Nitrate 0
Nitrate 0
PH 7
kh 40
gh 30

I only have test strips available to me right now.

i have had a similar problem this week. the pond store said it was a bacteria and sugested i use malafix and salt in the pond. malafix is a natural bacterial medicine so i wont hurt your plants or your filter. they said the salt needs to be .3% in the pond. but i don't know how much you need to get it to that level. do some research in the search bar and find out how much you need. i saw a post on here that gave a table. also i saw a post that said you could get the salt at lowes and it was alot cheaper.

i hope this helps. HUGS laura

Thank you Laura

My ammonia reading is 0.

I bought salt to add to the pond.

I looked at melafix but for a 7 day treatment it would cost hundreds of dollars.

My local pond store had medicated fish food and my favorite fish did eat a couple pellets.

They are used to flakes and some of the fish keep spitting the pellets out.

It is so frustrating to lose a lot of fish.
I am still dealing with the loss of my 7 golden orfe from a month ago and now this.

i'm so glad you got the salt. if you can put the sick ones in a five gallon bucket and an air stone than it wont cost you so much for the malafix. that is what i did. but i still lost my butterfly koi. i have been putting some in the pond also just to make sure that the others dont get sick. but my pond is only 600 gallons give or take so it is not that much.

maybe foster and smith would have a more economical method for your pond. also i called http://www.pondandgardenwholesalers.com/servlet/StoreFront

they seem to be very knowledgeable and from what i have found they seem to be the most ecomical. (i'm sorry about my spelling). i know they will be more to happy to help you and they always take there time when talking to me over the phone. from the stores i've had contact with they seem to be the most costumer friendly and alway call me back if i have to leave a message. i hope this helps you. i know how much it hurts to loose fish; especially ones you have had for so very long.

HUGS laura

The one fish that is laying on the bottom did eat a little of the medicated food. He is all white but has red streaking on him with the shredded dorsal fin. He swims a little then sinks to the bottom. I can not catch him and I feel that I am stressing him out more by trying.

My favorite one still is active and is eating a little.
He just has this really red stripe on his formally all white tail and his very long flowing tail is a little shredded.

dont try to catch him to much. i did this and i stressed my fish out so much. i found that if i wait untill they come up to eat to try and get them it is alot easier. but i only try once or twice.

i sure hope the salt works.

i went out to feed mine and found another commet dead. it did not have the white spots that the other fish did and its gills were bright red. not white or greenish color like the others. i also found a dead trap door snail. all of my snails have now died. i wonder if the dead snails made mine sick.. i'm so confused.

the pond store told me about an antibiotic for fish. but i'm not sure about it at all. is that what the food has in it that you got??? i need to try and find some of that for myself. i'm so worried about my other fish.

i wish the melefix was cheeper for you. can you take out some of the water. maybe that would make the malafix cheeper to use.

i wish someone who really knew about this stuff would come in and post for you. i'm so very sorry. i hope they make it..

Thanks Laura,

It is frustrating.
I hope you find out what is causing your fish to die , too.

The food has oxolinic acid in it. It is supposed to help fish that are dying for no reason.

i'm going to get me some of that tomarrow. i can't get to the pond / fish store untill tomarrow. but i'm definatly going to get some.

i have been searching and searching the net for any type of answers for us. i found this site. it is a pond supply store but they have a great discription of the diffrent types of disease and the treatment for them. maybe it will help you..

this is the link..

http://www.pondkoi.com/pond_products_koi_medications.htm

Usually finrot is a water quality issue either ammonia or ph problems. I noticed your KH is very low. Did some research on the internet. I found a site don't know if I can post but it and other sources including my own test kits say you need to keep your KH within 50-120mgl fro your ph range. You can raise your KH by adding baking soda at 1/2cup per 1000 gals never more than increasing KH by 20 ppm over 24 hours. Any PH below 6.5 is like dropping your fish in acid. Cannot add baking soda if any ammonia in the pond.
I would probably do a 10-20% water change. Check ph levels before and after change.
Site I looked at was jnfkoifarms.com.
I have a white koi in my pond and sometimes notice his tail gets some red on it. Had a problem in the winter with finrot and treated the fish in a separate aquarium. I hadn't done a water change in a while on the 300 gal tank it came from so knew it was my own fault. Dirty water.
If you use salt recommended levels are 0.1% without losing fish or plants or 1 1/4 oz per 10 gals. On a pond your size that's alot of salt! Also sounds like you can't net any fish out to treat separate so you have a challenge! Hope this helps. Patti

Thanks Patti!This has sure been a challenge!

