Why are my fish dying?

[JohnHuff]

@shakaho would you say I am on the right track that the fish are showing signs of dropsy?

???
A spot diagnosis doesn't seem to be very relevant here. Regardless, you would do the same thing. Here's a link on the causes and treatment of dropsy:
http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/termsandtables/p/Dropsy.htm
Note well that as always these conditions are all due to bad water quality. Treat the underlying causes.

 

[dieselplower]

Dropsy isn't actually a diagnosis. It is symptoms of another problem, which I have not tried to diagnose.

By the way I don't believe the fish ate themselves to death

 

[Tula]

I also see pink streaks near the tail of the lighter colored fish, indicating a bacterial infection, most probably due to poor water conditions.

If it were my pond, I'd do a big water change ( use de chlorinator ) and clean the filters....and feed them very little. It's possible a medicated food may be in order, but I'm not expert enough to say. If you have an air pump I'd use it to get lots of O2 going. If you don't have one, you could put your hose nozzle on spray and let it spray over your pond.

Welcome to our forum...please let us know how things are going.

 

[shakaho]

@shakaho would you say I am on the right track that the fish are showing signs of dropsy?

They are definitely bloated, so yes.

 

[Dave 54]

Since moving house 8 weeks ago iv'e inherited a fish pond containing around 20 fish, which is 270cm in length, 130cm wide, and 35cm deep in the middle. It uses a Hozelock Cyprio Ecopower Plus 5000 Filter which has a maximum flow rate of 2250 LPH.

Here is a photo, it looks a bit busy to me with all those lillies?

I have never owned fish before, so reading the instructions on the back of the fish food the previous owners left behind it said to feed them 3 times a day, as much as they can eat in a few minutes. I felt this was a lot, because they only manage one cup in a few minutes and talking to others it would seem to be. So i have been feeding them once a day, usually around 6pm. They have one cup full of this(the cup is in the picture)...

This morning 5 of the fish are dead and i am concerned that there is something wrong with the pond water, pond itself, or the feeding pattern.

At least one of the fish in this picture looks swollen, or is that normal?

I looked in the filter and can see lots of insects that look like black maggots inside moving around (those black things on the foam)....

Could there be a problem with the filter? should there be insects/life inside?

The fish that are alive don't appear to be interested in the food today (you can see it floating on top of the water in the first picture).

Also is the pond too busy? there are quite a lot of lilly pads, and the plant towards the bottom end on the right has grown significantly recently. Could the fish be getting trapped or stuck in one area of the pond?

Behaviour wise, they seem to congregate by the water inlet, gulping at it. And often come to the surface and just gulp, ignoring the food. One of them is constantly swimming on its side in a shallow area, which is unusual.

Any advice greatly appreciated, as i am concerned that more will die if there is a problem with environment they are living in. There is clearly a lot to learn about keeping fish.

To summarize the key concerns...

Do one or more of the dead fish look swollen?
What kind of fish are they?
Should the filter have life/insects in it? and is it dirty looking?
Is the pond overstocked?
Should they be gulping at the surface?
Is the feeding pattern ok?

Hello and welcome to the forum first off we need to know the following water perameters Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate ph and kh basically my friend your over feeding your fish for one if it says as much as they can eat in a few minutes then it means that , not a cup full its always better to underfeed than over feed all food not eaten must be removed .
Next using a dechlorinator liquid to remove the chlorine and Chloromines you must do regular maitenance in the way of partial water changes each and every week throughout the summer into autumn and when the temperature gets below 15c in fall stop feeding them till the spring.
You must also do filter maintenance washing out the filter pads in a bucket of pond water rather than wash them under the tap , that way your destroyin what good bacteria you have left ofn the pond
The insects in your filter are nothing it goes to prove a filter is doing its job thats all if it didnt have creepy crawlys in it then I would be worried.
I would not has have been suggested completely gut a pond (that was most irresponsible), just bacause you have over fed them a half water change will suffice until you get up to speed about the nitrogen cycle of your pond otherwise your more than probably going to kill the reat of them off
I would go onto Amazon and order this book The Interpet manual of fish health by Dr Chris Andrews Adeian Exell and doctor Neville Carrington ISBN 1842860674 and read it this will give you a working knowledge of your pond the nirogen cycle and fish health issues , I suggest this as our answers are all different and you dont know at the moment which to follow so hopefully through the book you'll gain a better working knowledge not only in your ponds water but also your fishes health issues Parasites pathogens and viruses .
We all have killed fish at the start of our hobby its all part of the learning curve but once your into it then you wont look back .
The fish swimming on its side is more than probably dying however the goldfish are so crammed full of food it may well be the swimbladder is under pressure causing your fish to loose equilibrium stop feeding it the reduction in the gut will take pressure off the swibladder and the fish will right itself again thats if it isnt on its way out

Dave

 

[CometKeith]

Welcome to the gpf. I agree with most of the comments above however I wouldn't change more than 50% of the water at one time. Even that is a huge water change and then start to do regular water changes of 15-20%. Re feeding: The fish can go for a long time without being fed the food you are feeding them because there is plenty of other stuff they eat that's in the pond. I would totally quit feeding until you get the ammonia level to zero. Also you need to pull out the big plant. It's way to large for a small pond like yours and remove with a net any organic materials that have fallen in your pond. Plants can actually pull out oxygen at night and cause O2 deprivation. Good luck!!

