Go to http://www.koitulsa.org/pages/800287/index.htm and see if any of their
members are koi health advisors or if they have any trained health hotline
people that can do a microscopic evaluation. I suspect that it is
parasites, but I like to taylor the treatment to the particular parasite,
not the shotgun approach. Some of the treatments can be harmful/stressful
to the fish, and not affect the parasites, while some other treatment will
take care of the parasite with minimum damage to the fish.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html
"Ka30P" wrote in message
...
Hi Ray,
that's too bad :-(

A few questions before the experts arrive, -

How many fish in the pond and appx. how big are they?
Water test results, exact numbers?
malachite green This can be fatal to amphibians. Did they die before
or
after you treated?
Hope someone has an answer for you.



Subject: dying fish-need help please
From: "ray hucek"
Date: Tue, May 18, 2004 10:51 AM
Message-id:

I am in need of some advice and hope you could help.

I am having a fish die-off. They are goldfish and the pond is about 6
years
old. I have never had anything like this happen before. There aren't any
appearant signs of infection on the fish. The only symptoms that I see
are
listlessness at the end of their life. They lose their appetite.

There haven't been any plant or fish additions to the pond. The only
connection that I have seen is this-toads come to mate in my pond as in
previous years. This year, I found a dead toad floating in my pond, which
I
took out. That was about 3-4 weeks ago. Later, all of the tadpoles died
off. There currently are more and they seem to be doing all right. In
the
past week, I have had 1-3 fish die every day. Is it possible that the
toad
carried a virus that infected the fish?

I have done a water change this past weekend of about 30%. I medicated it
twice with a combination of formalin and malachite green. The pond is
about
3,000 gallons and has an external filtering system.

I am at a loss. None of the diseases that I have seen described match
this.

I am hoping someone will have some suggestions.

Thanks,

Ray












kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

"ray hucek" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the reply. I had about 75-80 fish ranging from fry to 6 inches,
but mostly 3-4 ins.

I tested the water and forgot to give the findings in my original posting.
Sorry--
PH -7.4-7.6
Ammon-- less than 1 PPM.
Nitrite-- .25
water temp- 80 degrees

The toad and tadpoles were dead before treating the pond.

Any help would be appreciated.
Ray

That temperature seens a little high to me. Is there any reason why it would be
so high this time of year? Do you have a pump that is overheating? I live in
Kentucky, and my water is running at about 70 degrees right now (but then, the
pond is nearly 4 feet deep). I have never seen it reach 80, even in the middle
of the summer.

George,
That temp took me by surprise as well. We have been running mid-80's during
the days and lows of 60's. I will check into the pump. There is a
pre-filter surrounding it. Maybe it needs cleaning.
With appreciation,
Ray

That temperature seens a little high to me. Is there any reason why it
would be
so high this time of year? Do you have a pump that is overheating? I
live in
Kentucky, and my water is running at about 70 degrees right now (but then,
the
pond is nearly 4 feet deep). I have never seen it reach 80, even in the
middle
of the summer.

"joe" wrote in message ...
My test kit says that levels of 0.25 mg/litre of ammonia can be lethal. I
don't have the conversion to PPM, maybe Ingrid or someone else can chime in.

There is no conversion. 0.25 mg./L is 0.25 ppm. You might be right about the
ammonia level. In addition, the higher the water temperature, the more critical
the ammonia concentration becomes. An ammonia concentration of 0.25 ppm might
be ok at 65 degress F. At 80, it could be toxic, indeed. Fish excrete ammonia
through their gills. That process becomes less efficient with increased ammonia
concentration in the water, thereby increasing the ammonia concentration in the
blood of the animals. Higher water temperatures can also impede this process,
making the same ammonia concentration at a lower temperature more toxic at
higher temperatures. I would temporarily add ammocarb to the filtration, and
add nitrifying bacteria to the pond immediately just to make sure this isn't the
problem. A 20% water change should also help reduce that concentration. And
just to be sure, I'd test the new water before adding it to make sure that it
isn't, for some reason, the source of the ammonia (although this is doubtful -
most likely your biological filtration isn't working properly). Adding the
nitrifying bacteria should get rid of the problem. Finally, As I stated
earlier, it seems to me that the temperature is a little high for this time of
year, so I'd check your pump(s) for overheating. A restricted outlet,
cavitation, or a failing bearing could cause the pump to overheat, which can
raise the water temperature in the pond.

