Hi and hello peeps

[Gingersherwood]

I have a new 7 ft x 8 ft x 4 ft deep fishpond that I made around 14 months ago. I have 2 little koi. And 7 goldfish various sizes. I have just had my beautiful 13 inch goldfish die die due to swim bladder / dropsy I did my best putting her in her own 6 gallon tub with daily treatment of swim bladder and epsum salts and upping the the temperature she did end up looking like a pine cone . I did my best but she died today. In my pond I have a Blagdon 6000 ltr fountain with filltetation that I clean every week I also use a net to clear any debris out as I see it. Over the last 14 months I have had around 4 little goldfish die that I bought from pet shop. I did expect some to not make it. My little koi seems to be thriving and definitely growing as with my other goldfish. I am now starting to test my water I bought king British test straps but omg I don't understand them today I tested the water at lunch time. Then again tonight after sunset. The readings have changed but I just can't get my head around if they good or bad readings. Don't want anymore of my fish dieing. Could someone please help me and point me in the right direction. My fish do not like floating foot only seem to eat sinking flakes bottom feeders but I have introduced shelled oease 1 x a week along with blood worms that they seem to like but only 1 x a week.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome, but am sorry to hear about your fish!

Why don’t you post the results of your tests and maybe we can help you understand what they mean. We prefer dropper (liquid) test kits as they tend to be more reliable. You should be testing for pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and if possible KH and GH.

Sometimes fish just get sick and die. Usually, though and in most cases, it’s due to a problem with water quality. Your pond sounds like it’s right at the edge of minimum size for koi. I wouldn’t add any more fish.

 

[Gingersherwood]

Hello and welcome, but am sorry to hear about your fish!

Why don’t you post the results of your tests and maybe we can help you understand what they mean. We prefer dropper (liquid) test kits as they tend to be more reliable. You should be testing for pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and if possible KH and GH.

Sometimes fish just get sick and die. Usually, though and in most cases, it’s due to a problem with water quality. Your pond sounds like it’s right at the edge of minimum size for koi. I wouldn’t add any more fish.

Hi. And thank you for your reply I don't intend getting anymore fish as I have heard koi are quite fussy and can be quite difficult to keep. I do have the test results but lighting not good so I will take good pictures in the morning and post any advice I would be delighted to know and learn from more experienced fish keepers loosing my big girl as taken it's toll on me I loved that fish and quite upset she didn't pull through. I would just hate for anymore of my babbies to be sick for something I could have prevented. Thank you for getting back to me post pics in morning

 

[addy1]

Shubunkins are a good alternative to koi, pretty non fussy fish.

Welcome to our forum!

Hope we can help you figure out what happened

 

[j.w]

@Gingersherwood
So sorry you lost some of your fish. Not sure how to stop the issues. Sometimes the petstore fish aren't that hardy and can pass on diseases to your other fish.

 

[JRS]

Welcome!

 

[Jhn]

Koi really aren’t that fussy and are pretty tough fish maybe not as tough as goldfish, but still a lot tougher than their brethren kept in the aquarium hobby. They are just bigger bodied and grow larger, so they can’t be kept in en masse in small water features/pond. As they will outgrow it and end up getting sick from a myriad of issues, because of this.

 

[Gingersherwood]

Hello and welcome, but am sorry to hear about your fish!

Why don’t you post the results of your tests and maybe we can help you understand what they mean. We prefer dropper (liquid) test kits as they tend to be more reliable. You should be testing for pH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and if possible KH and GH.

Sometimes fish just get sick and die. Usually, though and in most cases, it’s due to a problem with water quality. Your pond sounds like it’s right at the edge of minimum size for koi. I wouldn’t add any more fish.

Hi good morning. Just tested the pond water this morning hear are some pictures. Thank you Jackie

 

[Gingersherwood]

Hi. And thank you for your reply I don't intend getting anymore fish as I have heard koi are quite fussy and can be quite difficult to keep. I do have the test results but lighting not good so I will take good pictures in the morning and post any advice I would be delighted to know and learn from more experienced fish keepers loosing my big girl as taken it's toll on me I loved that fish and quite upset she didn't pull through. I would just hate for anymore of my babbies to be sick for something I could have prevented. Thank you for getting back to me post pics in morning

Hi. Took this sample this morning. Non the wizer ?.

 

[addy1]

Hard to tell but it looks like ph and hardness if that is the second row are low. My well water has a ph of about 5.4 it took a year to get the pond up to 7.6 or so. The first fish I put in all died in that acid bath. I left it empty for a year.

A liquid test kit gives better readings, API kit is what a lot of us use.

https://smile.amazon.com/API-FRESHWATER-800-Test-Freshwater-Aquarium/dp/B000255NCI/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2GL1R68T3HCR6&dchild=1&keywords=api+freshwater+master+test+kit&qid=1621772189&sprefix=api%2Caps%2C175&sr=8-5

 

[Lisak1]

I will second what @Jhn said - koi get a bad rap as "fussy" and "difficult" when the real issue is too many people try to keep too many of them in too small ponds. The end result is disease and death - not unexpected in any species really.

Anyway - those pet shop goldfish might be part of the problem - they are notorious disease carriers.

If you really want to understand your pond chemistry, ditch the strips and get a drop kit.

 

[Gingersherwood]

Hard to tell but it looks like ph and hardness if that is the second row are low. My well water has a ph of about 5.4 it took a year to get the pond up to 7.6 or so. The first fish I put in all died in that acid bath. I left it empty for a year.

A liquid test kit gives better readings, API kit is what a lot of us use.

https://smile.amazon.com/API-FRESHWATER-800-Test-Freshwater-Aquarium/dp/B000255NCI/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2GL1R68T3HCR6&dchild=1&keywords=api+freshwater+master+test+kit&qid=1621772189&sprefix=api%2Caps%2C175&sr=8-5

Hi. As im reading it the ph. Is 6.4 and the hardness is reading 25 ?. I will now be looking to buy the API test kit . Thank you. Jackie