Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi guys I hate to to just jump in here and start asking questions but I need help bad. My fish are dying they look like they have some white fungus on them. Find one or two dead every day. So system stats ammonia 2.0 to 4.0 ppm I'm 95% sure that is the problem. Nitrate is around 2.0 ppm. Nitrite 0.0 pH 7.0 water temp is 58 degrees F. fish tank is 100 gals. there are now about 20 2in long fish was about 45. 25 gal sump tank. The pump is a 400 gal in hour pump that runs full time. Swirl filter to remove the solids. grow bed is 24 in wide by 36 in long and 6 in deep. Im going to make another one that the same size tomorrow. It is a flood drain system. Any and help would be truely appreciated.
Thank you Scott

Is there any salt in the system?
This will aid in Nitrate poisoning as I was told when I had some problems

Hi Scotty,

The reason your fish are dying is because your way over stocked, your bio-filter cant handle load and its pushing your ammonia up. Id imagine you have DO issues as well. Basically the fish are stressed.

p.s. Salt helps mitigate nitrite poisening robduca.

Thanks guys what should my stock number be for this size system?

About 4 fish

Partial water change may help but that will not solve problem... more biofiltration needed and you can't make that happen overnight as bacteria will take time to build colonies even if you add more beds or other form of media right now...
So maybe change 1/3 to half the water and stop feeding for a few days then only feed bare minimum until you add more bio..

Ok I will add another bed and thin the school. I haven't feed them in 2 days. Also change the out some water. Should I try to save any of these fish or just get 4 new fish?

Add your second bed,thin the fish down to as Charlie said 4,constant flow, air as much as you have or more and salt to min 3ppm,this will help against the nitrites and help with the fungal disease.The high ammonia has stressed them out so bad there immune systems are compromised leaving them wide open for disease.
First priority salt to 3ppm.
You will be safe to add maybe two more when your Nitrite reading has dropped off.

Thanks for all the tips I will get started on them right away.

So how much would 3ppm of salt be in 125 gallons of water?

Although over stocking is an issue I don't think it is the cause of the white fungus. Could it be ich?
125 gallons = 568 litres so 3 ppt = 1.7 kg or 3.75 pounds.

Thanks guy started on the 2nd bed just need some fine tuning on the bell siphon. going to get some salt tomorrow.

Just my opinion but the high stocking caused the high ammonia which will impact on the immune system by the stress caused, this will leave the fish wide open for disease,from his description it sounds more like a fungal disease,ich would be small pin point spots.In any case the salt at 3ppm should do the trick.

Ok guys I cut back my number of fish, did a 1/3 water change, doubled my grow bed size, and salted the tank. The whites fungus I had seems to be under control. But my ammonia keeps climbing. Yesterday it was .50 ppm and tonight it is above 2.0. Do I just need to wait it out or is there something else going on?

g'day Chewy
stop feeding the fish for a week or two the fish will survive and your ammonia levels will come down