Tag: Goldfish

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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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Goldfish Goldfish Care Goldfish Ponds

Don’t Eat Goldfish – It Can Cause Cancer And Make You Sick

Can I eat goldfish? The answer is no! Eating goldfish can cause cancer and make you sick. I’ve seen so many young teenagers, men, and some women eating or swallowing goldfish at parties for a joke or a dare through YouTube videos and it makes me sick just thinking of it. Well for one eating a goldfish or swallowing one is gross but it’s what they don’t know that may make them think twice next time. Eating goldfish may indeed cause someone to get cancer and I’ll explain why.

For years I’ve been treating goldfish and using certain fish medications including Melachite Green to treat against different diseases and parasites. What some people don’t know is that Melachite Green is a carcinogen, meaning it has the ability to cause cancer. Now think about it now! Teenager Eats and Swallows A Live Goldfish - What's Wrong With People?These young kids, teenagers and even adults thinking they’re having a good old laugh about it could be in fact writing their own death sentence. This fish medication that goldfish and koi breeders use at fish farms intended just to be used as ornamental fish for aquariums or ponds can have serious effects against us. No fish should be consumed if this type of fish medication is used. Melachite green can cause cancer and should be used properly, with protective equipment and with caution. So no, no one should eat or swallow live goldfish as it’s not safe.!

How Could You Eat A GoldfishA few years ago now I remember in Japan they had I think it was salmon that the Food Inspection Agency came into a local market and removed all the fish as it was contaminated. No fish intended for human consumption is allowed to be treated with Melachite Green. The fish in the market they found was immediately removed and destroyed.

So next time you, or people you may know decide they want to eat a goldfish or swallow one, remember this post. Goldfish treated with melachite green has the ability to cause cancer and should not be for human consumption. Now if this doesn’t stop you from picking up a live goldfish and eating it maybe all the wonderful little parasites that they carry might stop you. I could go on and on about how eating goldfish can make you sick. Some goldfish parasites reproduce at an amazing rate like ich at 500 parasites per cyst. I could say more but I think I made my point about how eating goldfish can cause cancer, make you sick and is plain gross. So next time your hungry instead of eating a live goldfish, go grab something out of the refrigerator.

Would you eat a live goldfish for money, a dare of just a plain joke? Love to hear your thoughts on this!

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Garden Ponds Goldfish Goldfish Care How To

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.

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Garden Ponds Goldfish Goldfish Care

How To Put A Goldfish To Sleep Using Clove Oil To Treat Them?

Sometimes there will come a time where you will need to put your goldfish to sleep to treat them. For this you can use clove oil which will put your fish to sleep so you will be able to treat any goldfish diseases or bacterial infections they may have. Myself, on larger fish such as koi I like to put them to sleep so I can treat the infected area directly. For most people, especially if your worried in doing this procedure I would stick with the normal fish medications that you can buy for treatment.

The reason that you put the goldfish to sleep is so they won’t feel anything during the treatment and so they will be easier to handle. For people who have large goldfish or koi that have ulcers I strongly suggest putting your fish to sleep to treat it. By doing so you can get a greater handle on the issue by applying treatment directly to the area.

How To Put A Goldfish To Sleep With Clove Oil:

1. Get a bucket and fill it with some water from your aquarium or pond.

2. Catch your fish and place them in the container.

3. Introduce your fish to the container and add in your clove oil. For this procedure you should add 10 drops per 1 gallon of water. Within 5 minutes or less you should see your goldfish starting to lye on its side. Wait till he is fully asleep before your pick them up.

After your fish is put to sleep using clove oil, now you can begin treatment on your fish. After your done treating your goldfish you will need to revive the fish and wake him up. To do so you will need to pick up your fish and place them by a heavily aerated section in your aquarium or pond. In your aquarium you can place his head right over the bubbles of an air stone and gently rock the fish’s head back and forth so it’s gills open. This will allow oxygen to enter and slowly start to revive your fish. This can take up to 10 minutes for your goldfish to be completely revived. During this stage don’t worry, you will see its gills open and shut so it’s still alive.

Putting a fish to sleep is highly recommended in cases where fish has ulcers and is needed during surgical removal of tumours. I know it’s always scary the first time trying new things but I’ve done this many times and I have yet to lose a fish from putting them to sleep (knock on wood)with clove oil. So whenever your fish get sick you might just have the right stuff in your home to put them to sleep. Give it a try! Just make sure you don’t accidentally overdose on clove oil, as this can kill your fish with larger amounts.

