| Not sure where you are in the country but the nights will be warming up over the next few weeks. I see only one more night in the next ten days that will be back down in the 30s. So you should be ready to go outside in three weeks .
This will be tricky in that normally you want to lower your aquarium temps to room temperature over the last few weeks so that moving them out to cooler pond water is no big deal for them. As long as the change is not more than 5 degrees cooler you should be fine ( make sure you have a thermometer in the pond). pH is another simple thing to check before moving them.
But back to your current situation, the 55 should have better water quality and a live biofilter but sluggish due to having no food ( ammonia) from the fish being absent. So I'd slow feeding and avoid trying to 'grow them' in the 55 gallons of water. There is plenty of time for that in July and August out in the bigger pond.
After you have checked them for parasites under a microscope, if they are free from live parasites, then you need to lower the temps back top match the outside water temps as mentioned. Just keep cutting back the temperatures by 2 degrees a day.
As far as how to check for parasites, it is very easy. just use a cover slip ( you should buy glass slides and plastic cover slips) . You hold the cover slip between your thumb and index finger and run it down the side of the fish ( with/in direction of the scales, that is from head down towards tail) applying minimal pressure. If you do it right, you should see a slight amount of slime coat that has been collected from the scraping action. Transfer this material to a slide, add a single droplet of water from the aquarium and lower the cover slip. Now put it on the microscope stage and focus ( careful not to crack the slide!) and adjust the light, you do not want it too bright or too dim. Start with the lowest power and refocus- just look for movement, nothing more. And be patient. If you see movement change to a stronger power, and see if you can identify anything. Let us know what you see and one of us will be able to identity it. JR |