
Sorry and not sure what is happening. How big of water changes and how fast are you doing it?

 

[Tmilz]

Well one day it was super hot and dry so I lost about of water to evaporation and had to refill about 25%. And I did it all pretty fast. Since that I have been doing it very slowly, over the course of about 8-10 hours

 

[j.w]

Well one day it was super hot and dry so I lost about of water to evaporation and had to refill about 25%. And I did it all pretty fast. Since that I have been doing it very slowly, over the course of about 8-10 hours

Slower is better, maybe that fast fill shocked them? I really don't know but slow is the way to go. Hopefully the rest of your fish will be ok.

 

[Tmilz]

Slower is better, maybe that fast fill shocked them? I really don't know but slow is the way to go. Hopefully the rest of your fish will be ok.

Thank you! I suspect that may be accurate since the water went from about 85 degrees to 68 degrees

 

[mrsclem]

Are you using well water or tap water? Possible chlorine?
I would hold off on feeding if water temp is 80.

 

[Tmilz]

Well water that is softened (though hardness is still high), no chlorine, fluoride, etc. Good advice on the feeding, never considered that

 

[mrsclem]

What type of water softener? Salt?

 

[Tmilz]

Yes

 

[Tmilz]

Yes

Overall salt levels in the one are pretty low. Less than .02

 

[j.w]

I found this old discussion here on water softeners etc, : https://www.gardenpondforum.com/threads/using-filtered-treated-well-water-to-fill-my-pond.20626/

 

[Tmilz]

Based on this post, I think the water is ok from the softener. I have an iron filter that uses coconut hulls (I think) then the softener. Hardness is still right about 190 and salt levels are very low. Ph is about 7.8. At this point I have to think the rapid temperature fluctuations just caused too much stress.

 

[j.w]

Based on this post, I think the water is ok from the softener. I have an iron filter that uses coconut hulls (I think) then the softener. Hardness is still right about 190 and salt levels are very low. Ph is about 7.8. At this point I have to think the rapid temperature fluctuations just caused too much stress.

So no more fish loss? Could be right that it's just the temp that shocked them.

 

[Tmilz]

Nothing today and they are swimming around with energy and eating the small bit of bloodworms I gave them. Nobody seems to be just hanging out at the bottom of the pond.

 

[Tmilz]

Nothing today and they are swimming around with energy and eating the small bit of bloodworms I gave them. Nobody seems to be just hanging out at the bottom of the pond.

Though they are probably annoyed with me by this point. I have probably spent 5 hours over the past 2 days staring at them. Ha!