We moved in last year, and there was a pond (in the garden, complete with
liner, but no water. We filled it, (it's 3750 litres - is this medium or
large?) and left it for about 2 weeks then introduced plants.

We then added 15 goldfish and a pond pump. The fish seemed OK - we lost one
to ulcers over the last summer. Frogs, newts, snails and water boatmen all
took up residence, so we assumed we had created a good habitat.

However, from September to March, we lost 3 fish to ulcers. I did ulcer
treatments after we lost the first two, but it didn't seen to do much good,
so I did it again, then we lost 2 more.

In March, I salted the pond (1% dilution) and everything seemed OK for a
little while, so we got 10 more fish, making the total 21.

But since then, we have lost 6 fish in quick sucession. Some we can see had
ulcers, but 2 of them didn't have a mark on them. Today I can see that there
are 2 with ulcers that aren't going to survive for long, and one of those is
one of the new ones. I checked the new ones over before I out them in the
pond, and they had no signs of disease, so I can only assume it's the pond.

I feel awful, as I feel I'm just putting fish in there, and condemning them
to death. I have put a Medipad in yesterday, to see if that will help, but I
don't know what else to do. The pond is reasonably clear, and all the other
wildlife is surviving, indeed the snails and frogs bred this year.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated. I thought goldfish were
reasonably low maintenance, compared to Koi, and that they were more
tolerant od fluctuations in condition. If they keep dying, I'm just going to
have to have a pond without fish, because I don't feel like putting any more
in there, just for them to die.

Sadly yours
Tracey

"Smith" wrote in message
...
We moved in last year, and there was a pond (in the garden, complete with
liner, but no water. We filled it, (it's 3750 litres - is this medium or
large?) and left it for about 2 weeks then introduced plants.

We then added 15 goldfish and a pond pump. The fish seemed OK - we lost
one
to ulcers over the last summer. Frogs, newts, snails and water boatmen all
took up residence, so we assumed we had created a good habitat.

However, from September to March, we lost 3 fish to ulcers. I did ulcer
treatments after we lost the first two, but it didn't seen to do much
good,
so I did it again, then we lost 2 more.

Sounds like parasites causing what appear to be ulcers to me.

--
Brian
"There is no point knocking yerself out, working all sorts of silly hours
and driving the length and breadth of Britain, if you can't just phone to
get a plumber in when you need one."

"Smith" wrote in
message

..ntli.net...
We moved in last year, and there was a pond
(in the garden, complete with
liner, but no water. We filled it, (it's
3750 litres - is this medium or
large?) and left it for about 2 weeks then
introduced plants.

We then added 15 goldfish and a pond pump.
The fish seemed OK - we lost one
to ulcers over the last summer. Frogs,
newts, snails and water boatmen all
took up residence, so we assumed we had
created a good habitat.

However, from September to March, we lost 3
fish to ulcers. I did ulcer
treatments after we lost the first two, but
it didn't seen to do much good,
so I did it again, then we lost 2 more.

In March, I salted the pond (1% dilution)
and everything seemed OK for a
little while, so we got 10 more fish,
making the total 21.

But since then, we have lost 6 fish in
quick sucession. Some we can see had
ulcers, but 2 of them didn't have a mark on
them. Today I can see that there
are 2 with ulcers that aren't going to
survive for long, and one of those is
one of the new ones. I checked the new ones
over before I out them in the
pond, and they had no signs of disease, so
I can only assume it's the pond.

I feel awful, as I feel I'm just putting
fish in there, and condemning them
to death. I have put a Medipad in
yesterday, to see if that will help, but I
don't know what else to do. The pond is
reasonably clear, and all the other
wildlife is surviving, indeed the snails
and frogs bred this year.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.
I thought goldfish were
reasonably low maintenance, compared to
Koi, and that they were more
tolerant od fluctuations in condition. If
they keep dying, I'm just going to
have to have a pond without fish, because I
don't feel like putting any more
in there, just for them to die.

Sadly yours
Tracey

Hello Tracey,

Have you tested the water for PH, Nitrites,
Ammonia, and heavey metals? Did you have
chlorine in the water? Test the water. Any
imbalance can stress the fish and ulcers can
appear. Parasites are another thing to check
for.

You can also do a 1/3 water change to help
with any immediate imbalances. This is a
good site to refer
:http://www.vcnet.com/koi_net/H2Oquality.html
#nitri

Good Luck, as even a small imbalance can have
ill effects on the fish. I used to be one to
brag about never testing my water (for years)
then it finally caught up with me this year
and now I test.

