Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

paffoh what shrimp do you have?

Probably none by now Zman....

Z,

Shrimp are/were ghost shrimp (Glass) as far as I'm aware.

Our local waterway is filled with them and are a popular food source for the local Cod/Perch population. A friend catches them often to feed up his pet Bass (Aquarium housed). Quite easy to catch and some specimens grow almost large enough to harvest. Popular bait for trout coupled on a small hook, fascinating species to watch though as they move through all depths with relative ease.

Without sounding rash, I hope they have been eaten (No hides makes for no decent life) as I want the Silvers to vary their diet beyond pellets, moving on eventually to vegetive matter.

Big outside temperature drop today, 16 degrees maximum (Compared to 27 day before).

Result being water temp also down 6 degrees, pH swing/rise to 7.6, ammonia still 0.25ppm, nitrites steady at 0.25ppm and nitrates up to 5.0ppm. Most feed from last night's 8 grams gone, so worked out a film canister full is 5 grams and fed them that. Bit noisy in the tank last night and a few appear to be 'Bullying' each other around, nipping on tails. Read that its probably due to stocking density in the real world, or fin nip, but in my scenario I am hoping it's just due to the kings of the school gaining control of their scenarios.

if they are not eating thir food in less than 15 mins, then stop feeding, i wouldnt be feeding at all till my ammonia and nitrite dropped to 0

Thanks for the advice,

Second day in tank so hoping they smash it good and proper.

Will check feed and hope the small levels return to zero before feeding.

Weather much the same today, however ammonia and nitrate back to 0.

Have a warmer weekend ahead, dropping back to similar cooler temps next week.

Silvers taking pellets, but halved feed just in case, and a few have eaten some token worms.

Big shrimp still around, dont know where the other two have gone?

I'm hoping zero?

Well the inevitable happened, one fish was looking sick before I went away...

You know, sitting by himself, not scared, bladder problems so I added some salt again to (1ppt) as he didn't look like he was going to make it. Off I drove 9 hours away, fishing and fun then got an SMS this morning saying a fish had died. Got the caretaker to double check readings and returned was pH 7.4 amo 0 and nitrates/nitrites both 0.

The pH has dropped 2 points (down from 7.6), and I get home on Monday evening. Apparently remaining fish are fine, flighty but generally ok by the looks of things. Here's hoping no more dead fish, as morbid as it seems I want to be the one who lays them to rest. She's kept it, freezed it ready for inspection...

Always the way, should she feed them? (2.5 grams last night, 1/4 film canister).

You should be able to bump your feed up .... aim for two feeds a day as water warms...once a day in the arvo if temps are still down...

Watch your tests... and skip a feed if you get a "blip"

Well another fish down, 28 left but looking good...

Got home from my trip and checked the system, all the plants looked like they had been enjoying a burst of sunshine. Water tests came back with Amonia 0.25PPM, Nitrates 0.50PPM and Nitrates 5.0PPM. Skipped a feed cycle in hope things would stop elevating and come this morning Amonia very close to zero and Nitrates 0.0PPM. Gave them 10 grams of feed which they smashed, literally (Didnt see it but none left at all).

I did notice one fish by himself up the top with what looked like fin rot, and sure enough he was almost dead 10 minutes later. Isolated him in a hospital tank and salted very high in aerated water but alas another casulty. Missus had kept the previous dead fish in the freezer so I thawed it out and compared visual diagnostics.

Well, first one looked in good shape but tail a little tattered. Todays one definately had something going on with its tail and had blushed fins (A sure sign of stress). All other fish appear to be doing well with no signs of fin rot. I am going to assume the fish that died today was indeed the fish that was sick before I left and the fish that died when I was away was just totally random. I have thrown a few worms from my worm garden in, approximately 5 in total so might cease that just in case (They eat them, I watch). They dont appear to be bullying each other anymore, but will keep an eye on that at all times. All up now the system has been dosed salt wise to 1PPT, then another 1PPT, then .5PPT

Water quality looks great, no debris on the bottom whatsoever and big Shrimp still kicking and has grown.

Lots of flashing this arvo, thought it was one but no...

Added 3 kilos salt diluted in a bucket, dropped the lot in FT, heres hoping...

Guess I cut out feed too.

So that's about 5.5kg of salt so far... should do the trick...

Yep, figured 6ppt all up would be best...

1kg on 24th, 1kg on 29th, 300g from 40 litre salt bath along with 3ppt today.

Well, no more deaths, fish looking better but some still flashing.

pH has dropped by 2 points (7.4), ammonia just below 0.25PPM, 0.0PPM Nitrite, 10.0PPM Nitrate. Couple of high 20 degree days coming up, if no drop in amonia soon will do half water change and re-salt to 6PPM to halt bacteria conversion (Plus need to top up tank due to transpiration). Whats the lifecycle of Ich, 21 days before de-salting system or until all behaviour has ceased?.

Oh, added another 40 litres of GB via my constant flood gutter expansion. Managed to trigger the auto siphon on the return bed, took 18 minutes, made a slight modification and got it down to 8 minutes. Tried stealing flow from left bed and it worked, so will go with that rather than adding another pump bypass. No leaks, 4 days of checking, various lettuce planted as first experiment.

Photos to come.