After the golden orfe died a month ago, I added baking soda and raised the ph to 8.

Apparently it did not last.

I have two white fish resting on the bottom. I have tried to net them and they zoom off fast out of reach and then sink again.

I only added 48 pounds of salt so that is on the low side.
I will check out the site! Thanks!

My favorite is still hanging in there eating with the rest.
The reason I call him my favorite is years ago I got very attached to my fish and named them . They died due to bad water quality(I as a newbie and it was a different pond) and I told myself I would never name a fish or get attached again.
I never named this fish but he is my oldest and my favorite.

i have been surfing the net trying to figure out why my fish are dying and i saw this and thought of your issue.. maybe it will be some help.. it is about the symptoms of ammonia poising..

Symptoms:
ÂFish gasp for breath at the water surface

ÂPurple or red gills

ÂFish is lethargic

ÂLoss of appetite

ÂFish lays at the bottom of the tank

ÂRed streaking on the fins or body

Ammonia poisoning can happen suddenly, or over a period of days. Initially the fish may be seen gasping at the surface for air. The gills will begin to turn red or lilac in color, and may appear to be bleeding. The fish will being to lose its appetite and become increasingly lethargic. In some cases fish may be observed laying at the bottom of the tank with clamped fins.
As the damage from the ammonia poisoning continues, the tissues will be damaged as evidenced by red streaks or bloody patches that appear on the body and fins. Internal damage is occurring to the brain, organs, and central nervous system. The fish begins to hemorrhage internally and externally, and eventually dies.

i am going to get an ammonia test tomarrow to find out if this is my problem. have you tested your pond???

Thanks Laura,
My water is testing 0 for ammonia.
I used a vial test as well as a test strip.
I plan on taking a water sample to my local pond store where they can test it, too.

i'm so happy for that. i was worried about your pond. i'm doing the same thing with mine in just a few minittes. i just wanted to ck on you and your fish real quick. how are they doing today?? i'm praying for you and your fish. i hope that does not sound lame, but i really am.. HUGS

i went out to the pond and everyone seems to be doing ok. but i'm not feeding them incase it is the ammonia. i am using benifital bacteria since the pond is real new, i thought that would take care of any m=ammonia spikes. but i'm not sure at all. i will feel better after the store tests my water.

Thanks Laura,

I have several other fish acting lethargic and I am beginning to think it is a ph issue.

Jalal,
Thanks for that link. It has a lot of good info on it.

I am now more confused than ever.
I took the sample of my water to my pond store and the ammonia is reading .25 and the ph at 8.5.
We did the ph test several times to eliminate a false result.
I am currently doing a 20% water change and adding Amquel+.
Several more fish have become lethargic since this morning.
I am hoping this will help.....

If your water sample was in a hot car for any time at all it can screw up the tests.

Parasites can cause all the problems you have mentioned because they make the fish less able to fight off bacterial infections. Please do some looking about Praziquantel, an expensive but very effective medication. About the only parasite it can't cure is Anchor Worm. I lost way too many fish before I caught on.

There are numerous sites that discuss parasites. Koivet is one of the best, I think.

You've had your pond running for a long time if I remember. Did you buy a new ammonia test kit? If the tests were correct from the store it almost sounds like you've had some ammonia in your pond for a while. Your pond is huge--must have alot of fish??? What about your biofiltration or filters? Are they really dirty?
I'm not sure but if I remember correctly adding salt can sometimes release the ammonia from zeolite at least back into the aquarium or pond.
My ph is high 8.5 but I never use any buffer on it. Buffers can be tricky unless like ccombs mentioned maintained regularly.
It is still raining here with storm alerts so I am going to go out and pump some water out of the pond again! So far the pump box isn't flooded but the pond looks dirty. My pond edges are raised above ground level with the liner coming up and over a berm of dirt but with the amount of rain we've had it still gets dirty. Fish all okay though so that's a blessing I guess.
Pond keeping can be relaxing but sure is stressful when you've got sick fish that you can't figure out what's going on or weather that you have no control over. Kinda like life I guess. The best to you. Patti

Jalal,
I have had my pond running for four years now.
I only have goldfish, no koi.
I did have 7 golden orfe but they died one month ago during a heat wave and low oxygen.
I thought we were beginning to get the pond under control.
I threw out my back trying to save the golden orfes and my DH stepped in and began to do the pond maintenance.
He has done a great job.

