My goldfish Nugget is sick I think. He has been acting funny, meaning laying at the bottom of the pond for the last few weeks and today he is at the top of the pond swimming constantly in one spot at a slow rate of speed. It's almost like he is treading water. He at times will roll to one side or the other if he gets to close to the spitter but will right himself right away. When he gets spooked he will swim away, then will go back to swimming in one spot at the top. He seems to be struggling. :( He does not have any signs of trama or anything rotting on the outside. He has always swam a little different than the rest of the fish and at times would hang out at the bottom of the pond but not for long. I just figured that he had some sort of deformity. All the other fish are fine. The levels in the pond are fine.
I am thinking of getting some pond salt but have never used it before and not sure of the doseage. I don't know what else to do or if I should do anything and just let nature take it's course. :(
Any thoughts?

Tia

Hi tia,
Sorry to hear about Nugget. :(
Sounds as if there is a buoyancy problem going on.

How old is Nugget?

I've not had good luck when my fish have had swim bladder problems ... but those were very young fry who were deformed from the get-go.

Robyn has a salt info page, complete with dosages (sorry I still haven't figured out how to post links).
If you buy some aquarium or pond salt, it should have the dosages listed on the side panel for what ever it is you intend to do.

PG

PG, I am not sure how old he is but my guess is about 1 year old. He was about an 1-1/2 inch long when I got him May of last year.
I suppose when I get the salt I should also get a test kit for it. Looks like a pound of salt is all I need to buy for now. From Robyn's salt page I wouldn't need any more than that.

Thanks PG!

Update:
I purchased a new test kit to check the levels. All levels (ph, nitrate, nitrite and hardness) were fine. I wasn't able to get a salt test kit as they didn't have any in-stock. I did a 50% water change, cleaned the filter, added the salt per box instructions (I went with less than what was called for on the box just to be safe).
So we will see what happens now.

Thanks for the link Robyn. I did find the page and read up on it. This is new stuff to me. I have had to "treat" sick horses before but not fish. I did go lite on the salt like you suggested.

It's really hard to tell what is wrong even if you're there with the fish.
Adding pond salt certainly won't hurt. If the problem is due to a deformity or swim bladder problems, the salt probably
won't help rectify those. If the problem is due to something like an internal bacterial infection, the salt may lessen the
burden on the fish.
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/fishcare/salt.htm is my salt page.
My container says to add 0.1% for ponds with plants and twice that
for ponds with no plants but I err on the side of caution and suggest 0.05% for ponds with plants and 0.1% for ponds without plants.

It's been two days now since I added the salt to the pond and all the fish are still swimming :o I didn't kill them with it :)
Nugget seems to be better so far. :) :)
How soon after you add the salt do you see improvement in the fish? I thought I saw improvement in about couple of hours. :unsure:

Tia

You can't predict how long before you might see a change. If the salt level was too low before, it could perk up the fish right away. But, with a pond, there are so many factors you can't usually say for sure which one caused a change.

tia,
When I gave my fish some salt about four weeks ago, I disolved it in a 20 gallon tub of new water.
Then I siphoned it down to the pond using a small 1/2" hose, or tubing.
As the new water was flowing in, the other fish swam in and out of the water pouring down on them.
Jaws had been isolating herself on the other side of the pond.
Within a few minutes she had positioned herself directly beneath the siphon hose.
She stayed in that spot until the salt water was competely emptied into the pond.

It's almost as if she knew this is what her body needed!

PG

I saw something similar when I added the salt. I didn't know how to add it. It was in crystal form so I put it in a small container added water (cold). After mixing it up some I then poured it in. The fish were swimming through the area where I had poured it. Now that you mention it PG I don't feel like I am losing my mind!
This is the first time I have put salt in the pond so it was quite a surprise to see how the fish reacted. Learn something new every day! :)
Tia

Did Nugget get better?

I have a fish that is doing the same thing - just hovering.

It can move fast enough when it is bothered by one of the others but it then just goes back to hovering.

It hasn't eaten this morning.

I can't see anything else wrong with it - ie no injuries, no fungus, not tilting or rolling.

I have never put salt in my pond and I didn't know you could even get salt testing kits.

One person told me to put salt in a while ago but then someone else said NO don't do it.

I just don't know what to do most of the time because there is sooooo much contradictory information about goldfish out there.

I use the crystal form of pond salt and just scatter it in. Just a tablespoon for my 600 gals., maybe 3 times during the summer on an average. I also bought a UV light last year that I run a slow pump on so it also kills any free bacteria.

I just saw the pics of Nugget so I guess he/she lived.

This is a small 310 ltr (aprox 82 US gal) above ground pond on my verandah. Just 3 2yr olds and a baby from the spawning in Oct/Nov.

I don't know how much salt to put into a small pond like this one.

The other fish are fine atm. I was going to put the other three babies in there today so I could have them all together over winter. I guess I should wait and see what happens first.

I have checked pH which is around 7 and there is no amonia.

I plan to get a 650 ltr or 900 ltr pond in spring.

I thought goldfish keeping was going to be easy. :unsure:

Hi ColdGold,
This is Robyn's salt page if you have any questions about dosages:

http://www.fishpondinfo.com/fishcare/salt.htm

Hope that helps!

PG

Hi ColdGold,
Where do you live? What zone are you in?
Yep Nugget is still alive. I added the salt per box instructions (as advised here) and I think all the fish benefited from it. Actually I added less than what the box called for just because like you, I wasn't sure about it. Seemed like they were all swimming around easier :blink: . None of them seemed to struggle at all with the addition of the salt. As a matter of fact the lady at the pet store said that she adds it to all her new fish. Well, she doesn't put it in the fish just the water. :lol:
I will add it again when I do the full Spring cleaning. You know, my pond isn't that much bigger than yours. It's about 118 gallons more or less.
Remember that I am no expert at all. I am new to fish so listen to what the others have to say here. These folks know their fishy's! I am just telling you what happen to me/Nugget. :)
Let us know what you decide and what happens.
Good luck!

Hi, I am in Australia. In the Blue Mountains in NSW.

We are just approaching mid Autumn. The water in the ponds is getting quite cold as the nights are pretty cold already so the fish have slowed down a bit in the last few weeks. It doesn't get cold enough in this part of the mountains for the water to freeze so my fish stay active all year - just a bit slower, need less food and I don't have to clean the filters as much.

I went and got some salt but had to go to the doctors and it was getting dark by the time I got back so I haven't put any in yet. No-one had a salt lever testing kit of any sort for fresh water - so how will I check the levels if I do put it in?

The fish is behaving a bit more normally now though. Moving around more and I just gave them a little bit to eat and it ate some. So fingers crossed and I'll see what it is like in the morning.

I will probably add some salt anyway but like you maybe a bit less than the packet says.

I still won't be putting the other babies in there yet though.

Hi ColdGold! That is very cool that you live in Australia. My cousin lives there. Well since you are going into winter now, PLEASE feel free to post in our winter section, at least you know that I will always be there to help you out, LOL LOL LOL. Even my summer nights are probably as cold as your winter ones, LOL. Wow, I was feeling so sad this morning with all this Spring pond talk and now I feel better knowing someone is going into winter, :lol: Are you on the Gold Coast? Is that where your user name comes from by chance???? KK

I have a salt test kit but rarely use it. As long as you add less than recommended, you're not going to have too much. Rain will also dilute it out.

Hi,

I am not on the Gold Coast. I'm in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. It does get cold in the mountains, heavy frosts and occasional snow but not where we live. We are in a small area that has its own micro climate. Very rarely we get small patches of frost.

My fish is behaving quite normally today (fingers crossed, touch wood). I found a long strand of fish feces with some bubbles in it in the pond late yesterday. I think that fish may have eaten too much. I must not have cut back enough.

I feed them small amounts 2 or three times a day. Only two times in winter and only a little each time. This time of year is difficult because they have slowed down already but they still seem to be hungry. They pull the plants out when they are hungry, lol.

By the way I am sooooo envious of your koi. Especially that beautiful yellow one.

ColdGold - just from coldwater / goldfish.

Thanks for that.

I have decided to put some salt in.

This seems to be the only really active forum for pond fish on the net. It is a relief to find to get info and help to do with fish in pond rather than just in aquariums. :)

ColdGold, I couldn't find a salt test kit locally when I needed it either that's why I didn't use as much salt as the box said. I learned about salt on here and from Robyns Salt Page. I had no clue about it.
Next time I order pond supplies I plan on ordering a test kit for salt to if for nothing else but to make me feel better.
I am glad that you found this forum to get you the support that you need. :)

CG, your area sounds very beautiful. I must say I am jealous of your micro climate! Sounds like a heck of a good place to have fish! I am curious about what your lowest temperature is that you guys get in your area??

I don't have thermometer (except for humans) so I have never measured the temp here. The average winter temp over 3 month with day and night readings for the Lower Mountains is supposed to be 16C but we don't share the same climate as most of the Lower Mountains- we have less variation in temp. The actual measurements for forecasts are taken at Katoomba in the Upper Mountains. their winter average is 5C.


We have had a couple of nights as low as 8C but that is rare.

I think I will get a thermometer for outside then i can see just how cold it is getting at night and also check my pond water temp.

No temps. but interesting anyway

http://www.infobluemountains.net.au/weather/best.htm

I hope it is ok to put links in here.

btw my fish is completely back to normal. I am sooo relieved.
:D

That is great that your fish is doing better! It is fine to post links. Most of us find it interesting to learn about other climates and geographical areas of our fellow ponders. We love pictures too, LOL Thanks for posting! :D