Mike Lea-Wilson wrote:
Our goldfish have (almost) all died suddenly, and I was wondering if anyone
could help us determine the cause.

They were in a pond of about 3000 litres (3m x 1m x 1m deep). This is the
upper of our two ponds. The lower one is probably about twice the area and
half the volume, and has a pump in it, which produces a fountain, and pumps
water through a filter to the upper pond, which then goes down a waterfall
back to the lower pond. We don't leave the pump on all the time,
snip
We
have noticed over the last few months that whenever the pump is first turned
on there is a nasty smell, but this goes away after a few minutes, and did
not seem to be causing a problem. We were away for a couple of days over
Easter, then when I turned the pump on on Monday morning, I didn't notice
any dead fish, but a few hours later there were 21 dead fish floating on the
surface. Over the next few days another 9 died, though earlier this evening
I did actually see one still alive.

Can anyone suggest what we can do to prevent this happening again, and if
possible to rescue the one (or more) survivor(s)?

Mike.


-- sounds like you are stirring up Hydrogen Sulfide Gas when you turn
the pump back on you realy need to leave it on 24 7 and clean out the
lower p0ond it develops in the gunk onn the bottom





John Rutz
Z5 New Mexico
If it can't be fixed with bailing wire or duct tape
its not worth fixing

see my pond at:

http://www.fuerjefe.com