One of the symptoms you described for the fish that died, was hanging at the
surface in the morning. This is usually a sign of lack of oxygen. The
worst time of day for low oxygen is first thing in the morning. The fish
have been using it, the algae has been using it and the anacharis and other
submerged plants have been consuming. During the day, the greens produce
oxygen, but reverse at night. Do you have any type of good waterfall,
aeration, or other means of vigorously stirring the water surface to
increase oxygen. Once the algae is gone, the load on oxygen will decrease
some, but aeration of some type is always good.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html

wrote in message
oups.com...

Well, today we noticed one of the comets hanging out at the top of the
pond gulping air and being a little listless. Another downside of the
algae bloom, it's hard to see what's going on. We scooped him out and
took a look, and the poor little guy is pretty messed up. One of his
front fins is almost gone, he's got a worm hanging off his back, and a
nice fuzzy patch of fungus on one side. I can't tell if there's an
ulcer under the fugus, or if it's just fugus...

So, he's in a hospital tank full of our pond water. I've been testing
the water somewhat obsessively and it seems fine. Ammonia is 0,
Nitrates are around 2 and Nitrites are 0.25. We put in some medecines
for fin rot, external parasites, fugal infections, I don't know how
much that stuff helps but I figure it's worth a shot.

How likely is it that any of this stuff will catch onto the other fish?
They are both fine so far, the new guy that's only been in there a
couple of days (possibly the carrier?) has no signs of anything. I'll
obviously keep a close eye on them, but should I expect them to be
next?

Here is my water:

Ammonia: 0 (as far as I can tell, the dip stick does not change color
and has no green in it)

There's your problem, dip sticks really don't catch small amounts of
ammonia. 2 bottle tests kits for ammonia are best, but check the expiration
date (especially on dip sticks).

Nitrites: 0.25

This number alone tells me that you've probably had/have ammonia in there.

Nitrates: 20
GH: 300
KH: 120
pH: ~8

Pond is 120 gallons, 3 2" goldfish in it. It's been up about 2 weeks
now, this is the second fish loss. The first one had no obvious signs
of disease like this one did.

The rest of your numbers are fine. As RTB has asked, what is the aeration,
is pump/filter running 24/7?

Don't feel too bad about the goldfish, especially if it was the feeder
variety, it is not uncommon to lose some. Don't buy or add any more till
the water clears up. Do not start over. Add some salt. 1 lb will give you
approx. 0.1% which will protect the fish against the nitrite and won't hurt
the plants, though you might want to take out some of the anacharis just in
case.

Pick up some ammonia detox, add it even if your dip stick says zero.
Especially if doing a water change. Ammonia detox chemicals usually also
dechlorinate.

Party time. Do 10% water changes using the Ammonia detox every day
before the party. This should help clean it up significantly yet not throw
off the cycling. ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
www.jjspond.us

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
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