It could be temperature stress has caused the fish to die. If the fish have
been indoors, at around 70F, and are now outdoors in water that is probably
not yet up to 50F, the rapid change in temperature, to the cold side would
be a major stressor. For the pH to be that low, you need to check the KH
and make sure that it is up in a range that will prevent major shifts,
morning to evening of the pH. The fish have not been in the pond long
enough to have created toxic levels of ammonia or nitrItes and definitely
not long enough to have created any significant amount of nitrAtes.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html

"Bowhunter" wrote in message
ups.com...
I recently put a new pond in our back yard. It is 8' long X 5' Wide at
the longest points and 22" deep. I'm bordering Zone 5 and Zone 6. I'm
figuring it's about 450 Gallon give or take. We filled the pond about
2 1/2 weeks ago and we have not added plants yet.
We have a 750 gph pump with fountain and also a waterfall. After 2
weeks we were told we should add a few goldfish to help with
misquitoes. (we were not planning to use it for fish, just plants
originally) Anyway......after the pond had been filled for 2 weeks we
added recomended amounts of Chlorine/Chloramine Neutralizer and Some
Algae Preventor to the pond and then went to the fish store we always
deal with for our Aquarium. We never really had any problems with the
fish we bought from them and they are highly recomended. We picked up
6 fancy goldfish and I floated them for about 45 minutes along with
adding some pond water every 15 minutes before we released them into
the pond. On the 2nd day we lost 2 goldfish and one more on the 3rd
day. Of the 3 we have left it looks like another might be dying. I
checked the PH level and it was 6.5 (a little low, but I don't think
that was causing the death) The Nitrate levels were Perfect. I don't
have a chlorine tester yet but I did add the chlorine neutralizer
before adding the fish. Both chemicals that were added to the pond
said they were fish/plant safe. Someone said I should put in some pond
salt? I didn't think I needed salt for goldfish.....but could this be
my problem? Did I miss anything else?

Thanks in advance,
Mike