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Algae Control Garden Ponds Goldfish Goldfish Care Goldfish Ponds How To

How To Prevent and Control Algae Blooms In Goldfish Ponds? Get Rid Of Algae!

Does your goldfish pond suffer from green water? If so then you need to read this article and learn how to prevent and control algae blooms. Green water in ponds can be frustrating but there are simple things that can be done to help control algae from occurring.

In spring and summer different things need to be done such as maintenance, using the proper equipment and using the right pond supplies.
Here are some simple things that can help you prevent, control and get rid of algae or green water:

Water Lilies, Water Lettuce, Water Hyacinths will help control and prevent algae blooms!

1. Clean your goldfish pond and remove any dead or decaying leaves from trees, water lilies etc.. If you don’t this helps feed algae and causes algae blooms.

2. In spring add in a bag of barley which works well towards algae control. If your looking to have crystal clear water in your goldfish pond then you need to buy some barley. I use this every year and it works amazing!

3. Add water plants! By adding water plants such as water lilies, water hyacinths, water lettuce etc.. will help shade your pond preventing sunlight from entering your pond therefore slowing the growth. Pond Plants also feed on the same nutrients as algae therefore starving it.

4. Use a UV Sterilizer to control algae. A UV sterilizer basically zaps algae cells with its ultraviolet light and prevents it from growing.

5. Stop over feeding your pond fish! By feeding your fish too much food it can contribute to algae growth. The more fish waste there is equals more natural fertilizer in the water, therefore more algae. Feed your goldfish less and they will search and eat algae in the pond and help control algae.

6. The last thing you can do to eliminate or get rid of algae is through the use of algaecides. This is one method of algae control that I will never recommend. It’s an option but I don’t recommend using it. The above methods of preventing and controlling algae work just fine. Algaecides are too risky in my books!

I hope that these above methods helps you to prevent and control algae in your pond. This will help you get that crystal clear pond water you’ve always been looking for! Stop algae once and for all and enjoy the water garden you’ve always dreamed of.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
“Helping Goldfish Owners With Advice, Fish Care and Fish Medication Treatments for Goldfish Diseases, Illnesses and Parasites”

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Garden Ponds Goldfish Ponds How To Mosquito Control

How To Prevent and Control Mosquitoes in Goldfish Ponds and Backyard Ponds?

If your looking at building a goldfish pond in your backyard you should know how to prevent and control mosquitoes. Many people are not aware but controlling mosquitoes starts right from the building process of your new water garden and planning where you want your water plants, what type of aquatic plants and what type of fish.

There are many ways you can control and prevent mosquitoes in a goldfish pond and here are just a few examples:

Pond Mosquitoes - Learn How To Prevent Them

1. Have good water circulation in your fish pond using the proper size pond pump. Did you know that a pond should circulate 1 time every hour? Stagnant water is where mosquitoes are bound to lay their eggs.

2. Potted plants flush with the water level are perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Your goldfish are not able to eat the mosquito larvae inside the potted water plant and it’s still stagnant water perfect for breeding mosquitoes.

3. Have enough goldfish in your pond that you are able to accommodate. The more fish you have in your pond the more mosquito larvae they can consume.

4. Buy mosquito dunks! You can place them in your pond, they are safe for fish and plants and help controls the mosquito population. It releases a mosquito larvicide that mosquito larvae eat and kills them. Works for 30 days! Kills mosquito larvae in ponds, birdbaths and standing water.

5. Stop feeding your goldfish in your pond! Did you know there is enough food in your pond that you don’t really need to feed your goldfish. The hungrier they are the more mosquito larvae they’ll search for an eat.

6. Want the perfect fish pond with no mosquitoes? Buy some mosquito fish! Mosquito fish will eat mosquito larvae in the pond as well as eat mosquitoes flying in the air by shooting water at them. The mosquitoes will land on the water surface and the mosquito fish will eat them.

I hope these above suggestions gives you some insight on how to control and prevent mosquitoes in your goldfish pond so that you can enjoy your water garden for years to come.

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Breeding Goldfish Goldfish Goldfish Care How To

How Often Do Goldfish Lay Eggs, Breed or Spawn?

If your wondering on how often do goldfish breed, lay eggs or spawn it all depends on the water temperature. Water temperature? Yes the water temperature is what determines whether or not the goldfish are ready to breed or spawn along with the age of this fish of course. First off the goldfish needs to be sexually mature or old enough to breed and the eggs within the female goldfish need to be mature as well.

