Thanks Ingrid,
It is a small pond, perhaps 5 feet wide and 8 feet long, but with a 4 foot
deep central basin designed to minimize temp swings and create a haven for
the fish during the Colorado winter. I'll go ahead and re-install the winter
air pump and see if that help. I swear my fish are eating the azolla, or at
least playing with it. I see it go in, but not out. The pond is mostly
shaded during the day by a north planted overhanging maple tree, but it gets
enough sun to produce a few hearty lily blooms and cat tail spikes. I'll
look for signs of itch, maybe do a water change if nothing else works.
Increasing the salt level from .05 percent to perhaps .1 might be a good
idea also. Also thanks for the other tips, and for staying put and resisting
the barrage of negativity that has haunted this newsgroup for what seems
forever.
John
wrote in message
...
450 gallons is pretty small pondwise. fish up at the surface always
indicates some
kind of lack of oxygen, either because their gills are damaged from toxic
water, from
parasites or bacterial infection of the gills OR there isnt enough oxygen
in the
water. a fountain doesnt really add that much oxygen. a double outlet
cheap air
pump with a couple big stones outta do it for that sized pond tho.
fish dont eat azolla. has the temp dropped suddenly? temp swings is a
problem in a
small pond like yours. a drop of more than 4oF in a day can bring on ich.
fish with
ich often stop eating. look carefully at your darkest GF for tiny salt
like grains.
koi typically get reddish so look at your lightest koi for a red blush.
if it is ich, then there are two types of treatments. raising the salt
level and
heat OR, quick cure. DO NOT MIX HIGH SALT WITH QUICK CURE.
Ingrid
"John M. Darnielle" wrote:
Second, my Koi and goldfish, about 12 in a 450 gallon pond, average length
6
", have recently been spending most of their time at the surface under the
fountain, They've pretty much stopped eating the tetra food sticks and
prefer to graze on the azolla that has grown on about 1/4 of the surface.
I've checked the chemistry, no ammonia, nitrates, salt at .05, ph at 7.4.
The fountain seems to put plenty of air into the pond. Temp is at 64. I
grew
concerned when one fish died. Any ideas would be appreciated.
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