My test kit also says that "As far as possible the nitrite concentration
should not exceed 0.20 mg/litre. At a level of 0.5 mg the fish will be
adversely affected."

Both ammonia and nitrite in high levels prevent fish from obtaining and
carrying oxygen.

Also:
This is a long shot, but has your community switched from chlorine to
chloramine in tap water? The latter takes way longer to dissipate (in fact I
can't find anything that says it ever dissipates) and I'm wondering if you
use a dechlorinator? If not, you might go get a jug of amquel. It will have
the side benefit of reducing your ammonia level. Would you consider your
filters effective? Poor filtering could lead to higher nitrite levels.

Sorry, don't know much about parasites, but many others on this list can
pipe in on the subject.

Joe


On 5/18/04 2:13 PM, "ray hucek" wrote:

Joe,
Thanks for the reply.

I tested the water and forgot to give the findings in my original posting.
Sorry--
PH -7.4-7.6
Ammon-- less than 1 PPM.
Nitrite-- .25
water temp- 80 degrees

Any help would be appreciated.
Ray
"joe" wrote in message
...
What are your water parameters (ammonia, nitrate, ph, etc)?

Joe

On 5/18/04 8:51 AM, "ray hucek" wrote:

I am in need of some advice and hope you could help.

I am having a fish die-off. They are goldfish and the pond is about 6
years
old. I have never had anything like this happen before. There aren't
any
appearant signs of infection on the fish. The only symptoms that I see
are
listlessness at the end of their life. They lose their appetite.

There haven't been any plant or fish additions to the pond. The only
connection that I have seen is this-toads come to mate in my pond as in
previous years. This year, I found a dead toad floating in my pond,
which I
took out. That was about 3-4 weeks ago. Later, all of the tadpoles
died
off. There currently are more and they seem to be doing all right. In
the
past week, I have had 1-3 fish die every day. Is it possible that the
toad
carried a virus that infected the fish?

I have done a water change this past weekend of about 30%. I medicated
it
twice with a combination of formalin and malachite green. The pond is
about
3,000 gallons and has an external filtering system.

I am at a loss. None of the diseases that I have seen described match
this.

I am hoping someone will have some suggestions.

Thanks,

Ray






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Rich,
Thanks for the link. I'll see if they can help me. I need some help. I
lost 6 today.
Ray

"RichToyBox" wrote in message
news:Mxxqc.74465$536.12093483@attbi_s03...
Go to http://www.koitulsa.org/pages/800287/index.htm and see if any of
their
members are koi health advisors or if they have any trained health hotline
people that can do a microscopic evaluation. I suspect that it is
parasites, but I like to taylor the treatment to the particular parasite,
not the shotgun approach. Some of the treatments can be harmful/stressful
to the fish, and not affect the parasites, while some other treatment
will
take care of the parasite with minimum damage to the fish.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html
"Ka30P" wrote in message
...

Joe,
On my kits, the levels of the Ammonia and Nitrite are on the bottom part of
the scale. The PH shows a little high.

I do not use a declorinator in my water. I have storage tubs that I place
on the edge of the pond, fill them, and let them sit for 24-48 hrs. I do
not know what is in my water and will see if I can find out.

I have a pre-filter on my pump, which I clean every few weeks. I have an
external filter that I clean weekly. I have had good success with them so
far.

thanks,
Ray
"joe" wrote in message
...
My test kit says that levels of 0.25 mg/litre of ammonia can be lethal. I
don't have the conversion to PPM, maybe Ingrid or someone else can chime
in.
My test kit also says that "As far as possible the nitrite concentration
should not exceed 0.20 mg/litre. At a level of 0.5 mg the fish will be
adversely affected."

Both ammonia and nitrite in high levels prevent fish from obtaining and
carrying oxygen.

Also:
This is a long shot, but has your community switched from chlorine to
chloramine in tap water? The latter takes way longer to dissipate (in fact
I
can't find anything that says it ever dissipates) and I'm wondering if you
use a dechlorinator? If not, you might go get a jug of amquel. It will
have
the side benefit of reducing your ammonia level. Would you consider your
filters effective? Poor filtering could lead to higher nitrite levels.

Sorry, don't know much about parasites, but many others on this list can
pipe in on the subject.