Your pretty much safe to say that goldfish will breed between 2-3 times a year and maybe more depending on where you live. You see in a warmer climate like Florida it may be possible to have more goldfish spawnings then someone living within Canada who only have a short summer. The temperature of the water is what controls the goldfish breeding process. Every day that goes by that the water temperature is above 15 degrees celsius counts towards your 1000 degrees celsius schedule. For example every days that the water temperature is over 15 degrees celsius counts until you reach 1000 degrees celsius days. I will explain more below.

How Often Do Goldfish Spawn, Breed and Lay Eggs?

Lets say that you have 10 straight days the water temperature in your fish pond or aquarium is 20 degrees celsius then this would equal 200 degrees celsius ( 10 x 20 = 200) that means if it stayed like that for 50 straight days at 20 degrees celsius water temperature then that would equal the 1000 degree days that goldfish need to go through in order to be ready to breed. After 1000 degree days the eggs within the female goldfish are mature enough and the chances of a golfish spawning is any day now.

If you keep track of the daily water temperature daily will be your best way at determining how soon or often your goldfish will be breeding or laying eggs. Remember the male goldfish needs to be sexually mature enough too. If your interested in breeding goldfish then it’s best to learn as much as you can. Throughout my blog you will find more information on breeding goldfish . You’ll learn all about how goldfish spawn come breeding time through the links below.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
“Helping Goldfish Owners With Advice, Fish Care and Fish Medication Treatments for Goldfish Diseases, Illnesses and Parasites”

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Breeding Goldfish Goldfish Goldfish Care How To

How To Raise Baby Goldfish Fry? Breeding Goldfish Care

Now that your goldfish have spawned you will need to know how to raise baby goldfish fry. You will notice that your goldfish have laid eggs everywhere and soon these will hatch. The best spawning medium to use for goldfish breeding are spawning mops. These work excellent! If you don’t have these then water plants will work fine. Whatever you used to breed your goldfish these eggs will hatch in 72 hours. Soon you will have baby goldfish and you will need to raise your new baby goldfish and know how to take care of them.

Raising Baby Goldfish FryThe goldfish eggs will soon hatch and you need to be prepared to take care of them and feed them. Within 72 hours these eggs will begin to hatch and they will stick to the sides of your aquarium or goldfish pond. When they eggs hatch they stick to the fish tank glass feeding until they begin swimming. Once they begin swimming you will need to start feeding your baby goldfish powdered food and liquid. Knowing what to feed baby goldfish fry will increase your success at having many healthy baby goldfish.

Raising Baby Goldfish and Koi Breeding

When baby goldfish fry first hatch they feed on the yolk sac before they begin swimming on their own. Feeding baby goldfish after they hatch is very important to their survival. Start feeding them liquid or powdered paste food. You can buy fish food for baby fry at you local pet store.

How To Protect Baby Goldfish Fry From Filter?The next thing you will need to be very careful with is doing water changes and filtering your fish tank when it contains baby goldfish. Remember these fish are very small and you need to be careful and rig up something where your intake is for your aquarium filter. What I’ve done in the past is place a filter sponge over the intake pipe to your filter this will help prevent baby goldfish fry from getting sucked up. The same can be done when doing water changes with your aquarium gravel cleaner.

In order to raise baby goldfish of high quality you need to cull the fry to have the best possible goldfish. What you need to do is cull them and remove any baby goldfish that has any deformities such as body, missing fins, tail, eyes etc.. Culling baby goldfish fry should be done at 2 weeks. As your baby goldfish fry grow you will need to observe your new fish and do future culls.

How To Raise Baby Goldfish Fry

Raising baby goldfish fry takes time and devotion in order to have healthy goldfish. Many people have had goldfish breedings before but are often disappointed when they don’t have many baby goldfish as they suspected. Most of the time it’s because they don’t separate the male and female goldfish from where the eggs were laid. If they don’t remove the goldfish parents they will eat and consume all the fish eggs. Follow proper steps and planning when raising baby goldfish fry and you’ll be happy with the results.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
“Helping Goldfish Owners With Advice, Fish Care and Fish Medication Treatments for Goldfish Diseases, Illnesses and Parasites”

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Garden Ponds Goldfish Goldfish Care Goldfish Ponds How To

How To Take Care of Goldfish In A Garden Pond?

Many home owners often dream of having a garden pond but are often unsure on how to take care of goldfish. Taking care of goldfish in a garden pond is easy! With a little bit of research, you’ll be a pond expert in no time. A lot of people who have fish ponds in their backyards often have had an aquarium in their life sometime before. The fact is that taking care of goldfish in a pond is so much easier and I’m going to show you how.

