How to treat Unexplained Death in a pond
What does it look like?
- Sudden and unexplained death of single or multiple fish
What are the fish doing?
- Fish are laying stationary on the surface or bottom of the pond
- Fish are not moving
What should I do?
- Test water for underlying quality issues and treat accordingly - Check for signs of deoxygenation - fish gasping, breathing rapidly.
- Look for obvious physical symptoms on the dead fish or the rest of the pond for better diagnosis
- Consider the age of the fish if only one has died and others appear healthy
Why does this happen and how do I prevent it?
Test your water quality. Water quality issues are often invisible to the human eye and can have dramatic effects on the well-being and health of your pond without any obvious warning. Testing regularly can allow you to address water quality issues before it is too late.
Look for obvious physical symptoms on the dead fish which can suggest the cause if death. If there are physical symptoms on the fish, consider another diagnosis for the death and treat the remaining fish accordingly
If only one fish in your tank has died consider the age/lifespan of the fish as, like all animals, fish will just die from old age.
Some other issues that could cause unexplained fish death are:
- De-oxygenation – in this case often only the larger fish will have died because they have a higher oxygen requirement.
- Acute systemic bacterial infection – fish die so rapidly that they don’t exhibit many physical symptoms.
- Pollutants can easily enter your pond and affect the water quality. For example, heavy rain can reduce the pH of the pond, whilst water run off from concrete around the pond could increase the pH to unsafe levels. Other pollutants like pesticides and gardening chemicals will negatively affect the pond’s water quality.
What treatment should I use?
Use with any of the above
Blagdon Pond Guardian Pond Salt
Not what you are looking for? Back to Diagnose What's Wrong >
Treatment dosage Calculator
Testing your pond water
Seasonal pond maintenance
Understanding Your Pond
Social
Main Website: