Help my Goldfish Have Died

PurpleChick · Post by **PurpleChick** » 19 Dec 2007, 12:19

Hi to all,

Wonder if there are any goldfish experts here?
I bought one of those preformed ponds back in the July and was given two fish by a friend and they seemed happy there.

But the poor things both died :=( so I must doing something wrong for both to go to fishy heaven.

I did wonder with all the leaves falling in the water that the ph may have changed, so i bought a full testing kit which tests ph, nitrite, nitrate but all were within normal band and I haven't yet had the pond freeze over either.

I can't really replace them until I know what the problem is.
Please can anybody help?
Thanks

Post by **wendy** » 19 Dec 2007, 12:27

I have about 20 goldfish, in my pond.
I was going to ask about the falling leaves and the ice. But I do not know what it is, if you have covered that. Had you had them long and was it from a friends pond or the shop?. Trouble with fish they are inclined to just die sometimes.
Do you have a filter? if so I would suggest you leave getting any new fish until the warmer weather arrives and hopefully if there is a problem it will have sorted itself by then.
Maybe someone else can shed some light.
Wendy

melons · Post by **melons** » 19 Dec 2007, 13:16

Poor fishies, I never had any luck with fish in a tank, so I tipped them all in the pond, which is in the wrong place in the garden, full sunlight, part under the apple tree, so gets leaves, it's not filtered either, but they do great, all I did was buy a solar panel fountain for a bout 20 quid, it works all year round once the sun gets on it, I have it netted to keep Mr Heron out & that's about all I do, must have a 100+ in there now & lose about one every 3 /4 years

I also float a tennis ball in there to keep an air hole for when it does freeze.

Maybe what your problem was, was not enough oxygen, as plant / leaf matter as it decays reduces the oxygen levels, but I'm no fish expert. Put stacks of oxygenating plants in it & maybe some form of fountain to keep the water splashing about, our fish love it when it gets going & they dive bomb it, probably because the oxygen levels have dropped, I don't know

Dave · Post by **Dave** » 19 Dec 2007, 14:14

put plants in for oxygen
was there any sign of desiese(spelt wrong)
also how old were the fish?
how deep is the pond ?
have you stopped feeding ?
this time of year if you feed it can sit in the gut
and rot the fish canot digest food at low temps
if you have no filter you should change 1/3 of the water
every few weeks/month(depends how big the pond)
but if you use tap water you should leave it in bucketts for 24 hours
to let the clorine(spelt wrong) evaparate before adding to the pond
falling leaves do rot and can make the water "bad"
any rotted sludge in the bottom of the pond?
hope this helps

Dave

Citrine · Post by **Citrine** » 19 Dec 2007, 15:20

Sounds like Dave has covered most areas, good luck!

PurpleChick · Post by **PurpleChick** » 19 Dec 2007, 15:57

Thanks Dave!
I knew there would be an expert on here :-)

Its only a small pond about 3 feet deep and i do have some oxygenating plants in there, but I did guess it would have something to do with the leaves.

My Christmas mission is to make a mesh lid i think.
I don't have a filter as can't get leccy down to the bottom where the pond is, but a solar fountain is a good idea.
Thanks everybody

TassieDev · Post by **TassieDev** » 20 Dec 2007, 13:03

how long after you got them did they die?
i would have thought a reasonable sized pond should have more than enough oxygen for just 2 goldfish, even without a filter or aeration.

Post by **Richard** » 20 Dec 2007, 23:52

Regarding the ice, put a tennis ball or other ball which floats in the pond.

I'm afraid my knowledge of pond other than digging a couple ends there.

Post by Mo » 21 Dec 2007, 12:00

I vaguely remember that if a pond freezes you can do more harm trying to crack the ice (shock waves) than just leaving it. Though I suppose the tennis ball or something warm to melt the ice would be better.

PurpleChick · Post by **PurpleChick** » 21 Dec 2007, 14:19

I had the fish about 3 months. they came from another garden pond, but with more friends.
They seemed to be doing so well, even growing bigger and i couldn't see any visible tumours or anything like that on them, it is a mystery.

TassieDev · Post by **TassieDev** » 21 Dec 2007, 15:42

ok well if you had them 3 months it probably rules out any of the classic problems of something toxic in the pond sealer, chlorine in the tap water etc.

Hmmmm, it is a bit of a mystery, but then again fish can die from about 1001 diseases and parasites etc ...... it could just be that something got into the pond, not much you can do about that. Although normally you'd have seen some evidence and you didn't see anything abnormal about them. hmmmmmm

Only other tip I can think of is watch out not to overfeed, especially if you don't have a filter, as it can really crud up the water in no time.

I wouldn't have thought it was water quality issues though as it sounds like you did all the right things re water tests.

fussymare · Post by **fussymare** » 04 Jan 2008, 23:38

We have a garden pond, and it doesn't have a filter or a fountain of any type - and we have 8 fish in there and no problems with lack of oxygen. I get all the floating leaves out regularly with a net, so they don't build up at the bottom - and have oxygenating and other marginal plants - and feed only when temperature is above 4 degrees I think. It says on the fish food. Wheatgerm food is the one to feed when temperatures are cooler.