Garden Ponds are a great way to enjoy your California backyard

Fish Aliments Perhaps even more common than fungus is constipation (coupled with indigestion) ; the fish will lie on the bottom listless and sick- looking and will perform queer evolutions such as standing on its head ; the stomach will be somewhat swollen. An Epsom Salt bath, three and a half tablespoonfuls to the gallon of water, for twenty-four hours, and another day in clear water without food seems to be the most satisfactory treatment. If the first meal is chopped earthworm, so much the better.

One may find the fish looking tired, and floating on its side on the surface, for no apparent reason. This is usually due to ' pond disease' arising from bacteria and can be compared to anaemia in human beings. The fish should be placed in running water, a shallow dish standing in the sink with water from the tap dripping on it will do. This is a peculiar disease and can prove fatal. I have found that if a few drops of iodine are added to the water and the fish allowed to be in it for an hour or so before the tap is turned on, recovery is more certain. White Spot is another disease that may prove fatal. The victim is covered with white patches flush with the skin and not standing out like fungus. The treatment is drastic, and consists of wiping the fish all over with a piece of lint dipped in paraffin ; then the entire fish is placed in the paraffin itself for exactly five seconds. Then put the fish in running water for twenty-four hours and return to the pond.

Colds are not confined to mankind alone and if a fish goes ' dull' in both appearance and movement and has palish patches on the body one may be certain that it is suffering from a cold, probably caused by the aquarium being in a draught. The salt water bath is the best treatment.

Tail-rot is another disease with a bacterial origin, at least so far as we know. The treatment is a drastic one ; the affected fins- they have a congested, bloodshot look-should be dipped in paraffin every day for ten days. After each dipping the fish must have a salt water bath. As this complaint is likely to be fatal and as it has an unhappy knack of choosing the best fancy fishes, it is advisable to disinfect the aquarium thoroughly before the convalescent returns. Breeding time brings along its own particular crop of ills, the principal being ' egg-binding ' in the female. The body is distended and the fish is off colour generally. The only remedy is to strip the eggs ; this may be done by gently inserting a smooth, thinnish instrument, the end of a pen-holder will do, into the vent parallel with the body and towards the head. Then, by softly working with the fingers from the pectoral fins towards the tail, the eggs may be expressed.

If a fish is at all valuable, it is always advisable, in the absence of an expert and if the actual complaint cannot be diagnosed, to resort to the salt water bath, interspersed with a few hours in running water. This treatment at least has a general tonic effect.

To keep the fishes healthy is, of course, the best. This may be assisted by giving them a small quantity of Epsom Salt and common salt about every fortnight except during the Winter. In fact, the best packet foods contain a little mineral salts