Joe


Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

"ray hucek" wrote in message
...
George,
Thanks for your thoughts.
I tested the water and forgot to give the findings in my original posting.
Sorry--
PH -7.4-7.6
Ammon-- less than 1 PPM.
Nitrite-- .25
water temp- 80 degrees

All of the above seem to be descent. PH is a little high, but seem to be
acceptable. What do you think?

Chemical Poisoning-- it would have to be airborne because I don't do any
fertilizing or pesticides in my back yard. And there is no risk of runoff
into the pond. I thought of that when I did the water change. I was
hopeful that doing the water change would have diluted any poisoning taking
place. It didn't seem to work as I lost 3 fish today.

I am going to increase aeration to try to deal with oxygen.

Any ideas about bacterial infections and how to treat them? There isn't any
outward signs on the fish.

Any help would be appreciated.
Ray


If it is a bacterial infection, there should be external signs. Honestly, if I
suspected a bacterial infection, I'd isolate the sick animals in a separate
holding tank, and treat it instead of the pond. Having said that, if all of
your fish are affected, then you are going to have to risk treating the pond,
which can be expensive. There are two types of bacterial infections,
gram-positive, and gram negative. Depending on the symptoms the fish are
exhibiting, you may have one or the other. It is also possible that you could
have both. Try this link and see if you can diagnose the illness.

http://www.bettasrus.com/disease/diagnosing.htm

This flowchart usually works well for me. I haven't lost a fish to disease in
several years using this flowchart as a guide. My catfish got a skin infection
last fall that also affected his gills. It was determined, based on this
flowchart that the fish had septicemia, or similar infection. In my case, none
of the other fish were affected. I isolated him for two weeks in a 50 gallon
tub, and treated the water with marycyn II, adding aeration to the water. When
it appeared that he was behaving normally, and started eating again, I placed
him back in the pond. After a couple of days of adjustment, he was fine. This
guide is actually allegedly taylored to Bettas, but believe me, many fish are
susceptible to many of the same diseases, so the flow chart should work fine for
you so don't worry about that. It is the same flowchart that comes with the
mardel labs medications recommended for the two types of bacterial infections
outlined above. In addition, if bacterial infection is not the problem, it may
help you isolate any other possible cause.

Finally, I posted earlier my recommendation about ammonia and the water
temperature. You should read that post as well. I would eliminate all other
causes before initiating a potentially expensive antibiotic treatment.

"Go Fig" wrote in message
...
In article , George
wrote:

"Go Fig" wrote in message
...
In article ,
ray hucek wrote:

I am in need of some advice and hope you could help.

I am having a fish die-off. They are goldfish and the pond is about 6
years
old. I have never had anything like this happen before. There aren't any
appearant signs of infection on the fish. The only symptoms that I see
are
listlessness at the end of their life. They lose their appetite.

There haven't been any plant or fish additions to the pond. The only
connection that I have seen is this-toads come to mate in my pond as in
previous years. This year, I found a dead toad floating in my pond, which
I
took out. That was about 3-4 weeks ago. Later, all of the tadpoles died
off. There currently are more and they seem to be doing all right. In
the
past week, I have had 1-3 fish die every day. Is it possible that the
toad
carried a virus that infected the fish?

I have done a water change this past weekend of about 30%. I medicated it
twice with a combination of formalin and malachite green. The pond is
about
3,000 gallons and has an external filtering system.

I am at a loss. None of the diseases that I have seen described match
this.

I am hoping someone will have some suggestions.

Did you have a short spring season? Perhaps the parasites, with a
quick rise in water temp, got ahead of the fishes natural immune
systems.

I would use something quite a bit stronger than formalin... perhaps
copper or dylox and increase aeration.

Malachite green is a copper compound.

It is a carbonate of copper, and does not have the same parasitic
killing power.

Coppersafe works well. I've used it for years. But be careful with
invertebrates.


Before I starting adding chemicals to
the
water, it would be wise to determine the water quality first. But my gut
reaction says it could be an imbalance in water quality parameters,

While I would certainly check these, but as it is springtime I would
look to parasites in this established 6 year old pond.

He could also read these links. They might give him some answers:

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/4468/disease2.html

http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/clinicalsigns.htm

http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/parasites.htm

http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/treatments/basictreatment.htm

http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/bacterial.htm

"ray hucek" wrote in message
...
Joe,
On my kits, the levels of the Ammonia and Nitrite are on the bottom part of
the scale. The PH shows a little high.

