Hi,
I've had goldfish for about four years, only one of which survived all those years (Sprinkles). I'm sure we lost many of the early fish to plain ignorance, but now have a very healthy pond. Right now we have only four goldfish, three of which we bought this summer. Sprinkles had a rough time last winter as we had a strangely dry and warm winter (which required leaving the pond filter running off and on based on the temperature). It was the first winter that required us to keep an eye on the pond very regularly (prior to this we just turned the pump off during the winter and monitored whether to put a pond warmer in or not), which we only learned after not checking on it for a week and having most of our fish die in that period of time. Sprinkle ended up with dropsy, which we just monitored carefully since there isn't much to be done outside of improving water quality. She did get better, but I know that dropsy can leave lasting damage. There was only one other fish that also survived the dropsy epidemic (Lace), but she died this summer very suddenly.
After Lace died we got a pond test kit and our levels of ammonia, nitrites, and phosphates are all around 0%. Ph fluctuates between 8.0 - 9.5. We are on well water and our water tends to be hard. We invested in some rain barrels that should hopefully give us some more neutral water to add to the pond, but so far it's still summer and not raining a whole lot. I added some vinegar to help neutralize but it really seemed to make very little difference. I'm holding out for the rain.
Sprinkles developed some white spots on her scales last year and they are slowly multiplying. She has also been flashing to the point of swimming head on into walls or rocks. I've noticed her rubbing her sides on plants, and the scales on her face look almost as if they are peeling a little around the edges. I have no idea what is wrong with her. I don't think it's ich and I'm not familiar with bacterial or fungal diseases. Also at least one of our newer goldfish has developed these same white patches (Randy), which he did not have before being placed in our pond. He does not exhibit any real signs of being sick, but Sprinkles didn't act sick last year either. The other two fish look fine, but they are shubunkin and their spotted backs might be hiding the patches. (Randy is the orange comet, Sprinkles is the white comet in the pictures. Also I had to tempt them with food to pose for the camera, so the floating spots are incentive, not just debris). The spots seem to cover a single scale, especially along the outside ridge. While they are little granular-looking, they aren't raised. Anyone have any ideas? I would like to help them if possible. Losing fish is heartbreaking for me.
Should probably also mention that the pond is 180 gal and sits above ground. It has a bio filter and some lilies and cattails.
I've had goldfish for about four years, only one of which survived all those years (Sprinkles). I'm sure we lost many of the early fish to plain ignorance, but now have a very healthy pond. Right now we have only four goldfish, three of which we bought this summer. Sprinkles had a rough time last winter as we had a strangely dry and warm winter (which required leaving the pond filter running off and on based on the temperature). It was the first winter that required us to keep an eye on the pond very regularly (prior to this we just turned the pump off during the winter and monitored whether to put a pond warmer in or not), which we only learned after not checking on it for a week and having most of our fish die in that period of time. Sprinkle ended up with dropsy, which we just monitored carefully since there isn't much to be done outside of improving water quality. She did get better, but I know that dropsy can leave lasting damage. There was only one other fish that also survived the dropsy epidemic (Lace), but she died this summer very suddenly.
After Lace died we got a pond test kit and our levels of ammonia, nitrites, and phosphates are all around 0%. Ph fluctuates between 8.0 - 9.5. We are on well water and our water tends to be hard. We invested in some rain barrels that should hopefully give us some more neutral water to add to the pond, but so far it's still summer and not raining a whole lot. I added some vinegar to help neutralize but it really seemed to make very little difference. I'm holding out for the rain.
Sprinkles developed some white spots on her scales last year and they are slowly multiplying. She has also been flashing to the point of swimming head on into walls or rocks. I've noticed her rubbing her sides on plants, and the scales on her face look almost as if they are peeling a little around the edges. I have no idea what is wrong with her. I don't think it's ich and I'm not familiar with bacterial or fungal diseases. Also at least one of our newer goldfish has developed these same white patches (Randy), which he did not have before being placed in our pond. He does not exhibit any real signs of being sick, but Sprinkles didn't act sick last year either. The other two fish look fine, but they are shubunkin and their spotted backs might be hiding the patches. (Randy is the orange comet, Sprinkles is the white comet in the pictures. Also I had to tempt them with food to pose for the camera, so the floating spots are incentive, not just debris). The spots seem to cover a single scale, especially along the outside ridge. While they are little granular-looking, they aren't raised. Anyone have any ideas? I would like to help them if possible. Losing fish is heartbreaking for me.
Should probably also mention that the pond is 180 gal and sits above ground. It has a bio filter and some lilies and cattails.
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