Please help

[luke.duggan 0]

We have had our Oranda goldfish now for about 6 months. Everything has been perfect. I check the water quality every week and apart from some rise and fall of ph (the pond is in full sunlight) it has been great. We have 4 orandas and yesterday morning I noticed one had a pinkish mark under his mouth. Today it is worse. I thought maybe the ammonia level was high but checked and it’s not but I cleaned the pond anyway. Removing some fallen leaves vaccuumed up some of the debris on the bottom and added about 25% new water. I also went to pet smart and bought some general bacterial infection medicine. I’m freaking out that this poor guy might be in pain and worse might die. Does anyone know what this may be? And what i should do?

 

 

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[koko 14,340]

Please copy & paste fill the following form and fill it out to the best of your ability when requesting help for Goldfish Problems: 

Test Results for the Following: * Ammonia Level(Tank) * Nitrite Level(Tank) * Nitrate level(Tank) * Ammonia Level(Tap) * Nitrite Level(Tap) * Nitrate level(Tap) * Ph Level, Tank (If possible, KH, GH and chloramines)  * Ph Level, Tap (If possible, KH, GH and chloramines) Other Required Info: * Brand of test-kit used and whether strips or drops? * Water temperature? * Tank size (how many gals.) and how long has it been running? * What is the name and "size of the filter"(s)? * How often do you change the water and how much?

* How many days ago was the last water change and how much did you change? * How many fish in the tank and their size? * What kind of water additives or conditioners? * What do you feed your fish and how often? * Any new fish added to the tank? * Any medications added to the tank? * List entire medication/treatment history for fish and tank.Please include salt, Prazi, PP, etc and the approximate time and duration of treatment. * Any unusual findings on the fish such as "grains of salt," bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus? * Any unusual behavior like staying at the bottom, not eating, etc.?

[luke.duggan 0]

Ammonia level : 0ppm
Nitrite level : 0ppm
Nitrate level : 40ppm
Unfortunately I haven’t tested the tap water for ammonia/ph/nitrite/nitrate levels. I can tomorrow.
Ph level : 7.5
I use the drops test kit
Water temperate today was 58
Tank size : above ground pond 15 inches deep and total of 250 gallons. It’s been running for about 5 months now.
I have a pondmaster pmk1250/1350 filter/pump as well as a uv sterilizer. There is a small water feature in the middle of the pond.
I have never changed the water. I took about 20% out today and refilled.
I have 4 Oranda goldfish. Two are 6 inches and two are four inches.
I use the aloe stress reliever/sometimes a algae reducer/and a good bacterial promoter.
I feed them a sinking pellet twice a day.
I haven’t added any new fish but we did notice a few weeks ago a baby fish (not an Oranda) possible from a near by pond/lake? Dropped by a bird.
I added some medication today that I bought at petsmart for bacterial infections.
Apart from the sore on his mouth there is nothing else that is unusual.


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[luke.duggan 0]

There’s also three water lilies in the pond. As well as a few snails I see periodically. I cleaned the filter out today too and noticed some blood worms.
The pond unfortunately is exposed to full sun so gets a lot of algae in the summer or at least it did this summer. All the fish seemed fine though. It’s also under a large hackberry tree and there’s a lot of debris from the tree (leaves twigs) that fall into the pond. Could this be causing a problem?
We had our yard sprayed for mosquitos about two weeks ago but we asked them to not go near the pond area.

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[luke.duggan 0]

The bottom of the pond is lined with medium size pebbles. Maybe an inch and half in length. I noticed today too that there was some sludge build up under those pebbles as well as fallen debris so I tried to vacuum it up and in doing so moved them around a bit which caused the sludge/dust to fill the pond with a cloudy residue. I’m waiting for tomorrow for it to have settled and perhaps try again in removing some?


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[mjfromga 1,784]

Rocks don't belong on the bottom of ponds. It will cause issues. Remove all the fish and remove all the rocks. Don't remove the rocks with the fish inside. The bacteria under them can harm the fish. 

Edited October 23, 2017 by mjfromga

[luke.duggan 0]

Thanks. Once the rocks are removed..should I vacuum up any debris?
Unfortunately I moved the rocks around a bit today in trying to clean them and it did bring a lot of that “dirt to the surface” the fish were still inside the pond. I can remove the fish tomorrow morning and drain the pond completely if that’s what is needed?


quote post="2025935" timestamp="1508723597" name="mjfromga" userid="25299"] Rocks don't belong on the bottom of ponds. It will cause issues. Remove all the fish and remove all the rocks. Don't remove the rocks with the fish inside. The bacteria under them can harm the fish. 






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[shakaho 6,312]

Remove the fish from the pond, then remove the rocks from the bottom.  Let the debris settle and then siphon it out.  I wouldn't do a complete water change,  and you can probably save about 1/3 of the water this way.  When the water looks clean, you can return your fish to the pond and siphon in fresh dechlorinated water,using a thin tube so the water chemistry changes slowly.

You do need to change water in your pond.  I recommend a continuous drip of clean dechlorinated water into the pond.  Each of my ponds has a container with a dripper holding 10% of the pond volume.  I fill this with fresh, dechlorinated water daily.  Each pond also has an overflow to dispose of excess water, so rain supplies an extra water change.

You need to make a screen cover for your pond to keep out the leaves and predators (which will eventually find your pond).  The leaves probably cause the fluctuation in pH. 

You need better filtration.  A pond pump should turn over 2X the pond volume per hour, and you should have an external filter that holds 1/10 the volume of the pond.  When a seller says a filter can handle up to 600 gallons, that means it won't work for a pond larger than 600 gallons which contains NO fish.  When you have goldfish in the pond, divide that by at least 5, so the filter- pump you have can work for a 120 gallon fish pond.

 

[luke.duggan 0]

Thank you for taking the time to write this. Really appreciate it and very helpful.
Is there a pump/filter you would recommend for my size?

Remove the fish from the pond, then remove the rocks from the bottom.  Let the debris settle and then siphon it out.  I wouldn't do a complete water change,  and you can probably save about 1/3 of the water this way.  When the water looks clean, you can return your fish to the pond and siphon in fresh dechlorinated water,using a thin tube so the water chemistry changes slowly.

You do need to change water in your pond.  I recommend a continuous drip of clean dechlorinated water into the pond.  Each of my ponds has a container with a dripper holding 10% of the pond volume.  I fill this with fresh, dechlorinated water daily.  Each pond also has an overflow to dispose of excess water, so rain supplies an extra water change.
You need to make a screen cover for your pond to keep out the leaves and predators (which will eventually find your pond).  The leaves probably cause the fluctuation in pH. 
You need better filtration.  A pond pump should turn over 2X the pond volume per hour, and you should have an external filter that holds 1/10 the volume of the pond.  When a seller says a filter can handle up to 600 gallons, that means it won't work for a pond larger than 600 gallons which contains NO fish.  When you have goldfish in the pond, divide that by at least 5, so the filter- pump you have can work for a 120 gallon fish pond.
 




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[DawnMichele 6,045]

Welcome to Kokos!!!

[koko 14,340]

How are things going? 

[koko 14,340]

On October 23, 2017 at 9:42 AM, luke.duggan said:

Thank you for taking the time to write this. Really appreciate it and very helpful.
Is there a pump/filter you would recommend for my size?


 

How are things going for you?