Goldfish fins rotting

Question:

I am not sure how many gallons that are in my pond. I have a cirle pond 28″ high and the radius 40″. How many gallons of water do I have? Also, two of my gold fish are sick…They are losing their fins…Like if they are rotting away…What medication should I use for this? And are we able to save them? Will they grow back their fins? Pam

Answer:

It sounds like the pond holds about 50 gallons. Your fish seem to be suffering from “fin rot” which is usually caused by bad water quality. You did not mention if the pond has a pond filter?

The first thing to do is to stop all feeding measure ammonia and nitrite levels with a good pond water test kit. Changing the water as necessary and adding beneficial bacteria to consume some of the fish waste that is poisoning the water are essential steps.

The fish can be treated with medication for “fin rot”. The will eventually re-grow their fins but it will take quite some time.