I have a pond about 800L and about 40 gold fish in it

2 days ago i saw 1 dead fish floating It had white bubble/lump types of things on its side and near its eye.

Today when my dad was going to clean the filter once he lifted it out of the pond he found a dead fish stuck to it. it also had the white lumps on it.

i had a look in the pond and counted atleast 8 fish with the lumps on them aswell.

i will try to get some photos tomorrow.

Please help me i dont know what to do.

Are they actually lumps or just white spots on the gill plates? When they are ready to spawn the males get white spots on their gills.

First thing I would do is take out all the fish with lumps on them so it doesn't spread. Put the fish in a plastic bin or something while you work it out.

You can also get a kiddie pool pretty cheap from the warehouse!

How long have the fish been in there? Have you added any new fish lately?

Are they actually lumps or just white spots on the gill plates? When they are ready to spawn the males get white spots on their gills.

when you say white spots do you mean patches. because they stick out about 3-4 mm

How long have the fish been in there? Have you added any new fish lately?

No they have all been in there for about 1 and 1/2 years

The males develop lumps on the gill plates and leading edge of the pectoral fins when in condition. Romance should not end in a trip to the vet.

they have got lumps around the eyes too.

i thought it might have been a fungis (sp?) becuase a few of them dont look very well

Fungus would usually look furry I think.

Did you do a water change just in case it was a water quality problem if they're looking unwell?

we noticed it when we were about to do a water change.

so i have setup a tank out side with 20% pond water and 80% new water and i was going to put all the fish in the tank today just in case something got in the pond

Got a picture yet?

my camera is not the best but i will try to get a better photo soon.

i have got a few but they are not too good

here are some photos sorry bad quallity

Looks like scales missing ...

Its been warming up here, have they been spawning?

Are the pond sides rough/abrasive or are there rough edges on things in the pond?

Can you tell if its more on the females than the males? The females can get knocked around alot. (the fish look pretty mature.. the males should have little pimple looking spots on their gills)

Would some salt help for a start?

This photo came up in a search for carp pox.

http://www.hyggedam.dk/images/havedamme ... _laant.jpg

Carp pox is like warts and doesn't harm the fish, or make it unwell.

I too am wondering if they have damaged themselves during spawning and have secondary fungal infections. Hard to tell from the pics.

we put them all in to a huge tank today.

there were about 4 or 5 dead ones in there.

Dont think they are breeding

looks like that fish in the photo but not as bad.

will malafix for ponds help or what else do i need to do

thanks

Just to throw another thing in here. to me it sort of looks like velvet but don't know about the spots as such

Mr L

Had anyone done anything at all with the pond recently?

Stirred up dead stuff from the bottom?

Dropped the hose in the bottom to fill it?

Done anything with a filter?

When had the fish last been really looked at?

I would probably do salt or furan.

The fish are dying so something has to be done.

If you don't think there was a water quality problem then I'd guess bacteria/fungus and I'm pretty sure Furan would help with both.

Would anyone expect a parasite to cause so much sudden death? (I don't know personally)

(I think salt would help for velvet)

Just ideas here.. I'm not very experienced but I really sympathize with you. I've got ponds myself and I know I'd probably be going crazy in your situation!! Really hope you can work something out!

they are now in a 500L tank.

i think it might be carp pox but not to bad.

you say salt

how much?

What type of salt?

Had anyone done anything at all with the pond recently?

No

Stirred up dead stuff from the bottom?

No

Dropped the hose in the bottom to fill it?

No

Done anything with a filter?

No

When had the fish last been really looked at?

April this year

Ok.. so you dont know if this is recent or if its been building up slowly, That could be good news. Could mean that it's been like that for a while and not come on super suddenly!

Here are the links I like to refer to for salt treatment:

(first link is a US one so be sure to use U.S Gallons for conversion to litres)

http://www.koivet.com/html/articles/art ... _term=salt

http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/treatments/salt.htm

I use rock salt but you can buy a 1lb bag of salt from the supermarket for cheap usually labelled as Plain Salt.. make sure it has not a single additive (no iodine or anti-caking agents)

I have used this on goldfish in the past. the fish I was treating had some raised scales with what looked like the beginning of a swelling or ulcer under it, others had excessive slime and cloudiness.. This was due to poor water quality at a pond where we had new tenants!

The salt helped but I did a course of Furan too. Furan could be a little expensive for 500L though! Maybe you can start with salt and maybe decide later to treat individual fish seperately with Furan if they look like they need it?

Both those websites have alot of health information so have a good poke around!

You haven't said how big the fish are. You might have to watch the ammonia even in 500L.

hi thanks.

there are 3 at around 15cm and about 20 are around 5 - 8cm.

will that be a problem

Doesn't sound too bad (I was worried cause the fish looked real big in your photos!) but if the tank was empty it will still want to cycle like any new tank. So adding all those fish suddenly will sure result in some ammonia. I'm assuming you know about cycling I didn't at the time and lost 3 really good sized fish which is why I'm mentioning it!!

Do you have any pond plants that will fit in there? They may have some established bacteria on them....but then.. they might also have some of whatever is causing their ailments!

Have you got an ammonia test kit?

Remember.. if you dose with salt and then do water changes to make sure the water you put back in has the same salt concentration.

For that reason I prefer the Koivet salt recommendation. I can use tsp's to measure it out. Then when I when I change water out.. I measure out a gallon and replace with the right number of teaspoons.

Make sure the salt is compltely dissolved before pouring it in. Probably easiest to dissolve smaller amounts at a time until you reach the amount you need (and definitely do the 12 hours in between if you're going up to the full dose). The fish I treated were similar size to yours and they were all good even with no airation.

Maybe you want to put a quick post in the disease section with a link to this thread. Someone might be able to say exactly what it is! (Wouldn't that be great!) Salt is pretty harmless though! (but at the 3tsp/gallon dose I think it might harm some plants)

Hi would epsom salts work as someone told me that is a good salt to use.

1teaspoon per 4.5L of water

Don't know that it would be the same. They recommend Epsom salts for dropsy to draw out fluids....I would use regular salt for this personally.

How are they doing in the tank?

Are they ok? are they better or worse? flashing/scratching? or just behaving normally?

If you haven't done anything yet maybe you could just wait and see?

Maybe the ones that died, died for reasons other than their pyhsical symptoms (ie: something waterborne)?

If its just carp pox then Caryl says it won't be killing them.. just making them look bad!

A few websites I visited said there seemed to be a relationship between carp pox and elevated nitrate levels. Maybe do a real good wc and spring clean since the fish are out of the pond.. leave it sit for a few weeks to let any parasites die out from not finding hosts and then put them back in and see how they go.

Melafix is often recommended to help heal wounds but is really expensive. I used a whole bottle of it in our pond (1100 L) and it was barely enough to do the full treatment course. (I'm not even sure what effect it had if any!)

How are they now?