Hello everyone

I came across this forum while trying to find out why my goldfish have scales missing and why they are going from gold to white. I decided to join and this is my first post.


After reading quite a number of the posts on the forum, I quickly realised, to my horror, that I am not looking after my fish properly - I thought you just kept the pond clean and fed them once a day. THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO IT!!!!? I feel really badly about the fact that I know so little - how have my poor fish survived, I ask myself?! These poor fish need an apology and a big one, too!

To start at the beginning (please stay with this); we were given 5 tiny goldfish by someone, for a small pond in our garden. We were told that they require nothing more than clean water and food. We bought Tetra Flakes and kept the pond clean. Then we heard that the water needed to be tested (about a year later!!) So we tested the water and found it was fine. PHEW! The fish grew and grew and we had to get a bigger pond. We now have a 650L pond and 4 goldfish (one was taken by a gull) We have been renewing the water and scrubbing off the algae from the large stones in the water(my husband put the stones in the pond in order to make tunnels for them and so give them some interest - they seem to love it and when he changes the tunnels they can't wait to explore the new tunnel arrangement). Someone recently told us we should always treat fresh water, so off we went and purchased something called 'Prime' which we were told was an excellent product and would be good for the fish. I put in the 16.5ml and turned the pump on. The fish seem to be fine today so no problem!

We have a water fall going into the pond and a fountain in the middle. The fish love going under the fountain and waterfall. I think it tickles their skin. Have they got mites?! Perhaps they just enjoy the sensation? I had a good look at the fish and they seem to be missing scales and quite a lot of them. I am worried about this. I haven't seen any visable mites or any signs of disease, but then again I know so little. We have one fish which was, we assume, born with a deformed gill. This is the fish that grew the fastest and is the biggest in the pond. It is a very strong fish. When we pick up the fish to change the water, we are amazed at the strength in its body. The fish are fairly tame now and don't mind being touched or stroked a little. Well that's the background (and thanks for sticking with me so far, PLEASE continue to do so).

Right, so now I need to know what I should be doing for my fish and their environment that I am not doing, or vice versa. My husband has just bought Bio-Claire pond conditioner and he is in the process of making a homemade fish pond bio filter system, from details given on a site on the net.

As regards food, they have only ever had Tetra flakes. I did try pellets once but the fish decided they would much rather starve than eat them. They are quite entrenched in their view that Tetra flakes are the only acceptable food for goldfish. The pet shop ran out of Tetra once and I had to buy some other make of flakes - once more they felt that starvation was preferrable. So I am not quite sure whether I have 4 VERY strong willed fish or if all goldfish are this strong willed?

I have tried to put plants in the ponds but the fish use them as salad. I eventually gave up. Any suggestions.

Here the thing, I, or rather we, need help and, after reading posts on this forum, plenty of it. All replies will be gratefully received. Oh, and please don't assume ANY knowledge, no matter how basic, on our part, concerning fish care.

I'll slink off and hide my head in shame until I hear from you. anyone? ANYONE...? PLEASE.....

Luv

Louise

Relax Louise! As newbies go you aren't doing that bad. At least you didn't put them in a bowl. 65L? How many gallons is that? See now there's a dumb question. lol It's not uncommon for fish to loose scales every once in a while or to change color. Goldfish change color all the time to great frustration to some owners. Imagine buying a black moor because it's black and then two months later it turns red. Such a pain!Oh and welcome to koko's by the way!

Hi RYUU

Thanks so much for replying. I must say I am rather relieved to hear you say I am 'not doing that bad'. I felt terrible reading about the fruit and veg you guys give the fish and special food with high protein content etc. etc. I think I will try a frozen pea tomorrow and see what my four think of it.

I would like to know how to give my four goldies a better, healthier and happier life. I don't know where to start! We stumble along in the dark, when it comes to our fish. Surprised they still like us. Maybe they are just pretending in order to keep the Tetra fish flakes coming!

Oh, another thing I forgot to mention is that several hundred frogs share the pond with our goldies and everyone seems to get along just fine. OK, not several hundred, but quite a few. The fish enjoy the frog spawn in spring! LOL I am not sure whether to 'rehome' the frogs or if it's okay for them to share the pond?

