Test #'s- I need help asap please

[Barry Meikle]

So my Dad is in Europe and he thought his fish were eaten by the local Heron 2 days prior to leaving. I starting checking the pond while he's gone and find dead fish on the surface then all the fish at the bottom acting sluggish. The auto add water system breaks along with the hose bib so I turn off the water. I start to add water after work and notice the fish really like the new water. Order a test kit and do the test last night. Half the fish have died before I was able to add 2 small air pump hoses with 12 inch stones into the water. They are bubbling away but it's a big pond. The pet store also suggested I put in "Topfin" pond water conditioner. I added 200 ml to our 850 gallon pond. Only 2 more fish dies overnight.

Here are the #'s
PH 8.5 to 9
Ammonia 0 to .25
Nitrate 0
Phosphate .50 to 1.0
KH took 9 drops with the API test kit = 161.1
GH was off the charts with 17 drops = more than 214.8

We have very hard water here in Tucson AZ.
The pond is over 10 years old with no water changes, ever.
Pond size approx 850 gallons.
Had about 30 goldfish and 2 koi. Medium sized fish. One Koi left with about 10 goldfish.
When my Dad remembers he feeds them about every 3 days.
No meds, no water conditioner. He says if it's not broken he's not doing anything.
For 6 months we have seen 1/2 inch large bubbles on 4 to 5 fish total. They die in maybe a month or longer. At least 3 fish alive still have these large bubbles in their body somewhere. On their head or body & they look like air bubbles but big.
The fish acted slow and gulped air at the surface. Now they are more active but some are not.

Thanks for helping if you can,
Barry Meikle

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Can you post photos of these "bubbles" on the fish?

 

[Faebinder]

Err... did you add a dechlorinator? Your post suggests that you added water without any conditioner to remove chlorine and that you asked the petstore who suggested you do that.

If that is the case, the fish is going to die from the high chlorine / chloramines. Those deaths don't usually show "bubbles". We're gonna need pictures for that..

 

[sissy]

WOW did you say 850 gallons about 30 fish before and 2 koi .,What size are the fish and how many are left .

 

[Mmathis]

Sorry to hear about this. And I assume all was well with the pond prior to this?

• Were there new fish added recently?
• What is the water temperature and is there shade?
• Excellent move was to get a test kit!!
• Your #'s don't sound bad, and you have a good KH reading
• Is the water city or well, and do you add a dechorinator?
• Yes, can you get some good pictures of these "bubbles"?
• 850 gals does sound small for that many GF and koi
• Adding additional air is always a good move!!
• Is there any filtration?
• Any chance that an animal or something (not a fish) died in the water?

Please get back with us!

 

[Barry Meikle]

2 new Koi with in the last month. The "conditioner says it helps to neutralize chlorine. No "dechlor added, just the "Topfin pond water conditioner"
I'm guessing the # of gallons. About 8 feet across with about 2 1/2 maybe 3 depth. It also has a "tray of one foot that is under about 3 inches of water with a diameter of 12 feet. I guessed at 850.
Filtration has 2 levels. One is the waterfall filter that is full according to my Dad. The other is a skimmer type with a cleanable filter 1 foot by 1 foot. I clean debris every third day.
It is in the shade with a water temp of 69 to 70.
There are only about 10 goldfish left and about 100 mosquito fish that are maybe an inch.
City water with chlorine that you can smell at times.
No chance of other animals that died in the pool. The water is clear and I can see. There has been a large Heron but we don't know how often.

 

[Barry Meikle]

Can you post photos of these "bubbles" on the fish?

I added the pics with another reply. Thank you all !!!

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Those are tumors. They are typically caused by virus and are therefore untreatable.

 

[Barry Meikle]

Sorry to hear about this. And I assume all was well with the pond prior to this?

• Were there new fish added recently?
• What is the water temperature and is there shade?
• Excellent move was to get a test kit!!
• Your #'s don't sound bad, and you have a good KH reading
• Is the water city or well, and do you add a dechorinator?
• Yes, can you get some good pictures of these "bubbles"?
• 850 gals does sound small for that many GF and koi
• Adding additional air is always a good move!!
• Is there any filtration?
• Any chance that an animal or something (not a fish) died in the water?

Please get back with us!

I listed the info requested and thank you. The fish are still croaking.

 

[Usman]

you need to clean ur pond and filter , when did u clean filter or pond last time ? if a disease is that bad its always good option to reset pond or in anyway its killing fish at fast rate .

cud have become overstocked plus bad quality of water . tumor or it can be pox which are rare , if its happening to so many fishes then some thing is not rite . u can prevent these viral diseases by cleaning and adding more filter

on yearly or in 6 month some kind of pond cleaning or bog cleaning which can remove waste from the pond or it wil pile up .

 

[Faebinder]

Sounds like the new fish gave the rest of the pond pox.

 

[Barry Meikle]

you need to clean ur pond and filter , when did u clean filter or pond last time ? if a disease is that bad its always good option to reset pond or in anyway its killing fish at fast rate .

cud have become overstocked plus bad quality of water . tumor or it can be pox which are rare , if its happening to so many fishes then some thing is not rite . u can prevent these viral diseases by cleaning and adding more filter

on yearly or in 6 month some kind of pond cleaning or bog cleaning which can remove waste from the pond or it wil pile up .

My Dad has never cleaned this over 10 Y/O pond. The bio filter is in the water fall and that has never been cleaned. The ONLY cleaning done was the skimmer filter that we change every 3 or 4 days. The fish have had these large bumps for a year now. The new koi did not bring this to us.
The fish have stopped dying so that's good. I added PH down and salt and "pond bacteria" from the pond store because the #'s looked like this:
PH 8.0, coming down from 8.5
ammonia 0, was 0
nitrate 0 was 0
phos .25, the same
kh took 9 drops to turn color = 161.1ppm dk 4?
gh took 20 drops = 360 ppm
The water looks clearer and the fish are happy now. Anything else I should be doing?

 

[mgmine]

If this were my pond I would drain it, clean it and get 3 new fish (no more than that) and some plants it sounds like the fish are infected and even though the remaining ones look fine that doesn't mean they are. What ever is causing bubbles is not going to be fixed by some elixir or a test kit. Everything was fine for 10 years and it sounds like your dad was on the right track by just letting it be. The only thing I would have done differently would have been to drain it down a few times every few years and do a 50% water change.

 

[sissy]

The ph is fine as long as it is stable .You can get crushed oyster shells to stablize that .Not sure about the lumps