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| I went to feed my fish and all my golden orfe have died.I had 7.
The gold fish seem to be o.k. I can not find anyone that has a gallon of Amquel plus in stock. My pond is 15,000 gallons. The water is extremely warm. I have sent my husband to buy a test kit to test for the ammonia. What can I do right now??? TIA |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| We found a store that has the gallon size of amquel.My husband is off to buy 2 gallons of Amquel in case of an ammonia spike. The water is so warm. I am in SC and the air temp was 97 degrees today. Even the filter water from the bottom drain felt like bath water. I know golden orfe are more sensitive than goldfish. I had the golden orfe for three years and now they are all gone... |
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| Do you have any means of aerating the water quickly? If you could have your pond pump just roil up the water surface to charge up the oxygen level that may help. "Horton" |
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| I do not have an ammonia reading yet but the other tests look normal. The temp at 1 foot right now is 85 degrees. The pond is 4.5 feet deep. My husband is out buying an ammonia kit to test for it. |
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| I do have another pump. It is a little giant submersible 4500 gph pump but I have not figured out how to add it to the pond without sucking up the fish. My other pumps have filters before them. We have had unusually high temps lately. |
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| Ammonia reading is normal. The only thing I can think of is heat and oxygen. We are not even into July yet. |
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| lsst, you could put the pump in a plastic basket. It does not need to be placed at the bottom of the pond, you just want to get that water roiling to pick up oxygen from the air. "Horton" |
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| That's a shame lsst, I also have 7 adult Orfe for two years. This year they spawned and I have hundreds of fry in seperate ponds. If you were closer to Ohio I would give you some. They do require more oxygen than goldfish so if you replace them, maybe a water fall would help or and aerator in the summer months. Good luck, Tom |
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| Get some aeration in there ASAP. Can you get an air pump? That's really the only thing that will help at this point. Get some shade on the pond too, even if it's a sheet of plywood set up on concrete blocks. Make sure it's not too close to the water surface though or fish may jump and land on top of it. Do not feed the fish anything right now!! They will be fine. The filter bacteria can't handle the ammonia right now because of the heat. This is going to be a LONG summer. You are in the upstate, right? Contact the SC koi and watergarden society. See if someone there can tell you where to get an air pump in your area. They may even have a member who has one that they can loan you. |
Here is a link that might be useful: sc koi and watergarden society
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| Thanks everyone for your advice. I am still in shock as it happened so fast.The fish literally died within a few hours yesterday afternoon. I have been outside working on the pond. It already has a 2 inch pipe about 2 feet tall and I am letting the water shoot straight up and splash back down like a huge bubbler fountain. We still have one orfe that we can not find. Water is still testing fine so I think heat and lack of oxygen did them in. I did feed the remaining goldfish last night so I hope I did not screw up.They were begging for food and I felt sorry for them. Frogman4, Thank you for the offer. I loved the orfes. They were so fun and playful and at feeding time would corral all the goldfish and lead them to the food. ccoombs, What size air stones would I need for a 15,000 gallon pond.?Would an airstone be more effective that an extra pump shooting up water? |
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| Air stones would be way more effective than shooting water into the air. The diffuser sits in the bottom and releases a fine mist of thousands of bubbles, which do a wonderful job at aeration. A decent and inexpensive pump is either a Dophin AV-50 which sells for around $80 or pondmaster makes one too that's not too expensive. Or you can spends hundreds on one that is a piston drive pump such as a medio or sweetwater. Look for one that delivers 40 liters per minute of air. You can buy clear flexible air line at lowes. If you want a really nice air line, check Aquatic Eco Systems. They sell a nice sinking air line that is black and will be invisible in your pond. They also sell the BEST air stones ever. They are made by sweetwater. Matala has a neat air diffuser that comes with a base that you weigh down with sand. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Matala diffuser
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| Thanks ccoombs! I have a couple of local suppliers I will check out today and if not will order one online. I assume I need to put it at the deepest point in the pond. Is this correct? Will one cover the whole area or should I buy two or three? I really like AES and have been pleased with their products. I will check them out, too. |
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| how big is the pond? You could put two down for better results. Use the same pump but put a valve in the line to regulate the flow. Air wants to go the shortest route so you will probably have to valve off the shortest line a bit to force air to go to the deeper one. there is a fish place in Columbia that might have something in stock. It's called Just Koi. they are good folks too. |
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| The pond is 15,000 gallons and about 30x40 feet. It ranges from 1 foot deep to 4.5 feet. |
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| Of course an air pump and an airstone would be the best thing to use but this is an emergency and it is a case of "any port in a storm"! Better to use what you have handy, than have to run out and buy something else I would think. "Horton" |
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| I spoke with someone I know that builds ponds for a living and that advised me while I was building mine. He asked me what the ph was and I said 7. He wonders if it could be a ph crash. He suggested 5 pounds of baking soda added to the pond to try to raise the ph. I could not find an air stone locally so I am researching the brands ccoombs recommended. I checked on the remaining goldfish and they seem o.k. |
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