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Okay guys... I have to tell you what happened today. I live in very very rural Arizona. Up in the mountains is a windmill, and a large cement holding tank (I mean LARGE... like swimming pool large). When my sister and I were little kids we put some goldfish in there... and they've lived and grown and made babies for 30 years.

Every once in a while, my BF and I drive our ATV up there to see the fish and hang out. Well, today we went up there... and something must have malfunctioned with the windmill. I don't know why the forest service didn't notice... the fish and game guys are up there all the time. But there was NO water left... I mean less than an inch of water on top of 6 inches of MUCK.

So anyway, there were over 100 goldfish, some over 6 inches in length, laying in a that tiny bit of water... It was HORRIBLE!!

So I took off my shoes, and scaled the wall and jumped in. Cut the holy HECK out of my arm on my way in. I landed in 6 inches of muck. The fish started wiggling. Alot of them were still ALIVE!! I was shocked... the BF grabbed a 5 gallon bucket and some water out of the small water tank, and I started grabbing them by hand and putting them in the bucket.

After a LONG time, and several bucketfulls of fish - we ended up bringing home dang near 100 fish. They are sunburned, and stressed beyond belief. I don't know how long they'd been laying in those tiny puddles.

I have 15 acres, and five 75 gallon livestock water tanks. I tried to evenly distribute the fish between them... and don't tell me, I know they are HORRIBLY over stocked... but I didn't know what else to do with them at the time. Those fish were running out of time.

SO... here I am, a bit battered (my arm is a bloody mess LOL), and with all these fish. I don't know how many of them will live. If they do, I'll start trying to find homes for as many as I can.

Does anyone know of anything else I can do to help them?? They are so sunburned... it's horrible. But they are all swimming tonight, and eating. I can't belive it.

Any help would be appreciated. Sorry about the LONG post.

Can you shade the stock tanks? That seems like the best first step. Make sure you're doing water changes (if possible) and call whoever's responsible for that pond ASAP and see what they can do. Other than that - hope for good luck!

-Molly
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Wow, andrea, that was a wonderful thing that you've done for them! I'm glad you found them before it was too late.

I wonder how much Stress Coat it would take to take care of all that? Seriously, though, I wouldn't know what to do except hope for the best for these little guys.

i live in southern az, not quite the boonies though. i would not come down too hard on game and fish. keep in mind we are still in the midst of a severe drought. the windmill's water source may have dried up. if the tank is on private property, the owner may have decided to abandon it. there has also been an effort to eradicate/control non-native species (everything from plants on up). if the tank contained bullfrogs, it may have intentionally been left to dry up to control them (several threatened frog species are up for reintroduction into the wild. those holding tanks make excellent habitats for them. unfortunatly, crayfish and bullfrogs munch on them).

anyway- i would try to contact any koi or pond clubs you can find. after explaining the situation, they should be able to assist you. local tropical fish shops may know of some groups that may help. you may try the parks and recreation department- i know of several parks here with large ponds that could handle that many goldfish (ASK permission before putting them in). at least the temps are no longer in the 100's- their oxygen/food requirements should decrease a little.

kudos for the heroic effort. a purple heart for your battle wounds.

It's amazing that the population was able to thrive like that for 30 years. (Also amazing would have been the stink if they all died a couple days before you checked.)

There must be a lot of mud in their gills, so hopefully you still have those buckets on hand.
Melafix might do some good. Also, there are some water conditioners that will contain additional ingredients like aloe. (I remember one geared towards bettas, but it will help goldfish, too, of course.)

Last edited by Corydoran at 06-Oct-2004 12:18

Personally - I would use the minimum of meds and make the minimum of changes possible. Try and keep temperatures constant, and as the tanks are overstocked, if you can check on the fish 2x per day, you should be able to get any dead ones out before they cause a problem. Get i touch with local clubs, animal rescue, local press, all that and try and get help and donations of good quality food and live food. feed the ones that will eat some good high protein food, it will help them heal. If you cna give them some fresh veggies as well - it would help.

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I like to think that whoever designed marine life was thinking of it as basically an entertainment medium. That would explain some of the things down there, some of the unearthly biological contraptions

Oh my gosh, Andrea, that sounds like some of my exploits with my goldies...I've even shared my oxygen with mine!

I agree with with TinyClanger (Hi Tiny)...be very careful about introducing meds right now. I still have doubts about any meds containing aloe since it is pretty thick and might add more gunk to those little gills.

I agree with the veggie idea as well. My goldies love orange slices.

Since your 75 gallon stock tanks are outside (I'm assuming) and I guess you have livestock drinking from these tanks, you will have to be very watchful about adding meds. Also, if these fish have been surviving for 30 years without commercial flake and/or pellet food, you might want to go very, very slowly in introducing that into their diet.

I bet if you called your local paper and invited them out for a photo shoot, you would get some offers to help from people in the area.

Now...how long has it been since you have had a tetnus shot?:88)

Keep us informed...

Oh Andrea, thank you for saving them, I have truely come to love the goldies, and their personalities...I'd think of adding some stress coat might not hurt...as for shade, go and get some of the golf umbrellas, or such and plant them so that they cover the stock tanks...

Does anyone think adding a pump/aerator would help? I think it might...

I hope your arm is okay, and that they all survive...I'd be willing to take 1 or 2 when they are able to travel...but not sure how to transport them to the Houston area...

By the way, long time no see Shearon...we missed you....

Heidi

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

hey shearon Nice to see you back after all this time

Just wondering how the goldies are getting on, hope you've had at least a few survivors!!

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I like to think that whoever designed marine life was thinking of it as basically an entertainment medium. That would explain some of the things down there, some of the unearthly biological contraptions

Andrea, How are the fishies doing? Are they doing ok? Keep us posted, Heidi

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle