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Ponds & Aquatic Plants

When can I put my goldfish back into the pond?

16 years ago

Last December, I had to bring in a 5" goldfish for treatment of fungus. The fungus is long gone and she has healed completely. She's currently in a 20 gallon aquarium, by herself, inside my house, PH = 7.5, water temperature is 21 C (70 F).

When can I move her back into the pond?

I just started up my pond waterfall last weekend, have lots of old algae that needs to be cleaned up. The weather was exceptionally warm so the water reached a high of 18C (64F). I'm not sure what they are calling for, so it could drop back down. My pond is only 600 gallons metered.

Obviously I'd want the pond to be cleaned up a bit at first and I'd wait until the pond warmed up a bit more (in case it had dropped). But can I transfer my indoor goldfish back in right after? Or do I have to wait until the water temperature stays stable at the higher temps?

Plus what about the difference in PH? In the past, the PH went up to 9.0-9.2 as it got warmer and warmer.

This is my first time transferring back an indoor fish, so any other tips would be helpful.

Comments (4)

bama_ready
16 years ago
AS for when--- I think that once you ready--- she's ready.. The more inportant question is HOW-- Meaning that SHOCK is the single biggest killer... PH should be very close and water temp allowed to get balanced between inside and outside water before dumping her back in.. Good luck..
jcjcjcx
Original Author
16 years ago
How can I get the PH to be close? I really don't want to be adding chemicals (PH UP or PH DOWN) to my aquarium or pond.
What if I put the fish in a 5 gallon bucket with mostly aquarium water and some pond water, and then slowly each hour, maybe 3 or 4 times, take some water out and put in some pond water until most of the bucket contains pond water? Is that enough of an adjustment?
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jalal
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You didn't say what your pond PH is? The method you described is how I transfer my fish back into the pond except that I don't add any pond water for the first 15 mins. I set the bucket on the plant shelfs in the pond so the pond water temp will start to equalize with that in the bucket. After about 15 minutes I take out some of the bucket water and add a cup or 2 of pond water and wait another 15 mins. I also put an air stone in the bucket.
jcjcjcx
Original Author
16 years ago
The PH of my pond is currently 8.5 (as of last week). The pattern last year was that it went up slowly to about 9.2-9.5. So by the time I add this fish, the PH will probably be higher than 8.5.

Although I still have floating algae and sludge in my pond, I'm not going to do a total cleanout. I'm just going to do 10% weekly water changes and scoop out some of the sludge and algae with a net. It feels wierd that I'll be putting the fish which is in clear water, perfect conditions, into a pond with a higher PH and all kinds of algae and stuff in it, but I guess thats how it must be when you keep fish indoors and then move them back into the pond. I almost feel bad moving the fish from its sterile environment back into the natural 'dirty' pond, but she will have so much more room to swim and will finally won't be alone anymore.
I guess what seems dirty to me, for her is bugs, algae, food, and whatever.

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