My goldfish pond

[CometKeith]

Colleen, first of all I think that's great that the trans Canada bridge has to wait until the fish have spawned. I'm sure it is costing taxpayers money but it is worth it. You are lucky to get all the stones for free. They are tearing down a purple hotel by me and I desperately want to get some purple bricks to decorate my pond. It was one of the original Hyatt Houses built about 50 years ago. They were selling them for $5 ea at a fundraiser but I missed out. JW/Coleen. I know what your guys mean but sometimes your feel bad when a fish is sick. Shouldn't I at least put in a little salt in the pond to help the healing process?

Addy. i know your pond is large and probably next to impossible to know all your fish and to spot if any are sick, but the advantage of a small pond is I know the sex of every adult, I can tell you exactly where every fish came from ie purchased,gift, or born in the pond, and on most of the small ones I can figure out the lineage! The one that is bruised up I got from my friend Steve and it is the last of three fish I got from him. The big red spotted male Sarassa that causes all the trouble I got from petsmart 5 years ago and is my longest surviving fish. 20 of my 27 fish were born in my pond and only 7 were purchased or were gifts!

 

[callingcolleen1]

Keith you can set up a sick tank if you like, it does work for some people, and may help fish recover if her injuries are due to other males spawing and shoving her around. A small amount of salt can be added to pond as well. I never add salt here as I think our water here in town has enough salt in it naturally as our lands in this area have large natural salt deposits as this land here was once a large sea that extended down to Salt Lake City. We also have no shortage of rocks here either, the prairies are littered with many different types of rocks and the river has a endless supply. The river is lower now and the rocks are easy to find in many areas. Lucky for me I know where their is easy access and a endless supply!

By the way, Medicine Hat, Alberta is usually the hot spot in Canada, as we have milder weather and hotter summers here. This land also holds many dinosaur bones, and the lands by the river are called "bad lands" and are full of different types of rocks.

 

[callingcolleen1]

We also have very old big sturgeon fish in the South Saskatchewan river and they are protected I believe.

 

[CometKeith]

Colleen, I guess I'll add a little salt. I usually add salt only in the spring when its importnant to help the fish build their slime coat and protect them from disease. I know that a lot of plants don't like salt so I normally don't add any in the summer months plus it usually not needed. I can't do a qt tank so I'll have to treat it in the pond. The fish acts normally so I don't know how critical it is to help it out. It just looks bad because it is missing a lot of scales.

 

[j.w]

You can add some salt Keith. It won't hurt and goldfish actually like salt in their water I have heard but I don't add it to mine. Seems they do fine w/o it unless of course my well water already has some in there like Colleens may. It does help w/their slime coat that they really need as a protection. If you don't add a lot it prolly won't hurt your plants. Doesn't seem to hurt Colleens plants w/ it being in her water from the start.
Colleen does your water taste salty? Just wondering as ours does not.

 

[callingcolleen1]

No, our water does not taste salty to me, but I am sure there is more salt than some other places. I have never added salt to my pond, as everything is good, so I don't mess with it if it is working, that's my theory....

 

[CountryEscape]

I asked at the local pet shop about how much salt to add because my fish were dying, thinking that salt never hurts (plants do NOT like it, but it's good for the fish), and believe it or not their largest box was something like 80 oz, and it would treat maybe 500 gallons. I think someone told me that if you are adding salt to help sick fish, if you don't add the proper amount, you are not helping them out, but it won't hurt them. Something like that. Anyhow, I also added about 5 large cups of rock salt, into a netted floating ring, and it was dissolved and into the water in less than 5 minutes. I was shocked it dissolved that quickly. Didn't hurt my plants that I can tell, and the fish were still sick, so that didn't help them either. Still working on the "why" they got sick in the first place.
Let us know how she does, Keith, if you add salt. I'm guessing she will feel better. :blueflower:

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks CE, I haven't added any yet. On one side her scales are actually looking a little better. Wow... 80 ounces or salt for 500 gallons sounds like way too much. That's like 1 pound for every 100 gallons? I always thought it was something like 2-3 ounces per hundred gallons and when I add salt in the spring I put in like 3-5 ounces for my whole pond!