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Goldfish Goldfish Books Goldfish Care

Fancy Goldfish Book – Complete Guide To Care and Collecting by Dr. Erik L. Johnson

Fancy Goldfish Book – The Complete Guide To Care and Collecting is one book that I recommend all beginners in the hobby buy. Even for people that have been taking care of goldfish for a while is a good resource for goldfish information. I know if your anything like me you probably have several goldfish books at home that talks about fancy goldfish, common goldfish and how to take care of them. This Fancy Goldfish Book – The Complete Guide To Collecting written by Dr. Erik L. Johnson is one you should add to your collection.

If your looking for a great goldfish book on how to raise fancy goldfish, learn all about goldfish diseases, how to prevent them and diagnose them this is a book for you. I’m not sure if you know who Dr. Eric L. Johnson is but is a world-renowned veterinarian who is an expert on goldfish health. Fancy Goldfish Book - The Complete Guide To Care and CollectingThis book will be a great guide to look at if you ever have any problems such as fish diseases that occur. This Fancy Goldfish Book comes complete with over 100 high quality photos and 176 pages in this hardcover book. Many other fish experts are in this book as well. This is a great reference to have when it comes to goldfish care.

On top of this Fancy Goldfish Book – The Complete Guide To Care and Collecting, Dr. Eric Johnson also wrote the book Koi Health & Disease.

So if your new to the goldfish hobby or you’ve been it in for a while people should have at least one good book that covers everything about goldfish. This is one goldfish book that I recommend people buy. This is one book that you will enjoy reading over and over again. Trust me I know 🙂 So go over to the link below and see customer reviews and their thoughts of people who have bought this fancy goldfish book.

Go buy your copy of Fancy Goldfish: Complete Guide To Care And Collecting today and you can see for yourself! You won’t be disappointed if you love goldfish as much as we all do! It’s definitely worth the money.

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 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 Care Information Blog Hits 100,000 Visitors

By Jamie Boyle

Wow, what a last year and a half! My Goldfish Care Information Blog hit 100,000 visitors here today on March 31, 2009. This goldfish blog has come a long way as it first began September 15th, 2007. I would like to thank everyone for visiting my goldfish blog for all their questions they have concerning goldfish care and how to treat against various goldfish diseases and parasites.

 I consider this a goldfish milestone! My goldfish blog started off with mimimum traffic and now has become one of the sites to go to for questions concerning goldfish care and how to treat them. Now I get about 500 hits a day with up to 1000 page views. If this traffic keeps up I will double the traffic and get close to 200,000 visitors in one year. It’s crazy as I remember when I first started there was minimum traffic but now lots of people have visited this goldfish blog and there are many websites and blogs linking back to it.

Goldfish Care Information Blog Hits 100,000th Visitor

I would like to thank everyone for coming and visiting my goldfish blog over the last year and a half. I am just glad that I am able to help you with your questions and hope that you all have learned a thing or two about goldfish. This goldfish blog wouldn’t have grown like it did without all of you asking questions, so thanks and I look forward to helping many more people here in 2009. I am very happy with the results I’ve had with this blog and the feedback I get as I truly enjoy helping you with all your questions. As you can tell, this hobby is a real passion of mine and a hobby that I really enjoy. I’m just happy that this blog has been able to help so many people with their goldfish.

For everyone else who doesn’t know already I have also set up a goldfish forum where you can go and upload your goldfish pictures, koi pictures, pond photos and talk and communicate with others in the hobby. Feel free to check it out over at Pet Goldfish Forum.

Thanks again for visiting my goldfish care information blog and I’ll talk to you all soon!

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

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Goldfish Goldfish Care Goldfish Videos

Goldfish Video Clips of Aquarium and Healthy Goldfish

This goldfish video clip was shared to me by a member of my Goldfish Forum of his beautiful aquarium and his healthy goldfish. Now this is what a fish tank should look like. You can tell how well it is maintained and kept up and the fish are amazing. He has beautiful fish including orandas, shubunkin, lionhead and a pleco. His aquarium is very well set up and maintained. Great job in taking care of his goldfish.

Take a look at these goldfish video clips courtesy of Klaas:


See how beautiful this aquarium is and how healthy the fish tank looks. If you want to see more goldfish videos, pictures and more information go to PetGoldfishForum.com and join today. You can chat with Klaas forum name “sejp” and other people involved in the goldfish hobby as well as myself.

