Bad rain??

I'm shortly off down the lower Severn hoping the little bit of rain we have had has freshened it up but will it have the opposite effect?.......i'll explain!......last night the goldfish in the missus's little ornimental pool were looking very sick and this morning all but one (and that one aint gonna last!)were dead........i have just come back from the local aquarists and they said that since we had the rain they have been inundated with folk with sick fish in outdoor pools........sort of makes you wonder doesn't it?.......it would certainly tie in with some of my fishing experiences on the river last season!!...............is the rain turning bad????????????

Paul, sorry to hear about the fish.This time of year is always one of the worst for fish in garden ponds,but I believe it has more to do with the high humidity and consequent lack of dissolved oxygen in the water than bad rain.

It's best to have some form of artificial water movement in these comditions and you will often find that the fish are grouped together where the water is disturbed,I know mine always are.

Is the pond shallow and silty..? Or did it have a layer of surface skum/duckweed which has recently sunk to the bottom..?

In heavy rain, the water can "turn", ie rotting stuff on the bottom gets stirred up, de-oxygenating the water.

The locals reckon this is what could have caused the recent fish kill on the Old Bedford up here.

John?Chris,
The pond is only small and it had a fountain/filter so i presume that would put oxygen into the water and the pond had no silt......it's had a little green algae but thats about all......the aquarist shop said that the rain has been messing up the PH levels........perhaps it is a mixture of the things you say plus a little acidic rain?.........if i were naughty i could clean it out and keep a few livies in there.......but i'm not