"Emily & Craig Cagle" wrote in message
...
My goldfish pond has had happy fish in it for 4 years now and suddenly
I've had 2 of them die within a week. No signs of disease or trauma...I
live in south TX where the temp has averaged 100 lately, I'm wondering if
the water is too hot for the poor guys. I know they do best in cooler
waters. My plants are fine, lilies blooming, frogs living happily in the
water too. Any ideas?

Craig

My shade cloth shaded 150 gallon stocktank, my
only pond with goldfish, regularly gets to the mid-80s
in this Southcentral TX heat. I make sure the fountain
runs constantly and the water level stays high.

So far my 5 goldfish are doing ok but all are fairly
young (less than 3 years old). I had several
older goldfish, and one butterfly koi, that
committed suicide - I found them on the ground
outside the pond - a month or so ago. It wasn't
so hot then but we had some nasty thunder and
lightning that might have startled them into making
fatal leaps.

Maybe your two were already a bit weak and the
heat stressed them? But shade is definitely
a good idea. Home Depot, Lowes, sometimes
Wal-Mart, sell shade cloth. You can buy a
roll, or some places will sell parts of a roll. If you
don't need a lot the latter is a better deal.

I don't worry about morning sun, BTW, but I
do shade against afternoon sun.

Gail
near San Antonio TX