Monitoring Fish Health in a Pond?

[billango]

I've recently started up a small indoor pond and I just started wondering how people monitor for disease or general fish health in a pond situation. I realize small vs large ponds and shallow/deep ponds would require different solutions, as well as lightly vs heavily stocked ponds. My pond is lightly stocked but it still isn't the most convenient thing to scoop out each fish and check on them every day with all the hiding places I've given them. It got me wondering what people do in larger ponds as well, or what even fish farms do when they can't monitor every fish, but each fish could spread disease to others potentially. I've thought of getting one of those probe cameras both for monitoring fish health but also because I think it'd be cool to watch the fish underwater like that. Anyways, I don't have any sick fish right now but if anyone has any insights into this, I'd be curious to know. Thanks. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

That is such a great question. Maybe @Fish Folk or @Ken Burke can help?  They have tubs and would have a similar predicament.

[Fish Folk]

I periodically take out batches to check them out in a specimen container. But the big check happens in the fall when I bring them inside. At that point, not before, I decide whether or not to medicate 

[modified lung]

I work at a sturgeon farm. Every morning we hand feed the tanks and watch the feed response. Sick fish don't go after food as enthusiastically as healthy fish. If the whole tank is sick, it's really obvious.

A first sign is usually if there's uneaten food collecting on the bottom or coming out the drain (there's no snails to eat the extra food).

There's always a small percent of fish that might be sick or aren't doing as well as the rest but diseases usually don't spread unless there's something else wrong as well.

Edited July 19, 2022 by modified lung