help with the pond?

[sharky&george]

My mums pond has been fine for the last few years, but have just noticed green fibre floating to the surface even though she scoops it all out its back within the hour. Today noticed that 1 of the baby goldfish has lost most of its fins and tale, and there is a big yellowish lump at the base of its tale. there have been a couple of ducks that visit the pond and also it was noticed that the uv filter had blown, could this be a cause? Any help would be good.

 

[Cat]

Sounds like blanket weed on your pond,we have just treated ours for it,not sure about your goldfish though.

 

[ryan]

Sounds like some form of algae bloom, especailly as the UV has blown. The Ducks can also cause problems, they stir up the silt on the bottom of the pond and produce plenty of waste. Replacing the UV and performing a large water change will help. The Goldfish has probably got a disease like fin rot, which means the water parameters are not right which is another reason for an algae bloom, the large water change (50%+) will help this and the fish can then be medicated.

 

[sharky&george]

Thanks i have forwarded that onto her, so in the morning she is going to get something to test the water If the fish has got fin rot will it spread to other fish?

 

[ryan]

If the fish has got any disease which sounds highly likely it will have been caused by something, most probably the water conditions which means the other fish are exposed to the same conditions and could also get the disease even if it is not contagious.

 

[sharky&george]

ok thanks all, i have passed all that info on

 

[ctabuk]

That was interesting about the ducks.We had a pair of Mallards on ours and you can always tell as they leave an coating of oil on the top of the water. We have installed cctv next to the pond which automatically turns on at daybreak. It only cost £100.00 from Argos and the camera even has a mike, the noise of the rotation has caused a few visitors including the Heron to take flight. It's only in good old black and white (picture) but with discrete floodlighting it's amazing what turns up at night time.