Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hi ap's
need help urgently...
my friend got me 150 fingerling (40mm-50mm) on saturday already most of them are dieing.
(Must note that the fingerling are in good health when i got them... not supplier selling sick fish)
sunday ....26 died and lots of the fingerling has lost its tail and there is a white cotton stuff (fungus) handing on the tail and they are floating on top.

panic quickly set-in and i check what could go wrong...
(this is the reading i got before i got the fish on saturday)
*PH at 6.43 (ph meter reading)
*ammonia at 0.25 (maybe less...colour look very yellow)
*nitrite and nitrate both 0
*water is 6-month old (aged) has gone through very green alge bloom. water at the moment is blackish
* water temp 23.2c outside temp 34c temp taken at 3.30pm
* fish tank is 2000 Lt and have water lilly in the pond
* salt is at 2 or 3 ppt (retrometer reading)
* aerated pump on 24/7
anyone please comment..........
#Question.. what could go wrong and how do i salvage what i got left...fungus on most of the fingerling tail ( tail completly gone)
also
on my water lilly leaves... it is cover in aphids ( i spray water on the leaves and the aphids are now on top of the water)
#Question.. will the sp fingerling eat them?.... it has been 4 days now , I still have not feed the baby fish as they are straggling to stay alive....Should i feed the fingerling with pellet dust or leave them to feed on the aphids?

Have start to prepare for the inevitable funeral for the remaining fingerling....cat (calico) wiping her lips.

Flexibacter - assuming it looks like this:

Which is also called finrot because the tail rots away.

Water change, salt to 3ppt, make sure the pH and temps aren't swinging around all over the place and pray to god that there's no contaminants in the system.

Now that I read your post properly, I see it's salted. All I can say is that it's a bad sign.

Do a water change, salt to 6ppt! It's the change in salinity that kills stuff, so you gotta do it in one hit.

Just keep fishing them out - dead rotting fish in the tank is a veritable breeding ground for the stuff.

Do not feed. Ammonia of 0.25 BEFORE you got the fish, what is it now?

+1 for salting
Perhaps give individual stronger salt baths for each fish.
don't worry about the aphids
don't feed the fish.

Diseases such as this are often a result of stress. Stress can be caused in many ways, differing water quality and temperature fluctuations are the biggest culprit. Always ask your supplier for his temp, hardness, salinity etc, and try to match his specs.
Also introduce your fish to the new water slowly, by cupping water into the bag over 20 mins or so.

just check the ammonia...still at .25 (very yellow)

kudapcucat,
do the fingerling eat aphids? because there are sure alot of them floating in the water

Ohhh you poor thing....

1. are you certain no leaching from the garden or other water ways that could contaminate the tank ??

2. tell us more about the fishes transport

3. Don't hold back from the salt, just please be sure it has no additives...you can always take it out 10 % at a time in a water change later

And Please Call Joel first thing in the morning , he might not have all the answers but he is a book of wisdom

Bacterial and fungal diseaes are "opportunistic".... they are a direct result of stress factors...

Either the fingerlings were diseased when you got them... and/or were stressed by delivery, handling, incompatible water parameters... an/or your system water was already heavily infected with pathogens, just waiting for the chance to strike...

Can you remove the fingerlings to a seperate tank for treatment???

Salting to 6ppt will help ... if the fish have sufficient strength to survive the time required for salt treatment to have an effect...

If most of the fingerlings have there tails missing... then I suspect that they also have all/parts of their pectoral fins missing as well...

Formalin might be the only immediate and workable treatment.... but there are constraints to using the stuff....that must be obsrved..

hi jessy
100% no leaching from the garden
the transport is in those big white bucket (people use this for fishing to put their catch) with a portable battery operated aerater for bubble(oxygen)
the problem is that i got two 2000Lt fish tank ...basically one(top level) overflow to another tank(bottom level).
the bottom tank i got 15 large silver perch (200mm -350mm) and the top tank i got these fingerling in.
my system is that the pump is in the bottom tank ( which is where my large fish is) and the water is pump into my GB (bath tubs) and then it siphon it into the top tank ( which is where my fingerling is) and the water than flow back to the bottom tank.
If i increase my salt level in the fingerling tank ( at the top) it will also flow into my bottom tank.....Question is will that effect my large silver perch with these increase in the salt level?

No... the large fish wont suffer from treatment any more than the fingerlings...

In fact if you don't treat both tanks anyway... you run the risk of infecting your larger tank and fish... and/or just circulating the pathogens around and around for an extended period of time....

IMO... you need to salt both tanks immediately... and 6ppt will knock your plants around severly...

Preferably you should isolate your fingerlings and treat at 6ppt.... then dump at least 50% from both tanks.... and salt both tanks to 3ppt... this should prevent the larger fish from becoming stressed/infected...

i have now bring my salt level to 6ppt.
Question... how long do i keep it at 6ppt...number of days?

Any chance of posting pics of your setup Stargate. Sorry to ask but helps to understand and consider other factors?

hi faye,
yes i will try to get photos of my AP system (yes everyone here like picture). i will hopfully start a new thread for that.

reading a picture gives so much more detail than reading a thread

The buckets might of had a residue in the that the fish where aggitated to ???

Just how big... and clean was that "big white bucket"... and how long did the fish travel in it?

Secondly... I'm a little confused.... with a pH of 6.4....and an air bubler going 24/7... I'm wondering just how you managed to end up with a bad algael bloom in an established system...

How long ago did you get the bloom... how long did you have it, and how did you resolve it??

Oh... and a little "dust" to feed your fingerlings... now that you've salted... might be an idea...

They will need some nourishment to rebuild health and fight the fungus...

Leave the system salted to 6ppt for several days... unless the other fish appear to be stressing.... and then do a series of water changes to lower the salt levels and to rid the system of suspect water...

Observe your fish and report....