Now that your garden pond is in place you will need to add your goldfish to your newly built pond. You can either buy goldfish online or as most of you do is go down to your local pet store to buy your new pet. Taking care of goldfish starts right here at the pet shop. Taking Care of Goldfish In A Garden PondRemember you want to buy healthy goldfish and don’t want to bring home some other guests as well. Never buy goldfish from a tank that has dead fish, cloudy or if you see fish scratching themselves on the aquarium gravel. These are signs that something is wrong. Take your time, look around and ask questions at the pet store if you have any. They should be able to answer all your fish, pond and aquarium questions.

Now that you’ve just bought your new goldfish you will need to introduce them to your pond. What you do now is float the bag in the water for about 10 – 15 minutes so that the water can customize. Once the time is up what you will then do is make sure you add a couple of cups of pond water into the bag so that the water chemistry can mix together. Every little thing you do minimizes the stress on the goldfish. Now that you’ve done that and waited a few minutes now you can release your goldfish into the pond. In order to do this you will need a fish net. Never introduce the water from the pet store into your garden pond as it could contain parasites. Always use a fish net to catch the goldfish and then place them in the fish pond.

Introducing Goldfish To A Garden Pond

Your goldfish should be swimming around in the new pond and looking quite happy. Don’t worry if the goldfish goes right to the bottom of the pond and you don’t see them for a few days as this is common. Remember this pond is new to him and it could take a few days for your goldfish to get use to its new environment. After a day or two you should see your goldfish quite regularly. Sometimes you can even feed your goldfish right after placing them in your new garden pond.

Goldfish Feeding In Garden Pond

What you should feed goldfish all depends on the time of year and the temperature of the water. Remember goldfish hibernate come winter and when this happens their digestive system begins to slow down too. In early spring and fall goldfish should be fed a lighter food such as a wheat germ based fish food. This is light and easy for them to digest. This should be fed to goldfish down to 45 degrees Fahrenheit. It is very important to know what the temperature of your pond is to be able to provide the best possible care for your goldfish. In the summer months you are able to feed goldfish a higher protein diet as they are more active and require better nutrition.

Your probably wondering about now is how much food do I feed goldfish in a pond. The answer is quite simple, only feed your goldfish what they can eat within 2 minutes. When the goldfish are feeding you should start to see them get sluggish or uninterested in the food. Always discard what they cannot consume within 2 minutes or this can foul your water. You can feed your goldfish in the pond once a day in cooler weather and in the summer months you can feed them a couple of times a day. Remember don’t worry if you ever miss feeding your goldfish as there is literally tons of food in the pond for them. They can feed on all the live insects, mosquito larvae and more. Your goldfish will never starve in a pond.

Pond Netting Helps Keep Goldfish Safe From Predators

For maintenance for your garden pond you should clean your pond filter from time to time. Whenever you notice that the water volume from your pond pump has slowed down it’s time to clean your filter. You should also test your water quality once a week to make sure all is well.

Attraction Red Hardy Water Lilies

If you have water lilies in your goldfish pond you will have to discard any decaying lily pads as they appear. What you want to do is try and stop as much leaves and debris from going to the bottom of the pond. If there is to much organic matter such as fish waste, leaves and debris this can cause a perfect breeding ground for parasites and fish diseases to occur. Try and eliminate as much as you can. What many pond owners do come fall is place a pond net over their ponds to stop leaves from going into the water. This pond net also stops pond predators from getting access to your goldfish in your pond. Depending on where you live wildlife is bound to come near your pond sooner or later whether its herons, raccoons, kingfishers or eagles they will come to your pond looking for a snack. Look for other great ways at protecting pond fish from predators.

Garden Pond With Waterfall

You’ve just read about how to take care of goldfish in a garden pond and I’m sure you will have more pond questions as they arise. Throughout the years you will learn more about ponds and have other questions. I urge you all to ask any garden pond questions here so you will be able to take care of your goldfish and know what to do when problems occur. Enjoy your new garden pond and I wish you all best of luck taking care of your new goldfish.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
“Helping Goldfish Owners With Advice, Fish Care and Fish Medication Treatments for Goldfish Diseases, Illnesses and Parasites”

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Aquarium Care Goldfish Goldfish Care How To Water Treatments

What Aquarium Products Clear Up Cloudy Water In Fish Tanks?

