Goldfish keep dying in the winter.

[FreshyFresh]

Odd one. You have had them make it through the winter fine in the past? If so, your stocking level was exactly the same then? Maybe it is an oxygenation issue if the little guys make it through, but the bigger, heavier breathing ones (comets) don't?

 

[Rbishop]

Bingo.

 

[discus12]

Odd one. You have had them make it through the winter fine in the past? If so, your stocking level was exactly the same then? Maybe it is an oxygenation issue if the little guys make it through, but the bigger, heavier breathing ones (comets) don't?

Some goldfish have made it through previous winters but most have just seemed to die off in the winter or were eaten by a blue heron. Stocking levels were actually much higher in the past with larger fish, seemed to lose a lot less fish when stocking levels were higher and goldfish larger but a blue heron ate all the decent sized goldfish last year. Now, maybe there were 35 or 40 mostly 3 to 4 inch comet goldfish this fall, I have lost about 14-16 this winter. The larger 6-8 inch koi are doing fine, rosy reds and other fish doing fine, just comet goldfish that seem to be very slow moving, lethargic, and dying.