Our pond fish die within hours of being placed in the pond. We are desperate to know why.?

Question

We have a 2500 gal pond with 6 oxygenating plants, three lillies, and one other plant. All water tests come up normal, and ph is around 7.5. We had our local health dept. test our water to see if there was some kind of bacteria or other problem. Test results ok. We have a waterfall and two bubblers, so oxygen should not be a problem. We've done a partial water changes, add the beneficial bacteria on schedule, done everything we think is right, BUT when we add fish, they die within hours. This is so frustrating - what is a beautiful pond without fish? We've tested for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, hardness, alkalanity, and ph. We initially filled the pond with our well water but for water changes have used rain water from our two rain barrels. Early in the summer we had an algae problem we treated with barley extract. What else can we do? Fortunately we didn't spend a lot of money on the fish. Our old pond had the 28 cent Wal-Mart fish that grew huge and lived. Help???

Answer 1

yo used well water, did you de-chlorinate it? And now you are using rainwater, it may be the pesticides in the water. Use de-chlorinated tap water. I saw big 5 gallon tubs of it in a fish store.

Answer 2

it sounds like you are doing everything right, I just can't think of anything else...how many fish are you trying to add?  next time try adding just a few at a time and be real careful because

most goldfish are stressed/sick when you get them

good luck

Answer 3

My grandma has some of those wal-mart fish too and they grew pretty huuge. She has had them for quite some time, i think is becauses they are a very sturdy kingd of fish. Perhaps it the breed of fish that you are putting in the water. Whatever breed it may require certian needs. Talk to the pet store, or better yet the person who sold you the fish about your problem. All i really can tell you is that some fish require more care than others. you may also want to buy another wal-mart fish and see if it dies as well. If not then Just pput wal-mart fish in your pond, and keep the other other fish in an indoor aquirim.

Answer 4

first thing newly bought fish should be quarantine for weeks.  It could be a sick fish.  second is the pond could be shallow and the water is too hot for the fish to handle.

Answer 5

Are you letting the fish adjust to the water? So are you placing the tied up bag into the water and letting the fish climatise to the water, then open the bag and let the water flow in to the bag,  then see if you can put them in.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2352086_raise-st...

http://www.essortment.com/all/pondfarmpo...

http://www.pond-doctor.co.uk/longessenti...

Answer 6

Okay. Take a large container fishing, fill the container full of the water from the creek, lake, etc. that your fishing from, put the fish in the container and put them in the pond. Then, be sure that you have the water temperature checked cause' they may be used to a certain temperature and extreme water temperature changes will kill the fish. Or, you can go to a local fish farm such as Co-op, when the fish truck comes in and ask them for wild fish. Either SHOULD work. My boyfriend and his parent's have a HUGE pond of their own. This worked for them. Hope it works out :]

Answer 7

it could be that the first fishes u out in the tank couldve had a diesease. so clean out the pond GOOD. or it could be the tempature of the water. like the fish could have shock from going from a colder temp to a larger temp. so keep the fish in their bag u buy them in for about 2 hours then release them

Answer 8

what are yo;u putting in there? koi? yu need to to get the cheap feeder fish in there they will die tooo but they will get the water ready for more expensive fish.someone didn't  put something in it or spray a lawn chemical too close did they?

Answer 9

did you just dump em in there, or did you let their water adapt to the pond waters temperature first?

Answer 10

The problem is using rainwater. Rainwater whe  it falls could catch harmfull chamicals in it. You should either buy an ro filter and use that water OR use water from the hose and put water conditioner in it. I am almost poitive that is what is killing your fish. It might get expensive buying all that water conditioner, so I reccomend buying the ro filter. It is about 100$, but it is worth it.

Answer 11

did some chemical get into the pond?

Do you acclimate the fish?

Answer 12

you put in stuff to get rid of chlorine?  chlorine kill fish.

make fish get use to new water.  keep fish in bag, then put bag in pond.  wait about 30 min to 1 hour.  add little bit of water from pond to bag.  wait another 30 to 60 minutes.  add more pond water to tank.  repeat once more.  than add fish to pond.

Answer 13

Did you test for salinity?  Too much salt, or too little can affect the health of your fish.  Water temperature will also affect your fish's health.

Answer 14

There could be a numer of reasons your fish died.

First, you should not need to do water changes in your pond.  I am suprised the PH is where it is considering rain water holds a very low ph.

Second stop adding beneficial bacteria.  It isn't helping your pond.  Bacteria cannot live in a container, bottle or pouch with nothing to feed on.  It isn't worth the money or the time.  In some cases causes the ammonia to spike.  Keep it out.

Third:  When you bring your fish home, how many are you adding ?  You should not be adding more than 26 inches of fish at any one given time.  10% of the gallons.  Doing so will also spike the ammonia.

Fourth:  when you floated them, how long did you let them float?  15 minutes to get them acclamated to the water temperature.  add 1/2 cup of pond water to the fish bag and float another 15 min.  add 1/2 cup of pond water let them float 15 minutes and one more time.

Release your fish.

(of course if you have koi, 1 cup of water)

Temperature:  What is the daytime temperature in the pond?  You may want to try adding water lettuce or water hyciths if it gets too hot  it will also keep the algae down

Where did you get these fish?  Even if buying comets or commons from a tank full, these are on the contrary very hearty fish and do well as pond fish.

Try only adding one or two fish and see what happens  buy them from a totally different store

Answer 15

from my experience, try this: before you put your new fish into the pond, SLOWLY replace one half of the water they are in with the pond water. You can do this by transporting them in an inexpensive picnic cooler...I suspect it is the shock of the water change itself. Another problem could be that the fish are actually unwell when you get them. I have had great luck with cheap fish from Wal Mart...got a beautiful baby butterfly koi that was in with baby gold fish! Also, I would go for orange carp rather than anything expensive...they are hardy and disease resistant. Also please note that any heavy metal, such as copper (pennies) can poison your fish. Hope that helps.

Answer 16

it may have been the shock of being moved. if you want more try putting the fish while in the bag into the pond for 15 min. then open the bags and let them go. also try a nitrate test.