There are several aquarium products on the market today that will show you how to clear up cloudy water in fish tanks. You are able to buy these at your local pet store or available online like PetSmart, Petco and other great online stores. The product that I like best that clear up cloudy water in aquariums is Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Accu-Clear Water Clarifier. This product is fast acting and clears up your water in your aquarium in no time.

There are so many different products that you can choose and here is a list of several that you are able to buy:

Eco-Bio Blocks Clears Up Cloudy Water and Reduces Water Changes Frequency

1. EcoBio-Block ( New product that I would like to try, great reviews!)

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Accu-Clear Water Clarifier

2. Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Accu-Clear Water Clarifier

Tetra Aqua Water Clarifier

3. Tetra WaterClarifier

Koi's Choice Pond Water Clarifier

4. Koi’s Choice Pond Water Clarifier

Here are 4 great aquarium products for you to choose that will help clear up cloudy water in your aquarium.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
“Helping Goldfish Owners With Advice, Fish Care and Fish Medication Treatments for Goldfish Diseases, Illnesses and Parasites”

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Aquarium Care Goldfish Goldfish Care How To Water Treatments

How To Clear Up Cloudy Water In Aquarium Fish Tank?

Cloudy water in aquariums is quite common and there are several things you can do to clear up your fish tank and help prevent this from occurring. How to clear up cloudy water is quite simple and the answer is proper aquarium maintenance.

What causes cloudy water to occur in fish tanks is the nitrogen cycle not being properly in balance. This means that there is more bad bacteria instead of the good beneficial bacteria that helps break down fish waste and helps keep your water safe and healthy for fish to live. If your nitrogen cycle is out of whack then cloudy water will occur in your fish tank.

Cloudy Water in Aquarium - Get Rid Of Cloudy Water Today!

Frequent Water Changes Helps Reduce Cloudy Water

What can you do to stop cloudy water from happening is easy! Frequent water changes and maintenance will help. You should also never overfeed your fish in your aquarium. Overfeeding goldfish or other types of fish helps contribute to cloudy water in fish tanks. Another thing people should do is reduce the amount of time that your have your aquarium lights on for. Leaving your lights on for extended periods of time causes algae blooms and growth over aquarium glass and contributes to cloudy water as well. People should have timers on their aquariums and never leave it on for more then 6 – 8 hours a day.

Never Overfeed Goldfish

If you want to know how to clear up cloudy water fast in your aquarium then you will need to purchase aquarium products on the market that specialize in this. When buying aquarium products that clears cloudy water in fish tanks just make sure on the label that it does not disturb beneficial bacteria and make sure it’s not harmful to fish and plants. These products will help clear your water usually in a few hours. Remember more is not better, follow proper dosage on the bottle.

Cloudy water in aquariums usually occur in newly set up fish tanks.

Have you ever had cloudy water in your aquarium?

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
“Helping Goldfish Owners With Advice, Fish Care and Fish Medication Treatments for Goldfish Diseases, Illnesses and Parasites”

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Aquarium Care Goldfish Goldfish Care How To

How To Keep Goldfish Tank Clean and Water Clear?

Keeping a golfish tank clean and water clear may be a challenge for some unless you know how to properly maintain your aquarium or fish bowl. In order to keep your fish tank clean you will need to follow a maintenance schedule to keep goldfish healthy and disease free.

Here I will show you 8 steps to keeping your fish tank clean and healthy.

Goldfish Tank Clean and Clear

Aquarium bucket for water changes

1. Perform a 25% weekly water change in your fish tank then add fresh water to your aquarium.

Aquarium Gravel Cleaners and Vacuums Makes Cleaning Fish Tanks Easy!

2. When performing your water change use an aquarium gravel cleaner that will clean and remove fish waste built up in the gravel. Discard dirty water.

Algae Cleaning Brush for Aquariums

3. Clean any algae off the sides of the aquarium glass with an algae scraper or an algae cleaning brush.

4. Clean any aquarium ornaments with a brush.

Aquarium Filter

5. Replace filter media such as sponges and carbon once a month. Never replace these at the same time your doing water changes in your aquarium as this will disturb your biological filtration.

Nutrafin Cycle

6. Add cycle to your aquarium each and every time you do a water change.

Aquarium Water Conditioners

7. Add water conditioner to remove any chlorine or harmful metals after every water change. Follow dosage on the bottle.

8. Keep aquarium lighting to a minimum to reduce algae on aquarium glass.

If you follow these simple steps you’ll learn how to keep your goldfish tank clean and water crystal clear.

