New Member Into & Request for Help
Hi Everyone!
My name is Jim and I have been in the fish hobby for about 25 years. My family and I (wife and 3 kids) have had salt water tanks, fresh water tanks, terrarium tanks and for the last 8 years I have been maintaining a 600 gallon garden pond. I live in California near Stanford University so I don’t have too worry about temperature extremes . . . just water chemicals and the local raccoons.
My pond “was” populated by 6 koi and 10 large goldfish all of which I raised for the last 8 years from very small sizes. I say “was” populated because last week the fresh water refill valve on the pond stuck open and over night the pond was flooded with new water which contains both fluoride and chloramines. Needless to say when I went to see my friends in the morning it wasn’t a pretty site.
Since I had the opportunity to completely drain and clean the pond I also increased the size of the pond by about 100 gallons. I dug out the new area, laid my pond liner (same brand as the old liner) and bonded the new liner to the old liner with PVC glue. I let the glue cure for two days before adding water. I kept my original plants and about 100 gallons of the original water in two large plastic garbage cans dedicated to this purpose, in other words they are very clean.
I filled the pond and used a de-chlorinator, waited one day and then added the original water and original plants. After the pond had settled for another two days I added 10 three inch size gold fish and 3 four inch size koi. The pond sat 3 days with water and without fish.
Here is where I need your help: The fish were purchased from a long trusted aquarium store and looked great in their tanks. But when I place the fish in the pond they eventually all hid and now lay hiding at the bottom of the pond. They are not active and they have not really eaten any of the foods that I have introduced. They are not breathing hard but they don’t eat and barely move. I have performed water quality tests twice a day for the last 4 days and all levels look fine.
The only things I can come up with are: A. PVC cement has leached into the pond? B. All of the fish I purchased from this aquarium store are sick? C. There is some other chemical in the pond I have not treated?
Please let me know if you have any ideas. I will attempt a partial water change today.
Thanks!
Jim
Category: AquaticLife