Jeannette

Don't add so many fish at one time. The bacteria in the pond need time
to adjust to the fish load you are putting on them. If healthy looking
fish are dieing try a partial water change being sure to aerate the
water well while refilling, adjust salt level and wait. Any drastic
change (like adding many fish) can drive water chemistry wild. You
mentioned a pump but no filter. With many plants and a few fish this
is ok. The more fish the bigger the filter. Good Luck
"Jeannette" wrote in message
...

"Smith" wrote in
message

..ntli.net...
We moved in last year, and there was a pond
(in the garden, complete with
liner, but no water. We filled it, (it's
3750 litres - is this medium or
large?) and left it for about 2 weeks then
introduced plants.

We then added 15 goldfish and a pond pump.
The fish seemed OK - we lost one
to ulcers over the last summer. Frogs,
newts, snails and water boatmen all
took up residence, so we assumed we had
created a good habitat.

However, from September to March, we lost 3
fish to ulcers. I did ulcer
treatments after we lost the first two, but
it didn't seen to do much good,
so I did it again, then we lost 2 more.

In March, I salted the pond (1% dilution)
and everything seemed OK for a
little while, so we got 10 more fish,
making the total 21.

But since then, we have lost 6 fish in
quick sucession. Some we can see had
ulcers, but 2 of them didn't have a mark on
them. Today I can see that there
are 2 with ulcers that aren't going to
survive for long, and one of those is
one of the new ones. I checked the new ones
over before I out them in the
pond, and they had no signs of disease, so
I can only assume it's the pond.

I feel awful, as I feel I'm just putting
fish in there, and condemning them
to death. I have put a Medipad in
yesterday, to see if that will help, but I
don't know what else to do. The pond is
reasonably clear, and all the other
wildlife is surviving, indeed the snails
and frogs bred this year.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.
I thought goldfish were
reasonably low maintenance, compared to
Koi, and that they were more
tolerant od fluctuations in condition. If
they keep dying, I'm just going to
have to have a pond without fish, because I
don't feel like putting any more
in there, just for them to die.

Sadly yours
Tracey

Hello Tracey,

Have you tested the water for PH, Nitrites,
Ammonia, and heavey metals? Did you have
chlorine in the water? Test the water. Any
imbalance can stress the fish and ulcers can
appear. Parasites are another thing to check
for.

You can also do a 1/3 water change to help
with any immediate imbalances. This is a
good site to refer
:http://www.vcnet.com/koi_net/H2Oquality.html
#nitri

Good Luck, as even a small imbalance can have
ill effects on the fish. I used to be one to
brag about never testing my water (for years)
then it finally caught up with me this year
and now I test.

Jeannette

On Sat, 14 Jun 2003 16:12:20 +0100, Smith wrote:

We moved in last year, and there was a pond (in the garden, complete with
liner, but no water. We filled it, (it's 3750 litres - is this medium or
large?) and left it for about 2 weeks then introduced plants.

Some people would call it tiny and some would call it huge, it's bigger
(at 833 gallons) than the one here at 600 :-)

We then added 15 goldfish and a pond pump. The fish seemed OK - we lost one
to ulcers over the last summer. Frogs, newts, snails and water boatmen all
took up residence, so we assumed we had created a good habitat.

No filter?

However, from September to March, we lost 3 fish to ulcers. I did ulcer
treatments after we lost the first two, but it didn't seen to do much good,
so I did it again, then we lost 2 more.

In March, I salted the pond (1% dilution) and everything seemed OK for a
little while, so we got 10 more fish, making the total 21.

Practical Fishkeeping http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk says one
10" fish per hundred gallons so without filtration you will be
overstocked when they grow.

I feel awful, as I feel I'm just putting fish in there, and condemning them
to death. I have put a Medipad in yesterday, to see if that will help, but I
don't know what else to do. The pond is reasonably clear, and all the other
wildlife is surviving, indeed the snails and frogs bred this year.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated. I thought goldfish were
reasonably low maintenance, compared to Koi, and that they were more
tolerant od fluctuations in condition. If they keep dying, I'm just going to
have to have a pond without fish, because I don't feel like putting any more
in there, just for them to die.

I don't know whether you are new to fishkeeping or not but Goldfish are
pretty hardy so something is wrong. Can you take a sample of water down
to your fish supplier for testing, many will do this for free or a
small charge. I would buy a kit though since testing it yourself gets
you more involved.

With no filtration it won't take long for toxins to build up, is the
pump just driving a fountain. If you have a filter is it cleaned as
needed? Do you clean it in pondwater? Tapwater will kill the bacteria
so it will have to restart each time and this takes a couple of weeks.

Do the fish come to you when you go to the pond? If not you may be
overfeeding.

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngps07 (at) infohit (dot) fsnet (dot) co (dot) uk