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

Like nancy said...get some activated charcoal in the filter. Also get some aeration going since gasping at the waterfall is a sign of lack of oxygen. It could be that the water actually is low on oxygen or it could be that their gills are damaged. At any rate, an aerator will help a lot. Also I'd salt the water to 0.3%. This is always a good thing to do when fish are sick. To get to 0.3%, add 2.5 pounds of salt per 100 gallons. Don't do at all at one time....add it over a 2 day period.

Beth4, checking in for this year. I originated this post last August. Since then I've not lost a single fish -- except for 3 that disappeared after winter thaw and before the leaf canopy came out that disguises the pond. I think I lost those 3 to a heron. They just completely disappeared. All the fish are now happy and healthy. I wonder if my fish were dying last year because I wasn't feeding them, at all, ever. When I started feeding them twice weekly, I never lost another fish. And, had several batches of babies. Six babies have survived, even made it through the winter, so all is well. For my pond, I use all Microbe Lift products. These products keep the rocks nice and clear of debris and plant growth. I can clearly see the pond rocks on the bottom of the pond. I am very happy with all of the ML products I use, and use them exactly as directed. They do a great job of breaking down the debris. I've got all my fingers crossed that everything will continue smoothly through the summer. I've already placed several plants in the pond. Need to arrange them, add more, and then bare-root plant the impatiens which will take over the sides of the streams and the pond, keep the algae at bay and look beautfiul. Thanks for everyone's comments and suggestions!

I am guessing it is not the pH, as some of my older fish are dying the same way as the newly purchased fish. The older fish have been in the tank for over a year.