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goldfish

Mark Thompson

Senior Member & Supporter
A 8" long goldfish in my garden pond is really,really fat with , I assume spawn.
The scales are pushing outwards from the body,,it looks obscene.
Is this normal ?
I have not noticed the rest of the fish spawning yet.
Any other pond keepers input would be appreciated.
Thanks
 
Hi Mark
Sorry to hear of the sick fish,...nice size by the sounds of it.
By what you say it sounds as if it has dropsy, which could be the symptoms of a bacterial infection or liver disfunction.
I won't bore you with treatment as you can google it, but the prognosis isn't particularly good if my guess is correct.
The good news is that it's not contagious .
If it is dropsy the swollen bloated appearance is fluid retention not spawn.
ATB Dave
 
I saw some Koi spawning two days ago in a local lake so hopefully your goldfish will spawn soon.I had to knock on the head my biggest koi about 2 weeks ago for a similar condition,i tried to strip 'her' thinking 'she' was spawn bound but with no success and her vent was bulging out terribly and scales lifting in the area.The decision was not made easily.The fish weighed 23lb 9oz a day later. I decided to try to find out what was wrong with 'Her' but there was no spawn inside just a white oily mass,and the organs were not easily distinguished.I hope your get a better outcome.
 
Ooooh.
Thanks for info.
Best leave be at the moment I guess and hope okay.
Very lethargic,and not being chased around yet
 
Definitely sounds like dropsy to me Mark.
You can get medication from pet shops, but chances of survival are low.
I would isolate the fish in a tub using pond water plus 1tablespoon of salt per gallon, and do not feed.
Best of luck,
Mike
 
Mark, have you tested your pond water recently? Has anything dramatic happened? Filter issues? Pump breakdowns? (always supposing you use such things). Dropsy is almost always caused by Immune system suppression, which allows pathogens which the fish's system has previously dealt with to take hold.

This is most commonly caused by stress, often due to a drop in water quality. Chances are something has changed some time back, and you need to find out what that was before all the fish are affected. Good luck chap, hope you sort it.

Cheers, Dave.
 
Well the first one finally copped it after being in a isolation tank for two days.
It looked grotesque,weighed 1.5lb

The other suspected fish has slimmed right down , so spawned and all okay I guess.
 
Hi pondkeepers.
I have a lot of lily pads in my pond which are very pretty when fresh and green.
However after about a month of surfacing the pads get damaged by small (mouse dropping size) black insect larvae , which hatch and have a orange belly.
Interested to know what it is and if they can they be eliminated as the lily pads look really shabby in a short space of time.
Cheers.
 
Ah bad luck mate,...that's aquatic Lilly beetle.
Very difficult to eradicate, the adults over winter in nearbye foliage, lay eggs on the emerging lilies in late spring, then the grubs feed on the leaves leaving them looking like they've been sprayed with a scatter gun.
The smaller the pond the easier it is to control them. My last pond was too big to tackle.
If both pond and plants are smallish you could get in and sponge the grubs of each leaf,...but 9 times out of 10 that's impractical.
As the grubs don't swim, in theory if you removed and destroyed the surface leaves any new growth may not be affected,...but it's late in the season for doing that.
Birds will eat some of the grubs, and fish will eat those that can be sprayed off with a hose.
I'm afraid it can be an ongoing problem once the adults are in the vincinity.
There maybe some varieties of Lilly that are more resistant to attack which might be you're only option.
Bad year for you on the pond front,...:(
 
https://barbel.co.uk/site/vbulletin...s-dropbox-picture5497-2015-07-20-14-22-24.jpg
Not a great pic, but those moth eaten leaves in the picture were the good ones!!

As an aside Mark,...I used to buy my aquatic plants from this place ..
http://www.lilieswatergardens.co.uk/?osCsid=669806c47edc566480014f4fd4cd52a8
It was just around the corner from my old place and although not dealing in fish it is possibly one of the best aquatic nurseries in the land. As well as buying plants for my domestic ponds I also used it for bigger natural projects, ...worth a visit if it's not too far from you in spring or early summer.
 
Yes the picture of the lillies to the left in the foreground look like mine.
I will keep them clear of larvae next season and hope that improves things.

Wait for months during winter when the pond is baron to experience the new leaves surfacing as we wish the spring season in,,,, and within a few weeks those lush green leaves get ruined.:mad:

No not a good season for me,had two other 2lb 8oz fish die during the heatwave when I was on hols.

Cheers Dave
 
Bad year just got worse.
One of my labradors eaten the head off a 12" koi ,on the driveway near to my pond !
Cant believe the dog caught the fish although she had been in.
Anyone else experienced that sort of thing ?
 
Could it have jumped out and your lab (always hungry dogs) just found it and thought, i'm having that, before your other dog got to it.Our last lab would eat anything and could even open the fridge to help himself.I suppose you will soon find out if you have a fishing dog.
 
Yes most likely jumped out or maybe heron dropped it when dogs chased it.

Took dogs on beach at weekend and one of them ran around with a yellow wellington boot in her mouth for an hour ,other one found a dogfish to parade with !
 
Got a bleedin Heron visiting now.
Wife found one large goldfish on the decking in small pool of blood ,put it back swam away, but died next day.
 
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