dying gold fishes please help!?

Question

my goldfishes are dying and it is very destressing to watch...at first they were slower and laying around alot i out this down to weather change. then they started dropping scales now one of them has half its tail missing and most of its fin...while the others are covered in black patches.
i have and outdoor pond that is about two meteres long and knee deep, i have a filter and uv lamp fitted. i also regularely topd up the water level. however none of this has made a difference.

i live in scotland. so its always raining here and a top up is rarely needed unless its summer time.

Answer 1

your fish do not have "ick" as one answerer said. ick (which is actually spelt "ich") is a parasite, and does not have symptoms like you describe.

first, check the PH of the water. it needs to be close to 7 for goldfish... when you do water changes, make sure the water you are adding is the same PH.

splitting or rotting/missing fins and tails are a sign of distress caused by bad water conditions and/or bacterial, fungal or parasites - usually bacterial problems.
sclae dropping is a symptom of another problem - its a sign of severe stress and can be caused by several things.

the black patches are indicative of several things - usually bacterial infection.

treat the pond for bacterial infections - you can get medication from your local petshop. depending on how big the pond is, you might need more than one bottle.

since they are outside treat for parasites right after you treat for bacterial problems.

they need to be treated IMMEDIATELY. make sure you follow directions.
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Answer 2

Having stayed in Glasgow for some time I know what you mean by "it always rain here" :)

Anyway, the MAIN problem you have is that your pond water is bad.

And you probably have an outbreak of a disease call columnaris, which is explain in the website below. The worst part is that the weather will be getting warmer and and that will make things worst.

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/columnaris.htm

The black patches is something call Melanaphore Migration, I have done a write up on what it is in the link below...... The fish with the black patches probably manage to survive the initial bad water scenario, but it looks like it's being hit again.

http://www.arofanatics.com/members/dragonfly_sg/melanaphoremigration/

This proves that your water probably been bad earlier too. Is there anyway you could drain 50~70% of the water and refil it? Unfortunately for most disease, treating the fishes without improving it's environment is usually less effective. So a serious water change is almost mandatory. Keeping your UV on constantly would be a good idea for the moment. Check your filtration to make sure it's running effectively and if you can check Ammonia, NO2, NO3 and pH levels, you might be able to find the cause of the whole problem.

Good Luck.

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Answer 3

Let's see, a lot of advice given that basically says "Panic! It's hopeless." I couldn't believe I was reading this load of well meaning crap.

Yes, you obviously have a serious problem, but I don't think a single person told you to FIRST check the water quality and see what's going on.

The tail and fin rot is usually caused by a bacterial infection which the goldfish is susceptible to usually do to poor water quality and stress. The black patches could be a number of things but if the tail/fin rot is healing, it comes back first as black patches before the normal color returns to the goldfish.

As for the dreaded columnaris, myxosporidiosis, or plain ole ich...I'm not going to rule them out entirely but from what you've described, it sounds like a basic problem with water quality that has stressed out your fish and left them susceptible to a bacterial infection. Good quality water, a little aquarium/pond salt to help reduce stress, and keeping a close eye on them will hopefully take care of the problem.

Answer 4

You should probably read the labels on the anti-ich and chlorine-out because the drops are usually per gallon, so you must know how many gallons of stale water (at least 48 hours in an open container) you have to begin with. But, other than that goldfish die sometimes. They are notrious for this, I qouldn't worry about the exactly 10 pieces of fish food thing. Just put some in if they don't eat it all within 15 minutes then use less next time...you will gt to know your fish like any pet. Enjoy having them, but don't worry too much, fish die...everything dies. Best wishes

Answer 5

Ok you have several major infections inside the pond.

Go to your pet shop and pick up any recommended medication and other things that balance out the water. (I would tell you what you need but I dont know if your English or American).

Isolate any healthy fish into a seperate tank and treat them cos they are more than likely infected as well.

Also isolate the unhealthy fish in another tank. These fish will need to live in that tank until they are completely healthy again.

Your next job would have to be to dis-infect the lamp and the filter. You would have to change the foam inside the pumb.
Dis-infect any extra items that you have.

Throw away all the weed because that will be infected and replace it with fresh weed.

If your pond has lining then you may want to consider placing in new lining. If you dont want to do that then it will need to be dis-infected as well.

Once you have done all this to your pond refill your pond and run the pump and light like normal with out fish.

Dont replace the fish until they are fully healthy again because if you do you will have to start the whole process again.

This worked for me everytime when my fish developed infections.

Hope this helps

Answer 6

Doesn't sound like ick at all to me, sounds like fin rot and a bacterial infection due to the outdoor pond conditions. You need to get them clean water, and may want to consider treating with salt and/or medicine.

Answer 7

Time to speak with a professional at the pet shop you bought the fish - ask for advice on how to look after them properly and tell them what is happening.

If you are an experienced fish caretaker and you have only just bought the fish - return them to the pet shop and demand a refund or replacement.

Check that there are no other dead bodies going putred and poisoning the water. Check that your water is well oxygenated.

Search on line - Care of gold fish - perhaps your's are only suited to a Gold Fish Bowl in doors! Try to identify.

Answer 8

The loss of scales sounds like you're dealing with Myxosporidiosis. This is a parasite infection and is usually considered untreatable, but the parasites don't seem to be able to survive as well in water with a lot of aeration, or multiple water changes.

It also sounds like your dealing with fin rot (a bacterial infection) and possible ammonia buildup (black patches).

Answer 9

Hi, I used to keep fish - gold fish. Could it be that they are suffering from itch? When I 1st started keeping fish, they died like there was a plague, all of them, one by one. There is some medication you can use for this, usually a few drops if its a tank, but you may have to remove them from the pond and isolate them while treating them. Good Luck and speak to your pet store fast.

Answer 10

Id do a 50% water change every 2 days until there cured, And this was probibly caused by poor water condtions