I do not use a declorinator in my water. I have storage tubs that I place
on the edge of the pond, fill them, and let them sit for 24-48 hrs. I do
not know what is in my water and will see if I can find out.

I have a pre-filter on my pump, which I clean every few weeks. I have an
external filter that I clean weekly. I have had good success with them so
far.

thanks,
Ray

I would use stress coat in the water simply because while aging water may get
rid of chlorine and help soften the water, if your local water system uses
chloramine as mine does, it does not degrade as rapidly or as easily, and may
still be in the water at unacceptable levels when you put it in the pond. I use
stress coat with Aloh Vera, because it seems to soothe any damaged areas of the
fish and helps them to heal. In addition, it will totally eliminate both
chlorine and chloramine from the water, and help the fish develop their
protective slime on their skin/scales fins, etc. It is a good product, and one
I would always recommend. When my fish are sick, the first thing I do is set up
a medical isolatiopn tank in which to isoloate them, add some salt (use salt
formulated specifically for aquatic use - do not use iodized or rock salt), and
stress coat to the water, and then try to diagnose them further. The salt and
stress coat seems to help as an initial treatment. If you don't know what the
water company is putting in your water, assume the worst - use stress coat.

My friend lost her fish one spring....her ammonia was high, they emptied the
pond, cleaned it out, and started over.....worked well. Live fish and frogs
now. How long since you emptied it, it is amazing how much "stuff" is on the
bottom.

I only had a trace of ammonia, in the still water.....but we emptied it and had
18 inches of pine needles, pine cones, and "stuff" on the bottom built up over
the years.

Maureen

Xref: kermit rec.ponds:147184

"George" wrote:


"ray hucek" wrote in message
...
George,
Thanks for your thoughts.
I tested the water and forgot to give the findings in my original posting.
Sorry--
PH -7.4-7.6
Ammon-- less than 1 PPM.
Nitrite-- .25
water temp- 80 degrees

All of the above seem to be descent. PH is a little high, but seem to be
acceptable. What do you think?

Chemical Poisoning-- it would have to be airborne because I don't do any
fertilizing or pesticides in my back yard. And there is no risk of runoff
into the pond. I thought of that when I did the water change. I was
hopeful that doing the water change would have diluted any poisoning taking
place. It didn't seem to work as I lost 3 fish today.

I am going to increase aeration to try to deal with oxygen.

Any ideas about bacterial infections and how to treat them? There isn't any
outward signs on the fish.

Any help would be appreciated.
Ray


What time of day are you finding the dead fish? Are the fish (and
remaining tadpoles behaving differently in the early morning as
opposed to, say, afternoon?

people.... all those eggs and sperm hitting the water is a huge increase in bioload
and then it all rots and the ammonia spikes. and we arent even counting the fish
spawning either. spring can be a HUGE water quality issue because all this added
wastes hit at a time the biofilters are NOT fully online yet. at minimum have a
gallon of ammonia locker upper around just in case you dont have time to do water
changes. and aeration is extremely important as the biobugs absolutely need oxygen
to break that stuff down. as much as I like clear water, consider that algae is a
good waste absorber and it may be better for the pond to leave the UV off until
spawning is over and/or the biofilter is online.
and forgodssake underfeed your fish until that biofilter is up and running. Ingrid


joe wrote:

My test kit says that levels of 0.25 mg/litre of ammonia can be lethal. I
don't have the conversion to PPM, maybe Ingrid or someone else can chime in.
My test kit also says that "As far as possible the nitrite concentration
should not exceed 0.20 mg/litre. At a level of 0.5 mg the fish will be
adversely affected."

Both ammonia and nitrite in high levels prevent fish from obtaining and
carrying oxygen.

Also:
This is a long shot, but has your community switched from chlorine to
chloramine in tap water? The latter takes way longer to dissipate (in fact I
can't find anything that says it ever dissipates) and I'm wondering if you
use a dechlorinator? If not, you might go get a jug of amquel. It will have
the side benefit of reducing your ammonia level. Would you consider your
filters effective? Poor filtering could lead to higher nitrite levels.

Sorry, don't know much about parasites, but many others on this list can
pipe in on the subject.

Joe


On 5/18/04 2:13 PM, "ray hucek" wrote:

Joe,
Thanks for the reply.