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Garden Ponds Goldfish Goldfish Care Goldfish Ponds How To Pond Predator Protection

How To Protect Goldfish and Pond Fish From Herons?

Knowing how to protect goldfish, koi and other pond fish from herons will save you a lot of frustration and anger. Today two great blue herons decided to take a little walk into my pond and ate my goldfish for a snack or two.

It’s unsure how many goldfish or other pond fish these herons ate but let me tell you they are smart.

Pond predators are pond owners worst nightmare and this was mine today. Now I am going to have to fix up the pond protection I currently have from herons and other pond predators and raise the pond netting.

Heron - Pond Fish PredatorWhat these great blue herons did was walked right on top of the pond netting and sank the net in the water. This created like a fish net that easily caught the goldfish, koi and other types of fish I currently have in the pond. If it didn’t catch them the herons still had a chance to eat the goldfish and injure larger ones that couldn’t fit through the holes of the pond netting. As soon as I noticed at my front window I banged on it and it scared off the herons.

I went outside to notice at least one fish fatality which was a big koi. The koi was on top of the pond netting. I have a very large pond so I have two pond nets to protect the fish. The first one sank into the water and the koi fish swam on top of the netting and the heron poked a hole in him killing the fish. It was one of my favourite large koi that I had in my pond. I am quite disappointed and have fixed my pond so that this type of situation won’t happen again.

Pond Netting Protection From Predators

What people can do to protect goldfish and pond fish from herons is raise your pond netting so its not flush or within 6 inches above the water. I know many people don’t like to take away from the look and beauty of their pond with netting but if you don’t sooner or later a heron will stop by your place. What I did was cut up some 2 x 4’s and made them 24 inches long and pounded them in the ground with a mallet. Then I hooked up my pond netting on top and made it nice and tight. Herons won’t land on it and even if they did it won’t sink it into the water. Now I can be rest assured this won’t happen again.

If your looking for ways to protect goldfish, koi and other pond fish from herons and plan on using pond netting make sure to raise it. If not you might experience the same situation as me.

To learn more about protecting pond fish from predators like the great blue heron visit the following link:

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
“Helping Goldfish Owners With Advice, Fish Care and Fish Medication Treatments for Goldfish Diseases, Illnesses and Parasites”

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How To Feed Your Goldfish While Gone On Vacation?

It’s vacation time and your wondering on how to feed your goldfish while your gone away, what do you do. Well you have several options that you can do to ensure your goldfish are properly cared for and they are fed while gone away on your vacation trip. You will also need to make sure water quality and equipment is within its proper range and they are working effectively. Feeding goldfish while gone away on vacation is the least of your worries and I’m going to tell you why.

How To Feed Your Goldfish While on Vacation:

1. Have a family member or friend feed your goldfish while you are gone away.

Family Vacation - Don't Forget To Feed Your Goldfish At Home!

Goldfish Tip #1 – Make sure you show them how much to feed them and how often. Also explain to them do not clean the tank. I’ve heard horror stories where people come back from vacation to find all their goldfish or tropical fish dead in the aquarium because they cleaned the entire tank with dish detergent or bleach and placed fish back in. Remember educate your goldfish care givers…..

Boy Feeding Goldfish In Pond

2. Buy a slow release vacation fish food block at your local pet store. A good one to buy is Top Fin Slow Release Vacation Feeding Blocks.

Top Fin Slow Release Vacation Feeding Blocks For Goldfish and Other Types of Fish

This is one of the easiest ways for people to feed their goldfish while gone away on that family vacation of yours. Buy one of these slow release fish food tablets and voila!

3. Buy an automatic fish feeder for your goldfish.

Automatic Fish Feeder For Goldfish and Other Types of Fish

This way works good too. Automatic fish feeders will pour out a small amount of fish food which is programmed for every so many hours. Here’s another option for you.

Remember these tips and how to feed your goldfish while gone on vacation works for both aquariums and goldfish ponds. If you have someone you can trust get them to come over to your home and feed your goldfish for you. If your only gone for a day or two, don’t worry about your goldfish, they’ll be just fine. Pet stores only feed their goldfish every second day to help reduce maintenance and they are just fine there. If you happen to be going away longer then a day or two then seek someone that can feed your goldfish for you or buy goldfish vacation food blocks while your away on your trip. This will slowly release fish food to your goldfish every day for up to 10 days. Goldfish vacation food is the perfect solution for while your away on vacation.