Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Help please ,

I have put silver perch in my tank and have lost three in the last week. I had the same problem with the trout and last season with barra.

When they die the fish have their mouths open wide. Does that seem to be they are not getting enough air??

The water tests are always OK. I have 4 air hoses in the tank.

I have two grow beds, and 1000 lt tank. Salt is at 1 pc, started with 30 fish now down to 27 .

I can,t work out the reason for some dying.

Any ideas please.

Linda

What size is your air pump (litres per minute/hour)?
Where are your airstones placed?
What are the other stats of your system (water temp, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)?
Do you have pics of the dead fish?

What is the temperature of your water Linda and what size are the perch?

The air pumps are one I got from BYAP. AC 8800A. I have the stones on the bottom spaced out in the tank.

Water is,

Am 0
Nitrate 0
PH fresh 6
Nitrite O

Water temp is 22
Fish are 10 to 12 cms. Got them from Golden pond.

Feeding them 4 ml pellets from GP

Yes I have a pic. How can I Get it to you. E mail??

Just found another dead one. I am getting very discouraged.

Thanks,

Linda

If you're sure your pH test is reading 6.0... then it might actually be lower....

Get some hydrated lime... "brickies lime"... and add a small handful...

Test a few hours later... and report back with the pH...

I presume you acclimatised the fishes to the tank water properly and not just add them straight in?

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They have been in the tank for 2 weeks are are just now dying. so i don't think it's that? They were in the water from GP for 45 min before we got them home and the temp was the same.

Thanks,

Linda

Is there a test kit for pH under 6?

Either way I would suggest you listen to Rupe's advice. Just bring your pH up slowly.

In regards to your airstones. Are they making the surface of the water move much? I believe this is where most of the oxygen exchange takes place.

Not disagreeing with above advice. You should take a look at gill filaments of fresh dead fish (or even some live ones) are there any unusual looking areas ? Dead gills will be faded but look for cottony growth, brown or eroded areas. Any unusual appearance may indicate a disease on gills preventing adequate oxygen transfer. Sounds like your getting enough oxygen unless power outage or air pump malfunction occured.

Thanks, I am putting some lime in slowly. WHat is the ideal level of Ph to get to?

Linda

To fix a pH issue gradually, I found it best to have shellgrit in a bag in the tank near where there is water movement. Lime will only help short term and loses its effect quickly.

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Thanks. Will do.

I second the shell grit in the tank idea, it is cheap, easy and safe!
Shell grit has a two fold effect as it also adds calcium which can be seen as blossom end rot in some tomatoes.

OK thanks , have put the shell gritty in. Let's see what happens now. Problem fixed I hope.

The shell grit is certainly a long lasting, self regulating buffer... but will be a lot slower to move the pH...

But you might ahve brought the pH up a bit with the lime anyway... so all good...