I tested the water and forgot to give the findings in my original posting.
Sorry--
PH -7.4-7.6
Ammon-- less than 1 PPM.
Nitrite-- .25
water temp- 80 degrees

Any help would be appreciated.
Ray
"joe" wrote in message
...
What are your water parameters (ammonia, nitrate, ph, etc)?

Joe

On 5/18/04 8:51 AM, "ray hucek" wrote:

I am in need of some advice and hope you could help.

I am having a fish die-off. They are goldfish and the pond is about 6
years
old. I have never had anything like this happen before. There aren't
any
appearant signs of infection on the fish. The only symptoms that I see
are
listlessness at the end of their life. They lose their appetite.

There haven't been any plant or fish additions to the pond. The only
connection that I have seen is this-toads come to mate in my pond as in
previous years. This year, I found a dead toad floating in my pond,
which I
took out. That was about 3-4 weeks ago. Later, all of the tadpoles
died
off. There currently are more and they seem to be doing all right. In
the
past week, I have had 1-3 fish die every day. Is it possible that the
toad
carried a virus that infected the fish?

I have done a water change this past weekend of about 30%. I medicated
it
twice with a combination of formalin and malachite green. The pond is
about
3,000 gallons and has an external filtering system.

I am at a loss. None of the diseases that I have seen described match
this.

I am hoping someone will have some suggestions.

Thanks,

Ray






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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Ray,

If you have chloramine, that won't be long enough.

Joe

On 5/18/04 6:48 PM, "ray hucek" wrote:

I do not use a declorinator in my water. I have storage tubs that I place
on the edge of the pond, fill them, and let them sit for 24-48 hrs. I do
not know what is in my water and will see if I can find out.



-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
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-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

In article ,
wrote:

people.... all those eggs and sperm hitting the water is a huge increase in
bioload
and then it all rots and the ammonia spikes. and we arent even counting the
fish
spawning either. spring can be a HUGE water quality issue because all this
added
wastes hit at a time the biofilters are NOT fully online yet.

After a few weeks at 60+ degrees water temps, they will be online and
working.

We don't know the posters circumstances or how the pond was cared for
in the fall.

While the ammonia is an additional stress to the fish. I still
maintain that there is some disease process going on. The indication
for this is that the poster is losing just a few fish a day... not a
complete wipe-out.


jay
Wed May 19, 2004



at minimum
have a
gallon of ammonia locker upper around just in case you dont have time to do
water
changes. and aeration is extremely important as the biobugs absolutely need
oxygen
to break that stuff down. as much as I like clear water, consider that algae
is a
good waste absorber and it may be better for the pond to leave the UV off
until
spawning is over and/or the biofilter is online.
and forgodssake underfeed your fish until that biofilter is up and running.
Ingrid


joe wrote:

My test kit says that levels of 0.25 mg/litre of ammonia can be lethal. I
don't have the conversion to PPM, maybe Ingrid or someone else can chime in.
My test kit also says that "As far as possible the nitrite concentration
should not exceed 0.20 mg/litre. At a level of 0.5 mg the fish will be
adversely affected."

Both ammonia and nitrite in high levels prevent fish from obtaining and
carrying oxygen.

Also:
This is a long shot, but has your community switched from chlorine to
chloramine in tap water? The latter takes way longer to dissipate (in fact I
can't find anything that says it ever dissipates) and I'm wondering if you
use a dechlorinator? If not, you might go get a jug of amquel. It will have
the side benefit of reducing your ammonia level. Would you consider your
filters effective? Poor filtering could lead to higher nitrite levels.

Sorry, don't know much about parasites, but many others on this list can
pipe in on the subject.

Joe


On 5/18/04 2:13 PM, "ray hucek" wrote:

Joe,
Thanks for the reply.

I tested the water and forgot to give the findings in my original posting.
Sorry--
PH -7.4-7.6
Ammon-- less than 1 PPM.
Nitrite-- .25
water temp- 80 degrees

Any help would be appreciated.
Ray
"joe" wrote in message
...
What are your water parameters (ammonia, nitrate, ph, etc)?

Joe

On 5/18/04 8:51 AM, "ray hucek" wrote:

I am in need of some advice and hope you could help.

I am having a fish die-off. They are goldfish and the pond is about 6
years
old. I have never had anything like this happen before. There aren't
any
appearant signs of infection on the fish. The only symptoms that I see
are
listlessness at the end of their life. They lose their appetite.

