# Pond fish... fungus I think?



## Emz118 (Nov 22, 2006)

Hi all,

Well.. I have a pond in my garden which is about 5' x 10' ish. It varies in depth from a few inches (so the frogs can get out) to about 3 feet. I inherited it when I started renting my house a few months back. There is a sponge filter in the bottom of the fountain but no other filtration.
In it are about 30 odd goldfish, ranging from 2" to 8" in size, and one ghost koi who's about 9" long. 

Today when I was feeding them I noticed that one of the black goldfish has what looks like cotton wool on the top of his body. I thought at first it was maybe whitespot but it looks more like fungus of some sort I think. 

Anyway, what is the best way to treat it? I looked in the local pet shop today and found only one thing which was king british fungus treatment for ponds, or general pond treatment, again king british.


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## mask-of-sanity (Dec 27, 2006)

fungus is a secondary infection so i suspect there is an ulcer .....what i suggest is get your lfs to test the water they will give you advice on what to treat it with .......but tbh it could be down to lack of filtration causeing the water to contain nitrite and ammonia ......what are you feeding the fish also how much and how often ......also have you cleaned the sponge at bottom of waterfall at all


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## Emz118 (Nov 22, 2006)

I clean the sponge weekly with water from the pond in a bucket. I had the water tested when we moved in and again a few weeks ago, and all was fine. 

I am feeding them some general pond pellets, once a day, and about a small handful each time. Just enough for them to eat in a few minutes. 

What filtration would you recommend? I asked at my aquatic shop, and he said not to bother as the water is all ok.


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## Taxemic (Aug 13, 2008)

You need an Anti-Parasite and Fungus Mixture of Malachite Green and Formalin. Provides the same treatment levels as the two individual components used separately. Ready mixed treatment eliminating the need to mix seperate treatments, the treatment levels are higher than other propietary mixtures which means this product should not be used when sensitive fish such as Golden Orfe or Sturgeon are present. FMG is the market leading anti-parasite and fungus treatment for Koi, there is nothing else on the market as effective as FMG!


_250_ ml treats _9000_ litres (_2000_ gallons

I work with fish. Any problems let me know.


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## mask-of-sanity (Dec 27, 2006)

to be on the safe side get them to test your water again ....it could be that the fish caught himself and thats caused the wound so it will be worth putting some treatment in the water go for one that treats fungus and see how he goes ....you will need your pond volume to dose correctly ....also with that amount of fish in the pond i would highly recomend some filtration and am suprised you where advised to not bother although if theres loads of muck in bottom of pond then that can act as filtration so its up to you if you add some or not tbh


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## Emz118 (Nov 22, 2006)

Ok, thanks for the advice so far guys. 

As for filtration, what would you recommend? 

The pond has been established for over ten years and originally 12 fish were put in. Since then they have bred quite a lot! 

And how do I work out the volume of the pond?


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## Taxemic (Aug 13, 2008)

To calculate your pond capacity in gallons multiply LXWXD in feet by 6.25.
i.e 5X10X3 X 6.25 = 937.5 gallons.

Multiply your answere by 4.5 to give you your answere in litres - 4218 litres.

As for filtration there are varied methods but something like an Oasis Green 2 Clean filter which has a built in U.V light and a pump will do the job.


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## mike515 (Sep 12, 2006)

Look for an Oase set. Can't off the top of me head think of the size you want.

But find their website via google and it will tell you the size you need. If i remeber theres a little questionaire about your pond which helps recognise what filter you need


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## Emz118 (Nov 22, 2006)

Ok... I'm back!!!

I took a water sample to the lfs on Thursday afternoon, and had it tested, explained about whitespot/fungus etc (by then I had decided it looked more like whitespot) 

The ammonia and nitrites are slightly high... on the api kit they were at the second colour (the one after 0ppm) so he recommended a 1/3-1/2 water change, which I did yesterday. I let the water settle and have just dosed up with waterlife medizin P as directed on the bottle. This was what he recommended, so I hope it's ok! Fingers crossed this will sort the fishes out before too long. It says to re-dose after 5 days if symptoms are still bad. 

Also, he suggested that maybe something had died in the pond, and I realised I haven't seen Spot the Frog (a normal garden kind of froggy) for a day or two. Tomorrow when I'm home in the light I will move the bridge and search through the weeds just in case he has passed on.


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## ip3kid (May 21, 2008)

a few of my fish had this, we kept them in a indoor tank and put salt in the water , cleared up after bout a month


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