Fish impacted with leaf?

[avocadro 0]

Hi, I woke up this morning to find one of my regular goldfish in my outdoor pond laying at the surface on his side with his mouth open. He is not able to move much by himself, seems to be exhausted. Only rocking his head back and forth, and moving his mouth a little bit. Inside his mouth I found pieces of a disintegrated old leaf, sadly not enough to grab onto with tweezers.

For now I put him inside a net to keep him in a higher flow region of the pond to help him breathe. There are were some fall leaves in the water but it's otherwise in good condition, I make sure to remove leaves that settle to the bottom to minimize rotting.

Can I do anything to help him throw up or fully swallow that leaf? You can't see anything inside his mouth at the moment.

Thank you!

[koko 14,376]

5 hours ago, avocadro said:

Hi, I woke up this morning to find one of my regular goldfish in my outdoor pond laying at the surface on his side with his mouth open. He is not able to move much by himself, seems to be exhausted. Only rocking his head back and forth, and moving his mouth a little bit. Inside his mouth I found pieces of a disintegrated old leaf, sadly not enough to grab onto with tweezers.

For now I put him inside a net to keep him in a higher flow region of the pond to help him breathe. There are were some fall leaves in the water but it's otherwise in good condition, I make sure to remove leaves that settle to the bottom to minimize rotting.

Can I do anything to help him throw up or fully swallow that leaf? You can't see anything inside his mouth at the moment.

Thank you!

What kind of Trees are around your pond? I do know that some leafs that fall off into the water can be toxic to the fish. For example I have an Indian Bean tree that the leaves are toxic to eat and Im sure it would cause me problems in a pond. 

Can you get a photo or video of the fish ? 

by the way  

[avocadro 0]

Thank you for the warm welcome. I checked to see if the plants around the pond could be toxic to fish and the only one I found was a bird of paradise bush. But only the seeds are and it already bloomed a while ago. The trees above the pond are a golden rain tree and a kumquat tree, both are seemingly non-toxic to fish.

I don't have a video but I do have a photo here. Sorry about the leaves I was pretty shaken up to find him like that...

He just floats at the top with his mouth open. Although this evening he's started closing his mouth a little bit.

He keeps moving fins here and there and rocking his head back and forth. Sometimes jerks his tail and body around in a swimming motion.

[Arctic Mama 3,645]

Wow that’s terrible!  Unfortunately unless you can remove the lead I am not sure what more you can do for him.  Are you positive there is nothing else going on?  Every other fish in the pond looks fine, right?

[shakaho 6,312]

I don't think a leaf could cause this problem.  I suspect whatever ails him is the cause, not the result, of the unswallowed leaf.

[koko 14,376]

21 hours ago, avocadro said:

Thank you for the warm welcome. I checked to see if the plants around the pond could be toxic to fish and the only one I found was a bird of paradise bush. But only the seeds are and it already bloomed a while ago. The trees above the pond are a golden rain tree and a kumquat tree, both are seemingly non-toxic to fish.

I don't have a video but I do have a photo here. Sorry about the leaves I was pretty shaken up to find him like that...

He just floats at the top with his mouth open. Although this evening he's started closing his mouth a little bit.

He keeps moving fins here and there and rocking his head back and forth. Sometimes jerks his tail and body around in a swimming motion.

Well the next thing that we need to help you more is 

 

Please copy & paste 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.?

"If copy and paste doesn't work for you, quote this post and put your answers after each question."

[avocadro 0]

Unfortunately the fish has passed away today, poor little guy... The other fish and I already miss him so much.

It's going to be very difficult counting 5 instead of 6 fish every day from now.

I really hope there's not an issue with the pond that might be affecting the other fish so for the chance that it might help:

•  Ammonia Level(Tank) 0
•  Nitrite Level(Tank) 0
•  Nitrate level(Tank) 10-20
•  Ammonia Level(Tap) 0
•  Nitrite Level(Tap) 0
•  Nitrate level(Tap) 0-10
•  Ph Level, Tank (If possible, KH, GH and chloramines) 7.8
•  Ph Level, Tap (If possible, KH, GH and chloramines) 7.8
•  Brand of test-kit used and whether strips or drops? API drops 
•  Water temperature? 14C/57F
•  Tank size (how many gals.) and how long has it been running? 800 gallons
•  What is the name and "size of the filter"(s)? 4 gallon bucket filter, some terrestrial and aquatic plants
•  How often do you change the water and how much? Did a 30% one last week, the pond is 2 months old and that was the first one I did
•  How many days ago was the last water change and how much did you change? 30% a week ago
•  How many fish in the tank and their size? There are 5 fish aside from him, 4-5 inches long not including tail
•  What kind of water additives or conditioners? Seachem safe
•  What do you feed your fish and how often? NLS twice daily and biweekly veggies
•  Any new fish added to the tank? No
•  Any medications added to the tank? No
•  List entire medication/treatment history for fish and tank.Please include salt, Prazi, PP, etc and the approximate time and duration of treatment. Never medicated, he had a small red bacterial sore between his eyes that showed signs of improving on its own, although it didn't go as quickly as I was expecting it to.
•  Any unusual findings on the fish such as "grains of salt," bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus? Aside from the sore I couldn't find any visible damage to his body. But what I did find yesterday were breeding tubercles on his gills and fins.
•  Any unusual behavior like staying at the bottom, not eating, etc.? Nothing before the incident, but there was what I just now realize was breeding behavior, chasing other fish around.

[shakaho 6,312]

Could you please show some pictures of the pond?  It sounds like an in-ground pond that lies lower than the surrounding ground.  Do you have a net over the pond to catch leaves?  What protection do you have from predators?

Your stocking level sounds great, but the number of fish may double or more after spring spawning.  With a large pond with few adult fish,  more eggs survive to hatch and more fry avoid getting eaten by their elders.

[avocadro 0]

1 hour ago, shakaho said:

Could you please show some pictures of the pond?  It sounds like an in-ground pond that lies lower than the surrounding ground.  Do you have a net over the pond to catch leaves?  What protection do you have from predators?

Your stocking level sounds great, but the number of fish may double or more after spring spawning.  With a large pond with few adult fish,  more eggs survive to hatch and more fry avoid getting eaten by their elders.

I've got a pic from when we first put some water in it:

 

As you can see I've left a lip of liner showing around the pond (that then goes down 20cm or so), as well as having the entire pond raised by a good 5cm from the ground. Still unsure how to cover that lip to protect from UV damage, grass has grown around it but I feel it won't be enough in the summer sun.

And no I unfortunately don't have a net. Couldn't find one tight enough to actually catch leaves let alone the tiny yellow flowers of the golden rain tree. I keep looking but I might just order one off amazon.

Oh yeah and since you said that about my stocking level I actually see now that I didn't convert it right, the pond is only 500 US gallons or so (when filled up to the bottom of those bricks). I believe that is still be plenty for 5 fish thought, right?