Re: [GSAS-Member] Sad and Hot week - outside goldfish

["Betty Goetz" <haika@drizzle.com>]

I ended up losing 3 shubunkins outside and emptying the entire 100g stock
tank to bring the rest (6) into the house since they are hard to net with
all the waterlily vegetation. I only found one young-of-the-year fry
although there had been quite a few small fry a month ago. Those fish are
eating well and getting daily water changes since the tank is so small (~
40 g rubbermaid bin). This is the only tank where the fish seemed
stressed. The two 150g tanks continued to get morning and evening fresh
water changes to cool things down as long as the temperatures were above
90F and I had large sheets of cardboard over them tilted at an angle with
the highest end towards the house to maximize air circulation. I'd lost my
old white comet from one of these. My solar airstones got shipped today
(weak grin).

The sarasa tank is FULL of 1" + babies (probably 30 or so but it's hard to
count the black ones) and the fish are much more lively with the cooler
temperatures. Some of those little ones are already quite orange....makes
me wonder more about what's gonna happen with the black ones (sigh). The
koi seem fine and are the most interested in food of all outside tanks.
The babies (4 left) from last year's koi grow-out contest are getting so
big now! I'm estimating 8" or so for the biggest ones. Two are almost as
large (about 2/3 the size) as the 2 year old from the koi show purchased
in 2008.

Lessons learned:
1. Above-ground BLACK stock tanks on the south side of the house with no
water circulation need help when the temperatures get above 90F.
2. The tanks with parrotfeather SEEM to be happier/healthier than the
tanks without(shubunkin tank). So I have put a pot full of cuttings in the
shubunkin tank and will move the shubunkis back outside once those
cuttings root enough to stay in the pot (grin).

Problem solving:
1. Purchase solar airstones since no electrical service is present on the
exterior south side of the house. Next time I'll have them on hand!
2. Shading of tanks - Move larger potted trees around the tanks to help
shade and place barrier over top. Need to shade both top and sides to
minimize heating.
3. It would probably be good to dig these at least partially into the
ground, but that increases the risk of raccoon predation.
4. Ultimate solution would be to build a pond with water
filtration/circulation/aeration. Did anyone with a REAL pond situation
lose outside goldfish/koi to high temperatures????

Betty Goetz

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