Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

After running system for 2 months, and in course of correcting things, i started seeing some growth in the plants

but all of sudden my plants started dying, i have no clue whats happening

morning



night




one by one my plants are dying like this, i think some diesease, lot 3 plants so far. any help would be great

Based on the photos, you are definitely deficient in iron. But in order to help you, I need more information about your system and the steps you took to correct things as you put it. Here's some questions that would be useful to have answers to:

1. Number and type of fish
2. How much are you feeding them?
3. pH, nitrite, nitrate, ammonia levels
4. Type of setup - looks iike maybe some sort of raft system?
5. Amount of water in system


The more information you provide the better our chances at telling you what might have gone wrong.

Are you aerating the DWC? Definitely deficient in Iron on many of those. Might be a phosphorus deficiency on the circled one but it's too far away to really tell. Other possibilities on that one would be spider mites and root rot. The thing that makes me think it's a phosphorus deficiency is the leaves seem to be turning a purple color and the fact that it's affecting the lower leaves more than the upper, which means it's a mobile nutrient

Iron for sure. Like Scotty said, look under leaves for spider mites. Also make sure your plants have a 1" air gap for their roots. Need more info. Fish, feed, water tests?

I reckon Scotty is right on this one i think as well its Root Rot,can you get a picture of the roots of the plants ? could you lift the float and get a pic looking at the root systems ? In the pic, the media in the pot is wet and has started to be covered in algae,the right hand plant the stem looks to be thinning at the base a sign that something isn’t right, as scotty also asked are you aerating the dwc ? If you have poorly developed root systems the plants will be unable to take up the required nutrients.

that's way too wet.. can you raise the cups?

Hi ebeuerle,scotty435,coachchris,dasboot,keith - Thanks for taking time out posting me for help


here is the system details, more pics are in thread, i dono how i can do cross posting, some help would be great


FT : 3000 Litres

Fishes : 70 - Gold and Koi (avg : 2.5 inch)

GB : Raft (150 litre) - No aeration


Fish Feed : 18 table spoons per day is this enough ? (sorry this is how i measure, if there is some better way you guys suggest would be awesome), started Duckweed tank, hope to get some soon

PH - 7.8 (Ph history - started from 8 - dropped to 7.4 after 2.5 months and raised again to 7.8 in last two weeks - )

NH4 - <0.05, NO2 - 0.1, NO3-1ppm


Fishes - Already spawned couple of times, 3 or 4 babys survived and grown now, i focus much on this growing plants than breeding for now.

there is not gap between the raft and water. 1inch air gap for roots, please point to me pic, would be great

Roots pic : Sorry i missed to take a pic. really bad of me. but i observe roots not as white as earlier, bit brown not too much brown.

other plants seem to do fine. totally 5 plants alive now(most are indian spinach), 3 plants died so far.

Reading more about spider mites.

Page 2 of this document on the Kratke method shows an example of the air space under the raft -

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/vc-1.pdf

I think the ones that are dying are probably root rot - Of the pics you posted initially where the plant has collapsed in the lower pic - that's what I would expect. It could also be a problem along the base of the stem in the net cup but it's likely due to similar causes.

Try supporting the raft slightly above the water so the roots have an air space just under the pot. Add iron chelate if you can find it where you are (your pH is high enough that regular iron won't be available). Nate Storey has a couple of videos on YouTube about Iron supplements - Fe-EDDHA turns the water red so most people use Fe-DTPA. Watch the videos before you decide what to get - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4_hCAnymFw - the second video is at the top on the right and it's on how much iron you need.

As far as the Phosphorus deficiency, I think this is actually being caused by the roots being unable to take up nutrients, not that there is a lack of phosphorus. This sort of thing happens sometimes when you get problems like root rot.

Hope this helps.

..
Oxygen is crucial to healthy roots and plants...

All the top systems that I have seen, have aeration in their DW beds. ask the owners and they emphatically declare such to be an absolute need..
..
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I agree with you on that BuiDoi especially for us in hot climates were it is hard to keep the water temps down,last year saw 30c + and at the temp water can only hold 7mgl so without good aeration by the time everything has had its share there isn’t much leeway.

Thanks scotty435, definitely it helps. I don't get iron chelate in the place I live.

Looking in to videos.

I have increased the raft by half inch by supporting under. One more plant lost for the same problem

I am waiting for PH to drop naturally, think in another month, it will go below 7.5 which would be bit ok for plants I suppose



Thanks BuiDoi, dasboot. yes even we have pretty hot climate in my place, I suppose I should focus on oxygen