AboutChris Robbins Expertise I have 25+ years of personal experience as a pet
store employee and manager in the family pet store
business. The main part of our business was
Freshwater Fish. I can answer questions on; Fish care, diseases,
parasites and fish identification, feeding your
fish, breeding and sexing your fish, setting up
your aquarium, cleaning your aquarium, and
"what`s this weird stuff in my tank/on my
fish" questions. I am not an African Cichlid expert, Plant expert or Brackish Expert. No Pond or Saltwater Questions Please.
Experience I worked in and managed my family's fish and pet and fish store for 26 years and maintained the 35 aquariums. My experience also has included occasional in-home consultation and aquarium maintenance for my clients.
Question first of all i really appreciate you taking the time to read my question and point me in the right direction. I have a neighbor that is trying to raise some goldfish in his new water trough that is for his horses. I will say that this is very common here in the country, as we live out in the country around others who raise livestock. I am trying to get some answers as to why the goldfish keep dying within about 30 to 45 minutes after they are placed into the trough. I would think that it is something simple causing this but just to get it right I would really appreciate some suggestions. Thank you for your help. Brady
Answer Hi Brady;
It's a common practice here too (California). Mosquitoes love it here. But, luckily for us, goldfish love mosquito larvae. ;-)
There are several possibilities for such sudden death. The most common cause of death in newly added fish is shock. Goldfish are pretty hardy fish, but within reason. Be sure you take the new fish directly from the store to the trough and avoid temperature extremes on the way. They should not be in the transport bag longer than an hour and-a-half or so, including acclimation time. Acclimation is the time needed to get the fish adjusted to their new water, it takes about 20 minutes. The water in the trough may have a different temperature or chemistry than what the fish were in while in the transport bag. To acclimate, you will be floating the bag on the trough water for about 15 minutes. Float the sealed transport bag on top of the trough for the first 5 minutes. After the first 5 minutes, open the bag and add a little trough water to the bag and re-seal, allowing a new big fresh air bubble. Let it float for another 5 minutes and add it a little more water and seal again. After they have floated there for a total of 15 minutes with 2 water additions, net the fish from the bag and release them into the trough. You don't want the nasty transport water in the trough. It has stress hormones and waste toxins in it that you don't want to add to the trough. Some people have been very lucky and just basically dump the fish in right from the store. It often doesn't work out though.
Another possibility is poisoning. If the livestock has fly spray or anything like that applied to them, they are introducing the chemical into the water as they drink and it's killing the fish. Or, there could be a chemical leaching into the water from the trough itself. It may not be dangerous to the livestock, but fish are very sensitive to many chemicals, in surprisingly small amounts. Chemicals can burn gills or cause fish paralysis and then death by suffocation. Water troughs are stored before they are sold, often if feed supply stores, and all it takes is for some insecticide, fertilizer, cleaner, etc., to get inside. You might try emptying and refilling the trough a couple of times. If it's a metal trough you have a better chance of getting it rinsed out. The rubber types absorb chemicals and cleaners quite readily and may continuously leach trace amounts of them into the water for months or years. If the trough has ever been cleaned with soaps, detergents, etc, that could be the problem.
Be sure that the water source for the trough has no chlorine or other additives. If the water is treated, simply add an aquarium water conditioner if the trough ever gets a lot of new water added. Just let the trough water stand for a few days before putting fish in the first time, and add water conditioner every time more than 25% of new water is added thereafter.
Be sure that there is never more than about one goldfish for every 40 gallons of water in a trough because there no filter to remove waste and provide oxygen. In filtered tanks and ponds with plants you can have more, but goldfish are very messy guys that can get quite large, about 6 to 8 inches or more. They need plenty of oxygen to thrive.
I hope your neighbor can get something to survive in there. Good luck...
