On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 21:18:30 -0800, "Bill Oertell"
wrote:

Early this morning one of our fantail goldfish was entangled in some string
algae. When I fished him out of the pond, I thought he was dead until he
twitched a little in the net. I put him back in the pond and tried to push him
around a little to get water to flow through his gills, but he wasn't really
responding. The water was really cold (38 degrees) so I thought maybe it was
too cold for the fish to resuscitate, as cold water doesn't store as much
dissolved oxygen as warm water, and I figured the fish was exhausted from trying
to free himself from the string algae and needed oxygen. I filled a large
container with water from the pond, put the fish in the water, and brought him
inside. There I pushed him around some more and blew air into the water to get
some more dissolved oxygen into the water. I also fed him a little.
He seems to be doing fine now. But now my question his: should I put him
back in the pond, after acclimating for several hours, or get an aquarium for
him until the spring? The fish is going to have gone from 38 degrees to
something like 68 degrees and back in a little more than a day, and I'm thinking
that may be too much stress for the little guy.
Opinions are more than welcome. Thanks.


Large temperature changes to fish can be fatal. As long as the
temperature is kept constant and above freezing goldfish will be fine.
The larger the pond the more stable the temperature. Cold-blooded
animals' metabolism slows down when temperatures drop. If you put him
back into the pond, but do so such that the temperature drop is very
gradual, perhaps a few degrees per day--if you can't manage this kind
of change then keep him inside for the winter months. Below 50, you
should not have to feed.

Gases (including oxygen) dissolve better in cold water than warm water
(just he opposite of salts.)

In , on 11/29/04
at 09:18 PM, "Bill Oertell" said:

Early this morning one of our fantail goldfish was entangled in some
string algae. When I fished him out of the pond, I thought he was dead
until he twitched a little in the net. I put him back in the pond and
tried to push him around a little to get water to flow through his gills,
but he wasn't really responding. The water was really cold (38 degrees)
so I thought maybe it was too cold for the fish to resuscitate, as cold
water doesn't store as much dissolved oxygen as warm water, and I figured

Cold water holds more oxygen, I thought. Trout require highly oxygenated
water, and they live in cool water.


Alan

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Thanks everyone for your answers.

The wife wants to put the fish back into the pond, after several hours of
acclimation, of course. My vote is for an aquarium and getting the little fella
a companion from the petshop and then putting them all into the pond in the
spring. I know fantails aren't the best type of goldfish for an outdoor pond,
as they don't swim that fast. But it adds some diversity to a pond full of
comets.
The other thing I'm thinking about is that I really can't keep up on the
string algae all through the winter. It just grows too fast. So if I put the
fantail back in the pond, it just might get tangled up again.
No, I think it's going to spend the winter in an aquarium. I know it's used
to having 1,000 gallons of space to swim around in, but it's just going to have
to get used to a smaller hotel room for the winter.