Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everyone i have another post that was related to my Ich problem in my new and first aquaponics project.

It has turned into a living nightmare for me, problems with the aphids and the plants, and problems with the Fish.

Last time i put all the tilapia fingerlings in the hospital tank for a week with a salt content of 6ppm, after that the Ich wasnt visible so i returned them to the 1000lt tank. to the 1000lt tank i salted 3ppm.

The dying did not stop, it even got worse, now it isnt Ich, it's seems to be something else, i see blood in the mouth of the tilapia, in the gills and other places; they swing in circles or bended, they have no appetite and now even the larger ones are dying. The base of the fish and the anus seems a little green, some of them have protruded eyes and others fash a little.

from my original 100 tilapias i only have about 35, the deaths have accelerated dramatily and i fear they will all die.


Next time one dies i will take a photo, but let me tell you, it doesnt look that bad visibly, it takes close examination to see the blood and lesions.

Best regards and i hope someone has experienced this before and can help my poor tilapias survive this massacre.

In my limited knowledge and May hours reading this forum + other sites, it sounds to me that you have too high ammonia level.
Did they get healthy in the hospital tank?
You defiantly need to test your water
The symptoms seem to point to something like that
Has your system cycled properly
Just looked over your post again. What did you do about the aphids? No sprays?

1000L tank and 100 Tilapia?

What are your water test results, pH, ammonia and nitrites?

amonnia 0 or close to, PH 7.8, nitrites unknown, ran out of test kit.

I forgot to mention i did a 30% water change, in theory it shouldve solve the problem if it was nitrites right?

the system has been running for two months, one month clycling another one with tilapia, the amonnia was always hard to see, it seems that the media i used was rich in bacteria, but there was always some nitrites and a lot of nitrates.

Probably a lot lower now since i stopped feeding the tilapia or reduced the ammount a lot.

How warm is your water?

You may just be too late now if they have had ich already.

Hi pechan03,

Take things in stride. For the aphids, chili garlic spray or ladybugs (not both).

When the fish came back to the original tank did they look healthy? How long before they started acting strange?

EB beat me to the water temp question .

water 24-28°c depending on the climate conditions
It took them like a week to start dying again but in greater numbers

I'd recommend getting a new test kit, to rule out the nitrites.

When you changed the water, did you treat for chlorine (giving it time to gas out, bubblers?)?

From memory, the chlorine burns the fish gills, and they'll sit on the bottom, and basically die from suffocation.

If they were weakened by the ich, and put back into a FT you just did a 30% water change on, it could cause issues.

Others on here know fish diseases far better than me though.

I have to agree. Get a test kit and know what your water is. The only two fish I lost were from nitrites and I know that because my nitrites went off the charts. Initial start up of an aquaponics system can have it's challenges. Slow down and do one thing at a time so you know the impact of the changes before making another change.

+1


+1

lots of death fish.

some have blood, others lessions on the skin, some doesnt seem to have anything wrong with them.
One was really fat, really puffed up belly. some started jumping out of the hospital tank.

To be honest, im beggining to accept the fact that they are all going to die, i just would like to know why, so it doesnt happen to the next batch.

When they all die, what are the steps to "clean" my system so it is safe for the next batch of fish?

Stock appropriately to the level of filtration of your system. I suggest you do some more reading before you get any more fish

Overstocking has lead to the death of your fish


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Any chance they have been poisoned by something getting into the water?