 

[CountryEscape]

I agree, Keith. This was the amount that the box said for treating an aquarium for disease or something. Don't use that much! I did add a bunch, probably several pounds, but then I figured that was not going to help the fish, as it was not enough to help them, and I didn't want to kill all my plants, so just quit after the first dose.
I think even a small amount is good for the fish and even the plants. There is a happy medium there, if you can find it. Good luck with your girlie! I hope she is getting better and those boys leave her the heck alone. LOL
On the same note, my koi never did seem to spawn this year, and never spotted any baby in either pond. So, either they spawned and all the eggs and fry were eaten, the babies are hiding really well, or the frogs, turtles and dragonfly nymphs had a grand meal earlier this year! Koi still seem to be pretty fat, just the ones that I suspect are female. The males aren't, so it's not the food.

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks CE, Yes, if I add salt it will be a little just to help her slime coat. I used to do salt baths but if you put in too much salt or keep them in too long the fish can suffer from toxic shock. It has helped years back when I had some sick fish. The males in my pond are pretty ruthless and treat the females pretty badly. I lost one female already from getting beat up this year. That is the only fish I lost this year. I counted my babies from over the weekend; 8 black ones, 7 shubunkins, and 6 comets and still 9 adults, but absolutely no small fry. So same thing for me... All the eggs or babies are getting eaten. I think I still have at least one tadpole so between that and all the hungry mouths no new ones have made it. That's probably a good thing because the pond couldn't have handled any more fish. It kind of balances out that way and I would rather not have any new babies than have it get overpopulated and have them die from disease. I am going to check my thread from last year and see when the babies started showing up. That's the one good thing about keeping a thread going for a long time. You can go back and read what was happening with your pond in past months and years.

:compute:

Okay so I looked it up.... I spotted the first two babies on July 1st last year. So I am two months later already and probably no babies are coming this year. Too bad all that chasing and pushing on the females was for nothing but that's mother nature!

 

[CountryEscape]

Yep, same with me. Usually when I go into the pond to trim the lily pads is when I notice the first babies. I suspect about the first part of July, too. In fact, I never noticed the koi even spawn, although I'm sure they could have while I was gone to work. Just never noticed the fatter ones getting any thinner. Maybe they are forever chubby. The known female from last year is still fat, and there are several others I have pegged as females as well. Luckily, Lucy is a female, and Shamu is a male. It's fun to realize which ones are male and female. I can't tell as easily with the goldfish, so they must have spawned, as I remember some being very fat in that pond! Yes, the fish that died in my pond taught me to not overload it, and it will be very hard not to add to it, but I'm not going to unless I find something really nice, and then they will go into a quarantine tank first. Lesson learned.

 

[callingcolleen1]

After a few years of running the ponds non stop, the dragonfly population starts to get out of hand and the dragonflies take over the pond and eat most of the babies, that way only the very toughest fish survive. Dragonflies are very good, and they will cull the fish population naturally and keep the pond from being overloaded with too many fish. Mother Nature at her finest, and those dragonflies are the perfect preditor, they are one of the very few bugs that have not changed over the years, since the time of dinosours, cause when your the perfect preditor there is no need to adapt and change. I have a lot of respect for the dragonflies, they are so very beautiful and they can sure eat a lot of bad bugs. If you look really really close at the dragonfly, you will see they have a little face like ours, with eyes on the front of their head, LIKE ALL PREDITORS, including us, and wee little hands that feed the bugs into their mouths. they even can blink and wink their little eyes!

 

[callingcolleen1]

oh, I did see a little baby fish in the bottom marsh in my bottom pond the other day, I think it was a little baby baby koi, and if it is a little baby koi, that will my be my first baby koi ever! Now that I moved all the koi together in the top pond, I think they were breeding this year....

 

[addy1]

I had two small subbies in my deck pond, must have been a boy and a girl. I was out looking at the deck pond last night saw some tiny tiny 1/4 babies, and a few almost inch size. All with great colors, long fins. Those two have created some pretty ones. The parents have long fins and are the bluish, white black colors.

I will need to drain down the deck pond to get them out into the subbie tank before winter. That deck pond can freeze solid if we have a bad winter.

 

[CountryEscape]

If/when you move the fish, Addy, maybe put them in a glass aquarium and take some pics before putting them into the Shubie tank! They sure sound lovely.
Colleen, I have never look that close at a dragonfly, but now I'm going to have to get a close up pic that I can really zoom in and see what their face details look like! I like them, too. Wish I had bats, that would make daytime and nighttime bug predators in my yard!