 

[dieselplower]

Opinions will vary on the size of the water change that is ok for the fish. I frequent a goldfish forum where most members do a 75% or more change on a weekly basis. That said, the water in the pond may be in much worse shape than in the aquariums so a large change of water would also represent a larger swing in water parameters.

Also if I was going to pull that large plant out, I would remove the fish. The amount of debris that could be stirred up is huge.

 

[TheFishNovice]

Another dead fish this morning. At least whats left wont be so cramped.

Lots of responses, and varying opinions! I'm grateful for them all, and will go with a half water change as its somewhere in the middle of all the advice.

Will take a water test before the change to see how bad things have been.

My biggest problem is where to get Dechlorinator from? i work in Nottingham city center, and i dont imagine that somewhere like Wilko will stock it (its not on their site).

i can get to this store, is this the product(s) i am looking for...

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/searchterm?searchTerm=water+conditioner

Water change - just use a bucket? put the fresh water in, then add the dechlorinator? or must i dechlorinate it first?

I will look at removing the plant later in the week.

 

[Dave 54]

By the way the reason i mention the amount of food first is because heavy feeding leads to high ammonia levels which is also toxic to the fish. The test kit is your best friend right now. We also need to figure out what sort of infection the fish have. Search "dropsy" if you have time. I am not expert on fish disease but those fish are obviously dead....

is it possible those black things are snails? I can't see it very well. Snails in a pond are not generally a concern.

Dieselplower there is no way that is dropsy what your seeing is basically fish that have eaten so much they are fit to burst , it probably didnt kill them but is part of the problem .
I'd like to find out the water perameters before anyone can make a spot diagnoses like that

They are definitely bloated, so yes.

So why do you think these goldfish are suffering from dropsy there is no pineconing of the scales and it is blatantly obvious that they are stuffed to the gills with food.
This is dropsy note the difference for future reference :-

We have to look at the whole picture here 27 years experiance says that too me until we get those water perameters we know nothing other than these fish are overfed and have died so your remarks like dropsy and 100% waterchanges are counter productive so please stop them nobody in their right mind does 100% waterchanges not even us.
If we hit water quality issuse we set about making a half water change only half water change only but never 100%
My logic says its a number of things that have come together to cause these deaths and to prevent any more we have to rapidly get to the bottom of this .


Dave

 

[Dave 54]

Thefishnovice whats your name my friend it appears that your a Brit so we can talk about British issues yes?
You will most probably find dechlorinator in wilco but not in the amount your going to need so your best bet is to google fish shops and koi dealerships in your area to see what you can come up with the pay them a visit ,
Your going to need an API pond test kit again available at these outlets we then urgently need to know those water perameters , buy the book I recomended too you , its the first fish health book I ever got and its still used all these years later,
I'm including a diagnostic chart for you to copy off and study at your will at least until you get your book you'll know what your looking at and it will hopefully help you some in the future .

Dont worry that you have made a mistake because at the novice stage we all kill off fish its part of a steep lurning curve we all have to go through its learning from your mistakes that makes a good fish keeper.
When you have the test kit please let us know the readings from there we know where we are at.
Your going to have to undergo about a half water change and yes you add the amount of dechlorinator to the pond after you have drained it by a half then gently througha hose pipe add the new water to your pond.
Dont bother feeding your goldfish for a week or two they dont need it and will live off the amount they have eaten this gives the water perameters thanx to water changes etc time to go back to normal .

Dave

 

[dieselplower]

It appears multiple folks don't even know what dropsy is....

 

[dieselplower]

I really can't believe anyone would say the fish have eaten so much they could burst. My fish stop eating when they are full.

 

[shakaho]

I have nothing more to say. I'm too ignorant.

 

[Dave 54]

It appears multiple folks don't even know what dropsy is....

If this is dropsy never before hae I seen as many fish down with it as these , there is no pineconing as seen in dropsy this looks to be a build up of fat , if the previous owners fed them three times daily it could account for that , the best way to see is to cut into one and see if there is a mass of yellow fat laid down.
In the koi world fish with guts like these are termed by the Japanese to have a broken belly see autopsy photo's that I took when of my friend Matt's fish a of koi fed on the wrong food for too long you can see that the fat has even taken over the eggs of ths koi the results of the autopsy done by me was that the weight of fat had caused the swimbladder to rupture

The point of these photo's is to show that fish can take up massive amounts of fat if incorrectly fed or even spoiled by the owner
Guy when you took over the pond were these goldfish already huge ?


Dave

 

[TheFishNovice]

The fish have been leaving food, and i clean out any uneaten food.

Yes Dave, i am based in the UK, Nottinghamshire to be exact. I go by the name of Guy, use that if you prefer

Ive just been to the local store, and spoke to a knowledgeable lady whos advice was in tune with what you have all been saying.

ive got an ammonia test kit (they didnt have any of the api master kits left) and some nitrite test solution.

for the dechlorination i have bioactive tapsafe.

was advised to change as much water as possible (80%) tonight without moving the fish out , based on the assumption that the ammonia level will be very high (8). then to perform a 50% tomorrow, and leave for 48 hours, take a sample in for them to test, and go from there.

thank you all for your input, collectively the most helpful pond community by far.

will report back on test later tonight, if i dont end up headfirst in the pond that is