Goldfish Out Of Pond

by Sherry
(Wall, NJ)

I found my goldfish out of the pond. It was still alive so I put it back in. I need to know how to care for it.
It is about 5 years old and 10 inches long.

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Grant's Reply


Hi Sherry

The first question is, why was your goldfish out of the pond?

Did it jump as single tailed goldfish are prone to do if startled, or did a cat or bird hook it out and leave it?

I ask because you need to identify why your goldfish was out of the pond, otherwise it is likely to happen again.

If you have trained your goldfish to come to the pond side when you feed it, then the likely cause was a bird or cat. Once cats learn how to fish, they become very good at hooking fish out with their claws.

As far as care, it can be assumed that scales have been dislodged, and certainly the protective layer of slime will have been disturbed.

Fungus can attack a wound if the damage is bad enough.

The goldfish needs to be put in a mild salt bath (two heaped teaspoons of un-iodized cooking salt per gallon) for a few days. Some API Stress Coat is ideal in these circumstances as it provides a coating over the fish until the protective slime has repaired itself. Read more about Stress Coat here...

It has been a week since you found it out of the pond, so I would carefully catch the goldfish and examine it for redness, missing scales or fungus.

If the fish is eating well and has no physical signs of damage, just feed it some live food to speed up the repair of any unseen damage. If you have any doubts treat as above.