My favorite one looks better. His red streaked fin is less red. The fish are eating the medicated food.

I still have several that are showing lethargic symtons and look so sad. It breaks my heart. When I try to catch them, they just go deeper in the pond.

One tried to school with the other fish as I was feeding them. I tried to put food right in front of him but he just gave it a blank stare.

I have been ponding for about 15 years and this is my second pond. I am just so surprised all of this is happening now.

I hope it stops raining for you. I am glad your fish are o.k. I wish you could send some rain to us down south.
We are in the beginning stages of a drought again.

Here is a pic of one of my sick ones.
His front fins do a C and a backwards C.
Is this considered clamped fins?
If not, does anyone know what can cause this?
You can see how his tail is a little shredded.
{{gwi:217794}}

I would gladly send you some of my rain. We've had over 8" in the last week. I just shopvacued my furnace room as water coming up through the concrete even though my sump pump is running every 15 mins. Checked my pump box earlier today and is fine and pumped out about 100 gals of water from the pond again!

When you say you have drought does that mean it's been hot where you live? Maybe your pond needs more aeration? I have a Dolphin AV50 air pump I would gladly get rid of as is too powerful for my pond. I've had it for two years but have only used it this year for about 24 hours total as it creates too much turbulance in my pond.

Sorry I don't know what clamped fins look like. Beautiful fish--is that a Sarassa comet? Gotta go take up flooring in my basement. I have Dricore in my entire basement except the furnace room. Can hear the water underneath it as is kindof a floating floor. Crazy year this year!

Thanks Sandy,
I am looking into the prazi. Do you know if I have to do two treatments or just one? I am finding sites that say both.
The water sample went straight from the pond to an air conditioned car. The pond shop is just a few minutes away.

I wish I could catch one to examine it better.

jalal,
We had three weeks straight of every day being over 90 degrees.
My pond water jumped to 94 degrees last month.

My fish is a Sarassa. He just constantly swims but will not eat. The other two are just sitting on the bottom but again when I try to catch them, they zoom off to deeper waters and just sink.

I did a 20% water change and no one else appears to be sick.
My favorite one's tail is much less red.

I hope your rain stops soon. I know it must be so tiring to be constantly draining and cleaning up everything.

After researching, I decided to order the Aquaprazi and Medikoi fish food.

Hi again. Don't know how deep your pond water is but goldfish don't do well in warmer water. The legarthic behavior and fins, shredding could just be from the stress of the water temps. They won't eat if its too hot just like if the water is too cold you shouldn't feed them. Kinda like when it's too hot for us we don't feel like eating. The deeper water is cooler. Do you have aeration? Even with a waterfall the aeration is necessary to keep oxygen in that hot water!

It has stopped raining and the sun is out. Yeah! I don't know how much water I shop vaced out yesterday but there is still some in the furnace room seeping up through the concrete. Sump pump slowing down on running though. The town I live in used to be a lake a gazillion years ago but normally has a really high water table. With all the rain even if I had more sump pumps I doubt that it would have done much as the water is coming up through the floor--not along the walls. 5 ft of my basement is below ground level so that kinda says how high the water table is.
Oh goldfishconnection.com has some excellent goldfish medicated food that I've used before with fish that had dropsy. It lasts a long time and the fish loved it. Also use their Progold on a regular basis. Best fish food I've found. Site also has lots of info on goldfish diseases.
Good luck. Patti

Thanks Patti,
The pond is 4.5 feet deep.
I do need to add more aeration.

Since my golden orfes died, I have been researching air pumps.
I am not sure just what I need for 15,000 gallons though.

I wish I had added one to my bottom drain when I installed it.

I hurt my back this spring and did not do a great job getting all the debris from the deepest area so I plan on vacuuming the whole pond this weekend.

I am so glad the sun is out for you. Hopefully, it will stay that way for awhile and you can get dried out!

I will check out goldfishconnection.