Hope you enjoyed these goldfish video clips and see you all on the fish forum!

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Aquarium Care Goldfish Goldfish Care

Do Goldfish Need An Air Pump In Fish Bowl or Aquarium?

By Jamie Boyle

Do goldfish need an aquarium air pump? Yes and no really. If you want your goldfish to live a long healthy life then go with an air pump. Having an air pump in the aquarium or goldfish bowl helps in so many ways. It creates gas exchange and helps add oxygen to the water. Some people believe that goldfish will live just fine without an air pump and that may be so. For instance if you have an aquarium and have a filter running this helps add oxygen to the water. The water flowing in forces oxygen into the water increasing the oxygen level that fish need.

Goldfish need oxygen too. For instance on hot sunny days in goldfish ponds you may see your fish coming to the surface gasping for air. This happens especially when you have green algae blooms. GoldfishWhat you need to do is add oxygen quickly to the water. Spray a hose directly into the water will help increase the oxygen level. In warm hot sunny days the oxygen level is low as the temperature of the water is high. In cold water is where you see an abundance of oxygen available. There is more oxygen in cold water then there is warm water. So in reference to aquarium air pumps they are highly beneficial to a properly functional goldfish tank.

Aquarium Air Pumps - Elite Air Pump Maxima

Goldfish need plenty of oxygen and an aquarium air pump is highly recommended as it helps reduce stress too. As we all know with stress can come sickness and diseases so it is always best to take all necessary steps to keeping goldfish healthy. I mentioned about a goldfish pond in the summer just to explain a little more on this subject. As far as goldfish bowls and aquariums are concerned it is to your best option to go and equip your fish tank with an air pump. The agitation that happens at the surface of the water will add oxygen to your fish tank. This will create a healthier home for your fish and will reduce stress. If people are planning on having good luck taking care of goldfish then I would suggest not to go and try and keep them in a goldfish bowl. It’s just too small and in order to have great luck with fish keeping I would get all the proper equipment needed such as air pump, filter and aquarium gravel. With basically everything in life things need oxygen to live and goldfish are much the same. Also beneficial bacteria in your filter need oxygen to live and reproduce. Air pumps can help in so many ways in keeping an aquarium healthy. I hope this helps give you more of an idea on why people should really have an air pump in their fish tank. Your goldfish will like you for it and you will have better luck with your overall experience in fish keeping. Having an air pump in your goldfish aquarium is absolutely necessary towards optimum fish health.

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Goldfish Goldfish Care

New Goldfish Forum – PetGoldfishForum.com

Dear readers,

For a while now you all have been visiting my blog GoldfishCareInformation.com for all your goldfish related questions. It started off as a small blog with limited traffic but now receives almost 400-500 hits a day with around 900-1000 pageviews and growing each and everyday. I thank everyone for stopping by and looking for answers to their questions or seeking advice on how to treat their goldfish. This blog did not only just grow from the content but grew from all your posts and from people who shared a link to come visit my blog all across the Internet. Thanks again! 🙂

Now to help everyone and to give back to you I have been planning a forum so that each and everyone will be able to communicate with each other and talk with other pond and fish owners.Jamie Boyle From GoldfishCareInformation.com Over the last few days I have been setting up a goldfish forum for anyone who would like to join and talk with other goldfish owners, share stories, pictures or simply look for more help. This will give everyone a chance not just to talk to me but to speak with other people involved in the hobby from aquariums, ponds, goldfish, koi etc… It will be a great way to share tips, see product reviews, learn about what fish medications treat what etc.. The biggest thing I want is for people to learn, meet people, offer help to one another and just have fun. Basically what I want to do is create a social network similar to Facebook but with a close group of people with all the same interests. Here on this fish forum people will be able to talk all about water gardening, ponds and fish.

Pet Goldfish Forum Preview

The goldfish forum has just been set up and is operational right now. There is a sample of the forum above in which I will continue to work on it and spice it up with graphics and more. You can join add posts, comment on others threads etc.. For anyone wishing to join the forum they can do so here at www.PetGoldfishForum.com I hope for everyone that decides to join that they have fun and learn a thing or two at the same time. For anyone who has any suggestions or feedback on what other forum topics they would like to see please feel free to comment. I hope that everyone will enjoy the forum as I will try and make this one of the biggest goldfish resources on the Internet.

Thanks to everyone and see you all soon at PetGoldfishForum.com !

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy