im in scotland, so i have no idea about the weather where you are.
if youre pretty sure the worst of the frosts has passed then you could let them in the main pond this week.
see if you can get a temperature for both the pond and the pool to see what the difference is.
as for ph, goldfish can acclimatise to it but only slowly. can you maybe add some pond water to the kiddie pool and see if you can acclimate them that way for a few days? another way is to put the fish in a bin with some kiddie pool water and then slowly over the day add a bit of pond water and test it for ph regularly to make sure the ph isnt going up too drastically.
the bumps on the gills are probably breeding tubercles and he is ready for spawning.

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