I have a story to tell about my fish. One morning, after a night of torrential rain, we woke up and went to feed the fish only to find that the pond had popped its plug (due to the rising water table from the heavy rain) and the pond had drained!! All our goldies were lying still and lifeless on the pebbles. HUGE PANIC! My dear husband grabs the goldies, one by one, and gives them mouth to mouth and heart massage. He brings them all back to life!! Our big fish (with the deformed gill) had fixed eyes and was going stiff. My husband couldn't bring her around, so he decided to run some bubbly water gently through her mouth and gills. IT WORKED! She suddenly coughed and spluttered and was with us again.
We sat and watched them for agesafter this, but they carried on as if nothing unusual had happened.?! We went to bed that night thinking that they may not be with us in the morning - but there they were, swimming about happy as can be. This was a year ago and they have been absolutely fine ever since. Perhaps they are just tough fish, or more likely, they have had to become tough to survive owners like us! Of course, friends and neighbours thought we were crazy - 'why didn't you just throw them out and buy new ones' was the general comment. THROW OUT OUR DARLINGS??!! NEVER! We may be useless owners, but we do love them.

RYUU, I think I've put my post in the wrong section of the forum. OOPs! Don't know how to change it. Hope I get more replies.

Thanks again for your reply, RYUU, it's much appreciated.

Luv

Louise

Just had another look and I HAVE got the right section of the forum! So, all is fine.

One more thing; we used to put little pebbles on the bottom of the pond, but we found it a huge task scrubbing off the algae from the stones, so we took them out. There is nothing on the bottom of the pond now! Should we put some sand or something?

Luv

Louise

Sorry RKUU, I forgot to answer your question about the liters to gall. If that is a dumb question then we're both dumb! I had to look it up before replying!! 650L is equal to 171 gall.

Thanks, too, for welcoming me to Kokos.

Luv

Louise

I agree with Olivia that your not doing too bad, so theres no reason to be running yourself down. There are alot of people who start off a whole lot worse.
As for the food, since they have been fed the flakes their whole life, they simply may not think that the other foods are edible because they arent use to them. You could try mixing the foods. start out with mostly tetra flakes, then slowly add more of the other foods and less of the tetra flakes. The frogs are also a healthy treat. Theyre high in protine which is good for color and growth.
Not too long ago, i put my 2 fish in my 55 which just finished cycling. there had to be 2 inches of black brush and green algae on everything. it was late and i was going to clean it the next day. Well, the next day i look in the tank and it was spotless.
That was quite an awesome story about your husband saving the fish too.

Ohh, btw welcome to kokos. if you ever post in the wrong section, the mods will move it with in a day usually.

You're doing just fine as a new fish mum. Your fish have plenty of space, you're working on filtration, you're educating yourself about the nutritional needs of your fish. I'd say your doing good and getting better. As for the peas or any other vegies you want to feed, cook them in some pond water [NO SALT] for a few minuets and then let them cool back down to room temp.

If there's anything I can tell you about goldfish it's never stop studying and researching. I've been keeping for 20yrs and I still learn something new every single day.

Oh and you can call me Olivia. I don't mind!

Oh thanks so much for this, Peaches. I am feeling better already! Thanks, too, for the welcome and for the advice. So relieved that the frogs are okay in the pond. I was nervous about opening the Koko site today in case there were 'horrified' posts from the members regarding the frogs. Amazing about the algae and black brush!

I am also pleased I don't have to worry about my post going to the wrong section.

I will definitely try changing the food as you suggest. Which food do I start with - I see one recommended called Pro Gold (I think? I'll have to check that) perhaps that the best to start with?

Thanks again for your help.

Luv

Louise

Hi Olivia

Thanks once again for your replies! You and Peaches have made me feel SO much better. I didn't know about cooking the peas & other veg in pond water without salt. I will do this and see how they respond. I will also search some more posts and see what else I can find to feed them. Do you think I should take them to a vet to have them checked over, seeing I haven't been looking after them as well as I should have been? Or do you think it will be fairly obvious if they are not well or have problems?

