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Garden Ponds Goldfish Goldfish Care How To Pond Filtration

Goldfish Pond- Cleaning and Pond Spring Start Up Tips

Now that spring has arrived your going to need to clean your goldfish pond and get it already for the pond season. Pond maintenance is needed and you will need to clean your goldfish pond of any debris and organic matter that has decomposed over winter. If you did not cover your goldfish pond last year with a pond netting you will need to scoop up all the leaves that are decaying. This decaying matter is prime areas for when goldfish diseases and parasites occur. Remove all the sludge at the bottom of your goldfish pond to prevent diseases and parasite outbreaks.

For small ponds you can completely clean your pond rinse it out and refill it. If you have goldfish in your pond simply remove them and place them in an indoor aquarium until you finish cleaning your pond. It would be best to keep them in a fish tank for about 3-4 days before you re-introduce them to your pond. This would be a great time for you to observe your fish and look for any signs or symptoms of diseases and parasites. If you notice any sick fish treat them as needed.

goldfish pond

For any pond plants that you have in your pond such as water lilies and other marginals, this is a great time to divide them. Simply divide and re-pot your pond plants and fertilize them as well. When you clean your pond for spring this is the ideal time for dividing your pond plants and water lilies and you can place them where you want in your garden pond.

For larger ponds which you may not be able to drain your pond and clean it completely make sure you remove as much as the sludge as possible. Do a partial water change and remove about 25% of the water.

Now that your pond is cleaned out your going to need to start up your pond for the season. Now you can hook up your pond pump and filter and get the water circulating. Be sure to add beneficial bacteria to get your biological filter working properly. Also add water conditioner to remove chlorine from the water to make it safe for your goldfish.

In spring is when people tend to have problems with algae blooms with their goldfish pond. After you have finished cleaning your pond and hooking up your pond pump and filter add a bag of barley to your pond. A bag of barley right by the pond pump will help reduce the the chance of algae. Barley works great for algae control in ponds. Simply add barley straw, barley extract or pellets in your pond at the beginning of spring and this will help your pond stay clear.

After you have cleaned your pond and started it up for spring most people want to start feeding their fish. Remember you can only start feeding your fish when it warms up to about 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Some fish foods on the market today you can feed your fish at 45 degrees but general rule is about 55 degrees you can start feeding your goldfish. When you do start feeding your goldfish in your pond start feeding them a wheat germ food that fish can easily digest. Feed them once a day and then as summer approaches you can switch fish foods later. Remember goldfish in a pond don’t really need to be fed, their is plenty of food in the pond for them.

Now that your goldfish pond is all cleaned out and ready for the season you can start to enjoy it. To fully enjoy your water garden make sure you have enough pond plants, water lilies and floating aquatic plants. Having your pond about 70% full of plants will help keep your water crystal clear all summer long. Make sure you have great pond filter as well as consider buying a UV sterilizer for your pond will help keep your water quality perfect all summer. Enjoy your goldfish pond and get your pond started up for spring for another pond season

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Goldfish Goldfish Care Goldfish Diseases Goldfish Medications How To Ich Fish Treatment Ich White Spot Disease

Prevent Ich Fish Disease – How To Prevent Ich ( White Spot Disease)

By Jamie Boyle

Many people often wonder ” How Do I Prevent Ich ” from reaching my aquarium and infecting my fish. There are ways in which you can prevent ich from reaching your tank. Here are some simple ich preventative measures you can do to keep ich away and how to prevent white spot disease from reaching your fish:

1. Never buy fish from an aquarium that contain sick fish at a pet store. Look for signs of ich, other external parasites or fish diseases before you make a fish purchase. You may be bringing home more then fish, some hitch hikers as well.

Sarassa Comets2. Before adding new fish to your aquarium or pond you need to quarantine new arrivals for minimum 2-4 weeks to make sure fish are okay and healthy. If not, you may be introducing ich, other external parasites or fish diseases to already healthy fish.

3. When buying aquarium plants or pond plants be sure to disinfect them before placing them in your tank or pond. To do so you can use Potassium Permanganate solution and dip the water plants in it. By doing so you can reduce the chance of introducing ich and other parasites to your aquarium.

4. Never add water to your aquarium or pond from the pet store where you may have bought fish or water plants. Fish should be netted out and water discarded. Water may contain parasites like ich (white spot disease) or other external parasites.

5. Never use the same netting and equipment from other tanks if you have more then one. By using the same net from one tank to another you risk introducing ich and other parasites from a tank that may have been sick. Have a seperate net for each tank.

6. Use an ultraviolet steriliser to help kill ich parasites. As the free swimming ich parasites known as tomites gets killed as they pass through. This may be away to help prevent ich or white spot disease in a way but there is no sure way that all tomites have been killed or destroyed. May help prevent ich but not a 100% sure way to do so.

7. Use CopperSafe From Mardel Labs fish medication to help prevent ich from occuring. One treatment last over a month. It not only helps prevent against ich but velvet and other external parasites as well.

