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Outdoor goldfish

Kaz12Kaz12 Posts: 11
in The potting shed

hi can anyone tell me why my goldfish is near the top of pond, not eating or moving much, just mouth opening and shutting ?

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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 86,986

    Sounds like it - water needs aerating.


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • barry islandbarry island Posts: 1,817

    Either lack of oxygen or build up of toxins do you have a pump and filter system?

  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,669

    We ve got pump, filter, oxygenating planting, 4 small fish, good sized pond for them, one is bigger than the other 3, I thought they were flirting and blowing kisses at me! I spoke to our local fishy place, because they were chasing each other, he told me why!!!!!

  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053

    Run a splashy hose into the pond to aerate it. If the pond is small with no water movement then it can easily overheat in this warm weather and lose the oxygen out of the water. Make sure you have oxygenating plants in it.

    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,669

    I was told you must leave water for several hours to de-clorinate before adding to pond if you have fish.

  • Katherine WKatherine W Posts: 410

    If you pour some "chlorinated" water in, but not much it's not a problem. If the chlorinated water is cold it also helps lower the temperature a bit. Make sure there is some shade on very hot days. If the pond is large and deep it does not matter much... if the pond is small a large potted plant to the south in the afternooons might be enough. Alternately ***if the pond is big enough for the fish to hide in a safe place***, you can churn the water vigourously with a bamboo pole or something similar for five minutes. In my "no mechanics" pond I do that a few times in spring when the water is going green. Excellent exercise too. image

  • Kaz12Kaz12 Posts: 11

    Thank you everyone for your comments, we have a solar aerator and also plants, hopefully it will recover we lost one fish a couple of days ago image 

  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601

    When the weather is sunny and hot you really need to react quickly if things are so bad the fish are dying. If the local water is not good enough to put straight in, buy a small fountain and pump and run it 24 hours a day, making the water shoot up as high as possible and come down as droplets. It may look a bit naff but the fish won't object if it saves their lives so neither should you!

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,139

    Prolonged warm humid weather seems often the culprit. With just a solar aerator you're getting barely any oxygen into the pond and I would guess that the warm weather has just tipped the balance in favour of some bacterial flourish and given you them problems you've had. The aerator may help move the water about a little bit but you really need to get the water moving properly. Ideally a waterfall and/or fountain and you'll see a big improvement.

    I change around 10% of the pond water every 10 days or so using straight tap water.
    If you want to do a big change with tap water, you can buy something called Prime which de-chlorinates the water 1/2 capful treats 50galls.

    Hope it turns out well

     


    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,139

    Because when I change 50% water (60galls) in my tropical fish tank, in my view  It's better to spend around 15p to remove the chlorine rather than wait for nature and risk dead fish.

    Seachem Prime has been around for 20/30 yrs and has vast numbers of happy users

    Each to their own - but I'd be interested to know under what circumstances it didn't work for you


    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
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