On Sat, 05 Feb 2005 15:39:23 GMT, Anthropy wrote:

Thanks for the help.
I will certainly take a sample of water and have it tested. Will the
petshop do it? or some kind of kit where I could do it myself?
The pond is very basic. It's in the garden and we tend to leave it
alone other then feeding and cleaning. It has no filtration system nor
any kind of pump or fountain.
Also, here in England right now it's winter but the temperature has
been erratic. On the occasional warm day I have fed the fish a small
amount of food. I know not to feed them under 55f which I haven't.
Could the feeding be the cause?
Is it significant that only (so far) the smaller fish have died?

As Kathy says you shouldn't really feed on the occasional warm day
since the fish need to be active for long enough to digest the food.
That may happen occasionally down south there but it's unlikely up here
in Yorkshire. A larger specialist shop is more likely to test the water
for you than a small pet shop and you should be able to find a larger
range of test kits and water treatments there as well.

Stocking should be low on an unfiltered pond. The Practical Fishkeeping
website http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk has a stocking guide and
pond volume calculator that's worth looking at.

--
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