Hi, over the last 3 weeks my pondfish have lost their appetites and I have had 5 fish die. There are no obvious problems except that a couple of the dead fish have some red spots or streaks on the body. Some fish have been jumping -but no more than usual. Water chemistry has been tested for ph,ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and phosphate and all OK. Water is filtered and UV for algae, plant growth is fine. Any advice welcome.
2007-06-26 18:29:20 · 5 answers · asked by hagleyron 1 in Pets ➔ Fish
The red streaks would seem to indicate that your problem was either ammonia or septicemia (a bacterial blood infection). Both could have loss of appetite as a symptom. I'd double check your ammonia results (if you're using strips, these can go bad if exposed to moisture and liquid chemicals only last about 4-5 years at best, so you may want to have a store confirm your results if you've tested these yourself). If the problem is not ammonia, but bacterial, you can treat this with a broad-spectrum antibiotic.
2007-06-26 18:43:29 · answer #1 · answered by copperhead 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
How disheartening! I have suffered through massive die-offs more than once and man, is it frustrating!!
I'm leaning towards septicemia (also called sepsis), myself, but if you have them jumping, you may have a parasitic infection that allowed the septicemia to get a foothold. My first thought is flukes - they get in the gills and irritate the fish, causing them to jump and flash in an effort to rid themselves of the little hangers-on.
I would try the broad-spectrum antibiotic (AP Ponds makes a good one, available on-line through Petsmart and Drs. Smith and Foster, etc.)recommended by copperhead first in an effort to get your fish healthy enough to withstand further treatment. Then, try some praziquantel and pro-form C - both are very good at killing the microscopic critters that infect the fish (except anchorworms), and do not harm plants, etc. If it is flukes, they sometimes get worse immediately following treatment in terms of the irritation they cause the fish. This is why you want to get your fish as well as possible before treating with the Prazi/Pro-Form combo, so they have the best chance of surviving the cure!
One last thing - do you use culinary water for your pond, or secondary/irrigation water? Always use the culinary water and a water conditioner to remove chlorines - secondary water carries A LOT of different parasites and bacteria that koi and goldfish are just not able to handle. The few that get brought in by birds bathing in the pond, etc., are generally not enough to do your pond fish in, but if you fill your whole pond with that stuff, your fish don't have a prayer...they don't say "If you take care of the water, the fish will take care of themselves" for nothing!
Also, check out www.koivet.com. It is an AWESOME website run by a veterinarian specializing in fish care, and it is dedicated to the diagnosis of koi and goldfish disease and injury. It also has a ton of good, general, pond-fish keeping information in there. It even lets you diagnose your fish diseases by appearance or behavior.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
2007-06-27 06:15:05 · answer #2 · answered by Poopy 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree with copperhead here. Red streaks can come from a number of things (including poor water, lack of dissolved oxygen, bacterial and heat) for your fish however they all boil down to one thing, poor water conditions. Even dead fish that have suffocated will seem to have redstreaks and red gills.
When did you test your water, at the time your first fish died or after the 5th one? How old is your pond and do you have a fountain or waterfall?
You will need to get a pond test kit if you do not have one. These kits are different than those for Aquariums and have a test for dissolved oxygen and metals.
Are your other fish suffering from the red streaks as well? How large is your pond and how many fish total do you have?
Most pond fish do not jump from the water or out of the water unless there is something wrong with the water or there are serious vibrations from the ground.
2007-06-27 00:04:30 · answer #3 · answered by danielle Z 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
humm... maybe you have too many fish in your pond also there might be something stresses your fish which causes them too loose thier appitite and also something could of scared them if your pond is outside
2007-06-27 02:07:32 · answer #4 · answered by sk8ter_gurl_157 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hmm.... Is there enough water movement at the surface?
2007-06-26 18:45:03 · answer #5 · answered by Earth vs Soup 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