I inherited a pond when I moved house last year. Intially I intended in only adding plants to the pond however i added a few fish( well 14 now) to it 6 weeks ago. Evrything has gone fine, I survived an attack of green water and a counter attack of blanketweed. I sucessfully treated a tramatised female who was pursued by psycopathic males during spawning. But I do have a problem. Two of the comets appear lethargic. They have there mouths continually open as if they are eating. They remain close to the surface and do not interact with the rest of the pack. The chemistry of the pool is Ok with no elevated levels and the pond has a strong waterfall and fountain. I took the fish to my local store who said they appeared to be OK however a week later they remain the seame. They do not appear to be eating.

I have a picture if someone can advise how to post it



Paul

Hello there and welcome to fishkeeping Lucky you to inherit a pond, as for what could be wrong with the fish it could be down to a number of things, if you can post some photos it may help, you say the water parimiters are fine so what are your readings if you dont mind. Admin is the person to help you with the photos, but there is a post on here already somewhere about how to upload photos I think, I will see if I can find it for you. Also take a look at this link as it may give you some idea what is wrong with your fish http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/clinicalsigns.htm

http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/ ... pic_id=181&forum=2&jump=1

Apparently fish can get stones stuck in their mouths. If you can, catch them and have a look. Check the likes of fishdoc or koivet for how to remove any obstruction. You could also search the following sites for "lockjaw"

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/ponds/
http://www.awgs.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=forum;f=1
http://www.koiphen.com/forums/

Re picture posting, above the box in which you type
your message are a number of rows of buttons. Look at the row level with the word message, click the 3rd button from the left, paste the web address for your photo in the drop down box that appears, click ok, click ok or cancel in the next drop down box and a line of gobbledy gook should appear in the message, this is what will show the picture. If it isnt in the correct place move the gobbledy gook to the correct place.
Your picture has to be on the web to use this method, I dont know if you can upload straight from your PC to this site, if you can I dont know how.

Sorry for my delay in replying. Two sperate contractors who undertook to lay a new lawn let me down and I have had to do it myself. I have posted photos on my web photo album
of the sick fish, the tramatised female who was improving but now appears to have a problem with the scales on her side (sorry about the photo, she would not present herself to the camera, it was windy and the light was reflecting baldly on the pond surface). I also posted a photograph of the pond I inherted and restored an two stages of the extension in progress.

http://members1.clubphoto.com/paul74664/guest-1.phtml

If anyone can sugest what the females problem is and how to treat it as I have zero experience which to draw on.

On the upside the rest of the goldfish spent today chasing two of the spawning females! and I sucessfully introduce 3 golden orfe to the enlarged pond.

The old pond had a PH of 7.4
NO3 10
No2 1
GH >6
KH 6d

The extended pond is slightly different but the symptoms still are present, mouth open and closing all the time, isolated from the group, hugging the surface not eating.

The PH in the new pond is 7
and basically zero on all others

Paul

Small world Paul, I'm hoping I have the correct chap. How's the lily doing, hopefully ok, what about the plants?
You have enlarged that pond somewhat. Do you have an underlay under the liner and over the concrete?

Hi paul its really hard to say what could be wrong with the fish as its hard to see by the photos, the females scales don't look too good but I can not make it out properly are they raised or been scraped by the males chasing her or does she have something attached, do you have any means of quarentining them for treatment so that you do not have to treat the whole pond. also did you take a look at the doc link as it covers quite alot.

You are right, hows the linix?

Lilies are three and as you can see the pond has expanded somewhat (x3){Plants were plentiful but look a bit thinned out now _ I've had sevrel trips to Grosvenor Tropics but their range is a lot smaller than yours

Wife thinks I'm sad gazing at the fish swiming to and fro, but I've caught her doing it as well!

Paul

Goldy

Yes I have a 100 gallon tank which I can use.

Sorry about the Picture but she did't help much. There appears to be a bulge and the scales look as if they are standing on there ends, if that makes sense.Weather permitting I will Try again tomorrow - in the smaller tank

To be safe I will move the comets as well

I have surfed many sites unfortantly the more I read the possilites there are.

Paul

Linux is fine I still use this old hand cranked PC for surfing. If you want hatchling fry I may have some if they havent become fish food or filter fodder yet. I was also trying to get rid of yearlings but they are darn hard to catch, I was getting about 1 a day but the heron is back and paying attention to the area where I could catch the yearlings so the chances are slim. However if you are interested let me know and I will let you know. GT had some rather nice bog arum at quite a good price.
Fish diagnosis isnt my thing so I leave that to others. Where did you get your fish?