These are just some simple ways you can help reduce the risk, and prevent ich disease from infecting your fish. Preventative measures are the best way to prevent against ich or white spot disease. In case your fish have developed ich or white spots seek ich medication and begin treatment right away.

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 Pond Predator Protection

How To Protect Your Goldfish From Pond Predators

By Jamie Boyle

Many pond owners today often face the problem of pond predators visiting their water garden and they need to learn how to protect goldfish from pond predators before becoming their next meal. A lot of people don’t even realize they even have a problem until it’s too late. People should always try and count their fish come feeding time to make sure all fish are accounted for. It also makes a great time to observe your fish for any signs of goldfish diseases or parasites.

If you notice your fish scared or frightened or any goldfish missing then you may very well of had a tall-feathery creature stop by for a meal or two. Blue Heron Pond PredatorHerons, kingfishers, raccoons, snakes, cats and even frogs are pond predators. Yes! Even frogs! I have seen many frogs shoot out there tongue and catch small fish when they dash up to the surface. You see a frogs tongue is shot out based on movement and we have seen many goldfish eaten at an early age. The good news about pond predators is that there are many ways you can protect your goldfish from wildlife and I’m going to show you how.

How To Protect Your Goldfish From Pond Predators? 

Raccoons Are Excellent At Fishing - Protect Your Fish!

Heron Decoy Will Protect Your Pond FishThe first step in protecting your goldfish from predators is to go out to your local hardware store, pet store and often even garden nurseries today who stock pond supplies and equipment and purchase a heron decoy. A heron decoy will stop other herons from dropping by as they are very much territorial. They automatically assume that there is already a heron there so there must not be too many fish left. In turn the heron continues flying on in search of a free water source to fish. I know many people who have had pond predator problems and they have used them and they haven’t had any problems since.

Scarecrow Motion Activated Sprinkler System For Pond PredatorsAnother way to protect your goldfish from pond predators is to buy a scarecrow sprinkler system. These work great! Why you may ask? Is because they have a built in motion sensor so when anything comes even remotely close to your pond a blast of water shoots out scaring off anything near. This is a sure way to defend your goldfish and give them a fighting chance. It’s also a great laugh in the scare you put the pond predator through with a blast of water right at its butt! 🙂 It will make that heron or other animal think twice about coming back 😉

Laguna Pond NettingAnother suggestion pond owners can do is to protect your goldfish pond from predators using a pond netting. Again you should be able to buy pond netting at any local hardware store and also you can buy it online as well. Using pond netting will protect pond fish but it takes away the beauty and look of a pond. I know I hate using pond netting but hey, if it protects your pond fish then you did solve your problem. It also stops leaves from going into the pond and falling to the pond bottom messing up the water. It works, but what you decide to choose is up to you.

I hope these above mentioned ways at learning how to protect your goldfish pond from pond predators has helped. Pond predators are annoying but at least there are things we can do to help protect our pond fish.

Have you ever had pond predators drop by your pond? What did you do to protect your pond fish from being eaten? Lets here your stories on the problem that faces many pond owners – pond predators. How to protect your fish from pond predators? A question most pond owners will have one-time or another.

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

Sexing Goldfish- Differences Between Males and Females

Goldfish Sexing - How To Tell Differences Between Male & Female Goldfish

Goldfish sexing is what most aquarium or fish pond hobbyist would like to know sooner or later. Goldfish breeding is the answer why they want to know the differences between male and female goldfish. As people get more into their hobby they would eventually like to see their fish breed. Here I am going to tell you and show you how to tell if your goldfish are male or female.

How To Tell The Differences Between Male and Female Goldfish

Female Goldfish

1. Females are generally bigger then the males and are they’re more plump. The reason for this is that there abdomen is all full of eggs when it comes time to breeding.

2. Females abdomen is also more soft and squishy then of the males.

3. They also have rounded and shorter pectoral fins.

4. Females also have a larger rounder anal opening with it slightly protruding as well.

Male Goldfish

1. Male fish develop breeding tubercles on their gill plates which are most commonly mistaken for the goldfish disease commonly known as Ich. They also get these small white pimple like spots on their outer ridge of their pectoral fins as well. These breeding tubercles appear during spawning time showing they’re ready to breed.

2. Males also have larger longer pectoral fins as well. The pectoral fins are the ones right underneath their gills.

3. They also have a much firmer abdomen then the females.

4. Males have a smaller more oval anal opening then the females.

5. Males are more torpedo shape then females.

These are how to tell the differences between the sexes of male and female goldfish. Here is one of the biggest ways that you can tell as well is when breeding begins to happen you will see the males chasing the females. This is a sure way to tell the differences whether it’s a boy or girl. It’s much the same as real life dating the men usually chase the women 🙂 I will later add some goldfish photos of breeding tubercles of males and pictures of females as well for everyone to see the differences.