Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm new to aquaponics. I bought 50 fingerlings from Lakeway Tilapia. When I bought the fish the only tank I had was the 275 gallon tote. After about 3 days a fish would die every day / other day. Well I had to drain the tote so I put the fish in a 10 gallon tank I had sitting around. I haven't has 1 fish die since. The tote was marked food grade and it had celery juice in it prior to me buying it. I cleaned it thoroughly when I got them home with Dawn soap. I rinsed it really well then let tote sit for a few days before I filled it the first time. Threw a few changes I actually filled the tank twice before adding the fish. I put a few air stones and circulation pump in the tote and it ran for a week before adding the fish. So I'm not sure why they were dying. Does anyone have any suggestions as to why they were dying in the tote and then stopped dying in the 10 gal fish tank.

Hi and welcome to the forum

Had you been cycling your system before you picked up the fingerlings

What filtration do you have , some more info on system will help us

Common sudden fish death causes

Nitrite poisoning

Disease

Stress from big Temperature or Ph swings

Low oxygen levels

Tilapia are apparently pretty tough fish

Apart from the possibility you've already thought of - that the first tank had something toxic in it (ie not just celery juice) - the only thing I can think of is that by coincidence, your system became cycled around the same time you moved the fish.

Did you do any water testing before you moved them? ... things like ammonia and nitrite levels might be helpful for others wanting to give advice. And maybe a bit more about your system, like growbed size and how it is set up in general.

EDIT... Terra beat me to it!

pipes and delivery/circulation system and even the pump may be an issue.

Did the temporary tank used the same water or new water ?
(same source or different source ?)