Pond water may help a bit you would be better off to get a bit of filter media or some gravel from a pot in the pond. The idea is to introduce beneficial bacteria from the existing pond which jump starts the growth in the new pond and shortens the startup cycle. Make sure that you keep the new addition wet and oxygenated as much as possible to keep the bacteria alive until you get it into the pond. You can also buy an additive to do the same thing, or wait a week and it will start itself. If you had plants in the pond and are storing them in water you will be bringing at least a bit back when you put them back in as well. You will want to moniter the pond for a while to ensure it stays stable. You may have got something washing into the pond from the heavy rainfall. A higher than usual ammonia reading would definitely hurt the fish but you do not know if that is higher. A reading of 1 is usually not dangerous but is on the high side Keep an eye on the ammonia and check to see if you have any areas where the rain could have washed anything into the pond, newly fertilized areas or other garden chemicals can do some damage if they wash in. My sister had a lot of issues when she was dog sitting and the 2 dogs decided to urinate into the corner of the pond every time they went out, sometimes you just do not think aboutwhat is happening. I do not think it was the berries unless the fish could swallow them whole, they would not be likely to eat anything that hard and bitter. Hope this helps

I am sorry for your loss. The fish did not die from the iron in the water. If you have city water they died from the chlorine in the water and if you have well water they died from the lack of O2 in the water or poisonous gases that are in it. The best product that I have found if chlorine or chloramines are in the water is a product called a Pondbiz. It screws on the end of a garden hose or outside facet. The manufacture says it is good for a year. I have a pond shop and we use these on all our fish vats. On our fish vats the water is changed automatically. We change 10% of the water year around. The two vats that have had these devices on them the longest are 600 gallons and devices have been on for over 3 years. So that is 60 gallons per day 365 days per year for 3 years or 60x365x3=65,700 gallons of water. My city water has chloramines in it and it still tests zero for chlorine or ammonia. This year one of my employees made a mistake and went home for the day with the hose filling our outside pond running full force. It is a 800 gallon pond and about 8,000 gallons of water went into that pond without a single fish, tadpole, snail, or frog being hurt. Yes it was a waste of a lot of water but no animals being hurt. During the pond season I have a vat that we keep tadpoles in. Because we keep a lot of tadpoles in it we change about 95% of the water twice a week without treating the fresh water other then this devise and they do great. I am talking about a 100 gallon vat that will have anywhere for 200 to 2000 frog tadpoles in it at any given time. Mike

Thanks Zinnia for the link you mentioned above. I now feel like I have the answer. I have been searching the web and I think it was DROPSY from what all I have been reading and the pictures I have found. I just don't know why, and probably never will.. All other fish are fine and healthy as best as I can tell..Glenda, my fish for the last month did have difficult swimming. its was so bloated it seem to float to the top but not upside down. Once at the top it had difficult swimming back down and didn' ever swimm straight as it did before all this. From all the pictures i have found tonight there's no dought it was DROPSY.. I have never heard of that before, but I have never had a problem before with fish sickness. Sandy

ummm.. the de-icer is a floating beckett brand. the pond is about 3 years? its roughly a rectangle i think 18 ft by 15... it has water lilies cat tails and some native plant, *a smaller version of arrowhead normally i empty it completelyin the winter to catch the fish. once they're all caught i fill it back up wait a few days and throw the plants back in and let it ice over. in the spring i usually end up emptying it once a again... im guessing that if i can leave the water and fish in over winter my water will be much clearer (its not that clear now) when i empty and refill i start the cycle of algae and the pond has to stabilize, right?