Thanks again.

Luv

Louise

You shouldn't need to take to them to a vet for anything unless the members here can't talk you through a treatment. An exotics vet who specializes in fish is pretty hard to find just about anywhere. Because I rescue fish I some times have to take a few who get problems I can't handle on my own to the vet. But he lives its an hour and 45min drive away. Your guys should be fine!

Your fish will love the peas. i dont know of any koko's member who has fish that dont like them. i also found that intresting about boiling them in the pond water. i usually just nuke mine in the micro wave.
Olivia- Do you think that boiling would be better or vice versa?

Ohh, and one more thing. Here on koko's we all love fish & pond pictures

I don't think there's a difference. I just boil mine coz I have to do so much at one time. When I was in college I had a gas stove which I was afraid of so I only ate from the mirowave for that 4yrs. I nuked my peas for my fish and they never seemed any worse off for it.

Hi Peaches

I will try and post a couple of pictures, but I have a very basic 'starter' digital camera and close ups tend to be fuzzy. I am saving up for a better quality one. Also, I have problems putting the photos on a forum. (I belong to a bird forum and haven't yet got the photos on the forum despite help from members!) I will have another try and see what I can do.

Olivia, your fish are beautiful!!!

Could anyone please tell me if I should put sand in the bottom of the pond and, if so, what type of sand.

Luv
Louise

I wouldn't put sand in the pond. It can irrate the fish's gills and eventually can cause some damage.

The way that you can get pictures on a forum is to sign up for a photo hosting sight. Photobucket is good one. (www.photobucket.com) Then you upload your photos, then you copy the img code under the photo you want to show. then you paste it into the post that your writing. Once you click add reply, the photos will show in your post.

Thanks for the reply and advise, Peaches. I will keep the bottom of the pond free. We do have rocks in the pond but they are big ones. I joined Photobucket as I just cannot get on with Adobe Photoshop. Now I am struggling to get the photos I have in Photoshop to download to Photobucket. Some of them I managed to get to download and others I can't seem to change into a format that will be accepted by Photobucket. GRRRR!! Anyway, I have posted on the Photobucket forum and will wait and see if anyone there can help. Photobucket looks a LOT simpler to use, thank heavens! Once it is all sorted, I will try and post some pics of the pond and fish.

Luv

Louise

Louise, I had the same problem with photobucket. What I need to do is save my photos in a JPG format onto my desktop, then I go to photobucket and choose them from the desktop. They download fine in the JPG format from my desktop..... Perhaps that will help you. Then, once I've loaded onto photobucket, I can go to my album, copy the IMG listing at the bottom of the picture I want to display here, and paste it into my post.

Hope this helps and doesn't confuse you. It's really so very simple once you get the hang of it....

I'd also love to see a pic of your pond. I'm sure it's lovely....

Thanks so much, gardengirl, I will try it out. I am so useless with this sort of thing, it's embarrassing!

Luv

Louise

Hi Louise and welcome! I'm a newbie to this forum too. I've had my pond and goldies for about 3 years now and was the same as you. Thought clean water and food (flakes) were good enough. I had a disaster this summer and lost 3 of them! I was devastated to say the least. The great people here talked me through treatment for dropsie on another one and guess what?? It Worked!!!
My fish also only like tetra flakes. They look at me like I am insane if I try to give them anything else. They did eat a few peas after letting them lay on the bottom of the pond for a couple of days. The other day I fed them watermelon of all things and they liked it. They were scooping it up as I dropped small pieces in. I did find a couple of pieces floating later and took them out. I think it's a matter of getting them used to different things.
All of mine seem to be healthy now and are getting huge. (A little on the spoiled side too!)
From what I've researched a little agae on the sides and bottom is a good thing. The velvety looking stuff.
Awesome story of the fish rescue, what a hero your hubby is!!! I'm not sure I could do mouth-to-mouth on my fishies, as much as I love them.
I've found that the pond thing is an ongoing learning process. I've learned alot just from my short time in here.
Glad you joined here!!