On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 09:11:44 +0100, CombatPotato wrote:

When I say water quality is good I don't have actual numbers. When I tested,
the kits had a colour chart to go on which indicated that the nitrate,
nitrite and ammonia levels were in the acceptable band. the ph is 6.5.
Pond temperature is 12.3 celcius today.
I had one of my fish taken to Stirling univercity where they diagnosed a
bacterial viral infection tha the vet says antibiotics are required for,
still awaiting the full report. The vet says that he cannot treat the whole
pond as this will kill the friendly bacteria in my filter.

Your filter bacteria is about to take some time off for the winter
anyway John and, to me at least, the fish are far more important. Could
you bypass the filter and stuff an airstone in it?

Do you have much detritus on the bottom of the pond or in the filter?
There are always some nasty bacteria around but something has caused
them to increase in levels and/or make your fish susceptible. A ph of
6.5 is a bit low I think, it's acidic and they like alkaline
conditions, something like 7.2 to 9 would be better.

We had a similar problem about this time last year and in the end our
Vet got us some Baytril to treat the whole pond and so far we haven't
had a return of the problem. We changed the filter to a Fishmate
pressurized one last year and it let most things through, even
tadpoles. I threw out the sponges and put some beads in this year and
it's cleaned up the bottom nicely.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk