Hi I'm a noob to this site. I have a pond which has recently been relined. Pond vol is about 3.500ltrs. I have hozelock filter with a externel 5watt uv light. Pond contains goldfish, now Im know that some are comet but the others Im unsure of. I feed them tetra pond sticks.
Anyway I really do need some expert help. I've scoured the internet for information to diagnose the unhealthy look of the fish and looking at pictures has confused me further.
So, could someone please help, I really dont want my fish to suffer or die.
The comets have some sort of lump growing on the two front fins, one of them has a puffy face look and the eyes look cloudy. The other fish have scales which have either come off(can this happen) or changed colour. The problem was there even before the pond liner was changed.

I've attached some picture to help identify the problems.
Any advice would really really be appreciated.

Thank You

edit: I did attach photos but they dont seem to be showing, i have a instead put them in the photo manager.

Hi there, welcome to FK Can't find your pics I'm afraid, you may have put them into your own section of the image manager perhaps? Have a read of this and see if you can figure out where it's going pear-shaped

http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/faq/index.php?cat_id=4#q11

Cloudy eyes would normally indicate some sort of water quality problem. When you changed the liner how did you go about emptying the pond and storing the contents? Does the pond have a filter and if so was it turned off during the relining?

If you can test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate that would be a huge help as it would rule in/out the usual suspects

If you can have another go with the pics and check the water that would be great

Hi,

Sorry about the delay. Hopefully you can see the pictures now and can advise.

Can you test your water and give us full water reading please :)

The cloudy eyes are indicative of poor water quality. The lumps on the edge of the comets' fins look like they are probably from a viral disease called lymphocystis. This is very common in goldfish (most are carriers) and it also flares up when water quality is poor. It is not treatable as such, but neither is it fatal. Usually when water quality is improved it will reduce or disappear, but can repeatedly flare up.

Test results for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH will help us to advise on the best course of action.

Hi,

I have just done a test and the results are as follows:

NO3 is at 10mg/l
No2 is at 1mg/1
GH is at >6 od
KH is 3 od
pH is 6.8

Hopefully you will be able to decipher this. Unfortunately I have lost the instructions to the kit, so cannot work out the results.

Thanks

Hi

There are two things there that stand out. Firstly you have a high reading for nitrite (NO2). This should read 0, is very toxic to fish and is the probable cause of the cloudy eys and the flare up of lymphocystis.

The second most obvious point is that your test results don't include a result for ammonia. This is the most important test of all as ammonia is the most toxic pollutant in aquariums and ponds. If you have nitrite showing now, then we can reasonably conclude that you either have had, or still have ammonia in the water too.

What kind of test kit do you use? Is it a paper test strip? How long have you had it?

What appears to be happening is that your filter is not properly cycled and isn't breaking down the fish waste and converting it from ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate. Assming you have adequate filtration with sufficient biological media (sponges, wool, bioballs etc) the cycle should re-establish given time. While that's happening you need to minimise the effects of the toxins on the fish. Start by doing daily partial water changes (making sure to dechlorinate the water) and get an decent liquid based test kit (the API Master Test Kit is good) so you can monitor ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. Buy a bottle of Pond Prime by Seachem. Use this to dechlorionate any water going into the pond, but dose for the whole pond each day as it will also protect the fish from the toxins to sdome extent. Adding salt will also help with this.

Hi,

I have used Tetra 5 in 1 test strips. I have had them for several months, haven't really used them as I should of, it seems. I will definately have a look into a more advanced kit.

With regards to the filter, several years ago we changed the filter box to a smaller one, one that we thought had a better filtration system. The pond at the time was not full as there was a tear and we only had a handful of fish - we thought this was suffice.
Since then, our fish have been busy. This was the reason we decided to change the liner so that the level of water could be increased to filter the more waste we would have.

I believe it might have been in this period that the fish began to contract these problems unbeknowing to us. I have in all this time used Tetra Medifin. Could this have helped to prevent their conditions from worsening?

I have in the last couple of days purchased another filter box along with pond bacteria starter which I intend to connect to the existing filter box, thus creating two filtration systems.

As the fish have not deteriorated and are very friendly with us (and producing) I'm hoping they could get better.

I will defo check ammonia levels and take action to correct the levels.

Is there any specific medication for their systems and can they be cured?

Thanks

Hi

Improved filtration is the key to curing these problems so you're already taking the right action Once ammonia and nitrite are consistently back at 0 the cloudy eyes will clear up. The growths on their fins may recede, or may stay as they are but not get any worse. However, though they are not pretty, they won't cause the fish any harm as long as they don't continue to grow and become troublesome. A general anti-bacterial treatment may help, or simple dosing with salt.

Thanks for all your advice. Much appreciated!