There haven't been any plant or fish additions to the pond. The only
connection that I have seen is this-toads come to mate in my pond as in
previous years. This year, I found a dead toad floating in my pond,
which I
took out. That was about 3-4 weeks ago. Later, all of the tadpoles
died
off. There currently are more and they seem to be doing all right. In
the
past week, I have had 1-3 fish die every day. Is it possible that the
toad
carried a virus that infected the fish?

I have done a water change this past weekend of about 30%. I medicated
it
twice with a combination of formalin and malachite green. The pond is
about
3,000 gallons and has an external filtering system.

I am at a loss. None of the diseases that I have seen described match
this.

I am hoping someone will have some suggestions.

Thanks,

Ray






-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----





-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Yes, that may well be correct, or it may be that some fish are less
susceptible than others. Lowering ammonia can do no harm.

Joe

On 5/19/04 9:58 AM, "Go Fig" wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

people.... all those eggs and sperm hitting the water is a huge increase in
bioload
and then it all rots and the ammonia spikes. and we arent even counting the
fish
spawning either. spring can be a HUGE water quality issue because all this
added
wastes hit at a time the biofilters are NOT fully online yet.

After a few weeks at 60+ degrees water temps, they will be online and
working.

We don't know the posters circumstances or how the pond was cared for
in the fall.

While the ammonia is an additional stress to the fish. I still
maintain that there is some disease process going on. The indication
for this is that the poster is losing just a few fish a day... not a
complete wipe-out.


jay
Wed May 19, 2004



at minimum
have a
gallon of ammonia locker upper around just in case you dont have time to do
water
changes. and aeration is extremely important as the biobugs absolutely need
oxygen
to break that stuff down. as much as I like clear water, consider that algae
is a
good waste absorber and it may be better for the pond to leave the UV off
until
spawning is over and/or the biofilter is online.
and forgodssake underfeed your fish until that biofilter is up and running.
Ingrid


joe wrote:

My test kit says that levels of 0.25 mg/litre of ammonia can be lethal. I
don't have the conversion to PPM, maybe Ingrid or someone else can chime in.
My test kit also says that "As far as possible the nitrite concentration
should not exceed 0.20 mg/litre. At a level of 0.5 mg the fish will be
adversely affected."

Both ammonia and nitrite in high levels prevent fish from obtaining and
carrying oxygen.

Also:
This is a long shot, but has your community switched from chlorine to
chloramine in tap water? The latter takes way longer to dissipate (in fact I
can't find anything that says it ever dissipates) and I'm wondering if you
use a dechlorinator? If not, you might go get a jug of amquel. It will have
the side benefit of reducing your ammonia level. Would you consider your
filters effective? Poor filtering could lead to higher nitrite levels.

Sorry, don't know much about parasites, but many others on this list can
pipe in on the subject.

Joe


On 5/18/04 2:13 PM, "ray hucek" wrote:

Joe,
Thanks for the reply.

I tested the water and forgot to give the findings in my original posting.
Sorry--
PH -7.4-7.6
Ammon-- less than 1 PPM.
Nitrite-- .25
water temp- 80 degrees

Any help would be appreciated.
Ray
"joe" wrote in message
...
What are your water parameters (ammonia, nitrate, ph, etc)?

Joe

On 5/18/04 8:51 AM, "ray hucek" wrote:

I am in need of some advice and hope you could help.

I am having a fish die-off. They are goldfish and the pond is about 6
years
old. I have never had anything like this happen before. There aren't
any
appearant signs of infection on the fish. The only symptoms that I see
are
listlessness at the end of their life. They lose their appetite.

There haven't been any plant or fish additions to the pond. The only
connection that I have seen is this-toads come to mate in my pond as in
previous years. This year, I found a dead toad floating in my pond,
which I
took out. That was about 3-4 weeks ago. Later, all of the tadpoles
died
off. There currently are more and they seem to be doing all right. In
the
past week, I have had 1-3 fish die every day. Is it possible that the
toad
carried a virus that infected the fish?

I have done a water change this past weekend of about 30%. I medicated
it
twice with a combination of formalin and malachite green. The pond is
about
3,000 gallons and has an external filtering system.

I am at a loss. None of the diseases that I have seen described match
this.

I am hoping someone will have some suggestions.

Thanks,

Ray






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