Help

[MermaidTracy]

Here I go again losing fish. 3 months into fish and they're dying off. I have no idea why. This happened last yr and I lost them all. Pond is clean, running waterfall only have 4 shubunkins

Thanks for your help but never mind. I did the strip test this morning and it's gone now. I have had aquarium fish all my life and I know what good water quality is. I will call someone

 

[WaterGardener]

We will be happy to help, but we need more information. Since we aren't there, we can't know what is going on.

What's gone now? I'm not understanding what you are saying.

 

[GBBUDD]

Those test strips are weak at best , they can easily be compromised and shelf life is limited. There has been some very high temps down there a couple weeks in the 90's if im not mistaken that little pond could easily heat up and with warm water it holds far less oxygen

 

[j.w]

We are too snoopy I guess and are just supposed to know w/our magic balls what is going on automatically w/o asking any questions, lol!
If she calls someone and asks them for help and they ask questions I don't know what the difference is. They might tell her anything just to get her to buy their chemicals. Yikes!

 

[MermaidTracy]

Here I go again losing fish. 3 months into fish and they're dying off. I have no idea why. This happened last yr and I lost them all. Pond is clean, running waterfall only have 4 shubunkins

The test strip is gone. I'd like to get off the water quality and look for other reasons and not just focus on what I know is ok

 

[WaterGardener]

What was the KH? What level do you consider good? What was the pH?

PH swings can kill fish and the level of KH in the water will determine whether or not the pH is stable.

Does the pond have a source of air? As has already been stated, adding air in hot weather can be critical for the fish.

This sounds like a water problem. Clear water has nothing to do with quality water.

We are only trying to help and people come here every day saying their water is fine. But when they post the actual test results of their ponds, it can be far from fine, very toxic actually. So we always ask for actual test results. Sorry if that offends you. But it's the only way WE have to evaluate the situation.

If you are out of strips, it would seems to me that the last strip could have been old. As soon as you open a new pack of those strips and expose them to air, they start to deteriorate, loosing accuracy. So it's hard to depend on the results you get from those.

If you want a more reliable and accurate way of knowing your pond's water quality, please get the liquid type tests. Strips are not accurate and many don't even have a test for ammonia, one of the most toxic aspects of pond water.

Have you added anything to your pond recently, fish, plants, treatments of any kind?

Are your fish.flashing? Do they have any red sores or red patches on them?

Did you examine the gills of the dead fish? If you did, were they red or pale? Were there any sections missing?

Does your tap water have chloramine or chlorine. If it does, what product or process do you use to eliminate that?

We can't help without more information from you.

What questions do you have and want answered?

 

[GBBUDD]

@WaterGardener should add a few items to this list and make it a sticky

 

[WaterGardener]

That should be a joint effort.

What other questions should be added?

When we get a list together, someone could type it all up.

 

[Mmathis]

The test strip is gone. I'd like to get off the water quality and look for other reasons and not just focus on what I know is ok

It looks like we’ve about covered everything, short of seeing, evaluating, and testing your pond in person. Keep in mind that almost everyone on this forum has [at one time or another] faced similar problems with their ponds. I don’t know what else you want us to do to help you.

Don’t you have any strips left? Can you run a repeat test?

Why not [just to humor us] get a liquid test kit (like API) and try again. Test strips are notoriously unreliable. Once the bottle has been opened, no matter how careful you are, the strips will begin to deteriorate on exposure to air and moisture.

 

[Mmathis]

That should be a joint effort.

What other questions should be added?

When we get a list together, someone could type it all up.

Once upon a time, we had a “sticky” attached to several topics just for this purpose. The intent was that people posting about PROBLEMS could look here first and answer the questions in their post.

READ BEFORE POSTING: For queries about water quality, algae, fish problems etc

Before posting please take a moment to think about what information could really help the other members to help you. If your question is about water quality then this is particularly important! Water quality can have a great impact on fish health. To help us better help you with your fish or...

www.gardenpondforum.com

Good idea in theory…….

 

[j.w]

The test strip is gone. I'd like to get off the water quality and look for other reasons and not just focus on what I know is ok

If we can't ask you questions then how can we be of help? Anyone is gonna ask you for info on what you see happening to the fish as they get overcome w/whatever this is and die. We are just trying to be thorough so we can perhaps envision all aspects of the situation.
All you want to tell us is that everything is fine and they are dying. You need to be more specific on what you see. You say you know your water quality is good so what looks bad to you? Anything? Was it actually the same season that it happened last year? What kind of temps outside? Tell us step by step anything you can think of that changed. What do the fish look or act like when dying and after? I know you said they stopped eating and were sluggish. We find test strips to not be as accurate as liquid tests. Any kind of wounds or spots on the fish that look different? Do you do water changes to your pond of any size? Perhaps we just won't ever know.

 

[GBBUDD]

small ponds are a time bomb they can swing so fast a good rain can crash the ph, A WARM DAY CAN RAISE THE TEMP AND DEPLETE the oxygen. predator's can try to catch them all night long and stress them out . and no matter how much you may believe water quality is not the issue it can change so fat. there's a saying in the contaminated waste industry solution through dilution, well when a problem comes to a small pond theres not enough dilution to lessen the problem

 

[MermaidTracy]

We are too snoopy I guess and are just supposed to know w/our magic balls what is going on automatically w/o asking any questions, lol!
If she calls someone and asks them for help and they ask questions I don't know what the difference is. They might tell her anything just to get her to buy their chemicals. Yikes!

Ok that's not necessary. I would have someone come to the house. I don't use chemicals aside from chlorine removal. I'm prob the greenest person u would ever meet

 

[MermaidTracy]

What was the KH? What level do you consider good? What was the pH?

PH swings can kill fish and the level of KH in the water will determine whether or not the pH is stable.

Does the pond have a source of air? As has already been stated, adding air in hot weather can be critical for the fish.

This sounds like a water problem. Clear water has nothing to do with quality water.

We are only trying to help and people come here every day saying their water is fine. But when they post the actual test results of their ponds, it can be far from fine, very toxic actually. So we always ask for actual test results. Sorry if that offends you. But it's the only way WE have to evaluate the situation.

If you are out of strips, it would seems to me that the last strip could have been old. As soon as you open a new pack of those strips and expose them to air, they start to deteriorate, loosing accuracy. So it's hard to depend on the results you get from those.

If you want a more reliable and accurate way of knowing your pond's water quality, please get the liquid type tests. Strips are not accurate and many don't even have a test for ammonia, one of the most toxic aspects of pond water.

Have you added anything to your pond recently, fish, plants, treatments of any kind?

Are your fish.flashing? Do they have any red sores or red patches on them?

Did you examine the gills of the dead fish? If you did, were they red or pale? Were there any sections missing?

Does your tap water have chloramine or chlorine. If it does, what product or process do you use to eliminate that?

We can't help without more information from you.

What questions do you have and want answered?

Here is a pic of my strip taken five mins ago. The strips are new. Looks like kh is 0? I removed some plants yesterday. I hadc10 inch fish for 3 yrs and all of a sudden last fall they perished one by one. Now I have new fish 4 months old and same is happening. I do appreciate your aggressiveness with the questions. You are really trying to help

 

[MermaidTracy]

Here is a pic of my strip taken five mins ago. The strips are new. Looks like kh is 0? I removed some plants yesterday. I hadc10 inch fish for 3 yrs and all of a sudden last fall they perished one by one. Now I have new fish 4 months old and same is happening. I do appreciate your aggressiveness with the questions. You are really trying to help

I also just added an air pump since my kn levels appear to be low which is what I suspected over nitrates.