Hi, I'm new to this forum so apologies if this is in the wrong section.
I've a pond in my garden, 12 foot by 4 foot and about a foot deep. It's pretty wild, by that I mean the local frogs use it to spawn, water snails and other wildlife live in there too, birds come and use it etc but we do keep a few fish in there.
Most of them are Orfes and they seem happy enough zooming about and hiding under the lilies. We also have a Sarassa Comet in there too and it too spent a good few months being elusive and staying hidden.
However we've seen a lot of it lately and while it seems to be alert and able to dart off under cover when it's spotted I have noticed it's looking rather the worse for wear and spending more of it's times resting in the shallows.
There's black blotches on it's orange scales and an unsightly brown on some of it's white scales and tail and they certainly weren't there when we got it eight months ago.
Is the wee thing doomed? Or is there something we can do to help it?
I've tested the pond for the usual things (nitrate, ammonia, hardness etc) and they've come up as fine and we routinely change a small percentage of the water to keep it reasonably clear. We also use a pump to keep the water well oxygenated as well as use a variety of oxygenating plants in the pond.
I've a pond in my garden, 12 foot by 4 foot and about a foot deep. It's pretty wild, by that I mean the local frogs use it to spawn, water snails and other wildlife live in there too, birds come and use it etc but we do keep a few fish in there.
Most of them are Orfes and they seem happy enough zooming about and hiding under the lilies. We also have a Sarassa Comet in there too and it too spent a good few months being elusive and staying hidden.
However we've seen a lot of it lately and while it seems to be alert and able to dart off under cover when it's spotted I have noticed it's looking rather the worse for wear and spending more of it's times resting in the shallows.
There's black blotches on it's orange scales and an unsightly brown on some of it's white scales and tail and they certainly weren't there when we got it eight months ago.
Is the wee thing doomed? Or is there something we can do to help it?
I've tested the pond for the usual things (nitrate, ammonia, hardness etc) and they've come up as fine and we routinely change a small percentage of the water to keep it reasonably clear. We also use a pump to keep the water well oxygenated as well as use a variety of oxygenating plants in the pond.
