Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

no algae at all in ft

i went and checked the other end at ST and found a another shade cloth support pole floating in it. a pt 2x2 about 5 feet long

so im going to say this is what killed my fish overnight as i not know what else it could be

they have plenty of oxygen and the water is well aggitated and shaded too so its not too warm for them

now i did have friends over yesterday and one of them "asked what is this?" and produced a little ball that looked like a small perl onion but was hard like a stone.
it was floating in FT when we pulled back shade cloth so they could see the fish.

fish were fine at 6pm yesterday. so i dunno and totally guessing at what did this

but none of them knew what is was, nor did i so i planted it in a pot. i really dont think my friends would poison my system because they always ask about it
and it was the reson they came down. to see the AP

do you think it swas the pt lumber piece floating in ST that caused this kill?

Well Dang that really sucks
I'm rather at a loss as to what would kill the catfish so quickly. I rather thought something like PT lumber would take a while to poison them but then again I really don't know. Was the shade cloth treated with any anti mold treatment or anything like that?

The dead fish will likely float up and be easier to net out soon so hopefully it won't require draining the tank but then again, if it is contaminated, you might want a major water change.

Hum, I wonder if there was anything coating the lumber or anything else that would cause such a drastic pH swing? Normally sudden pH swings are due to algae (making the pH swing up and down daily) or cycling causing the pH to drop. Other things that would raise pH (but I don't know how they would have gotten in there) include baking soda, lime stone, lye, caustic soda, quick lime, wood ashes, cement. I really don't know what to say since killing fish is really a major bummer.

I do hope a very obvious (and fixable) answer presents itself to you to make it easier to move on to new fish.

i dont think the old shade cloth was treated and it had been outside for years on my old dog pen

all i can figure is the pt lumber floating in ST did it along with high ph . with the tank cover on ST i really dont have any idea how long it may have been in there either.

i did have 2 old milk crate holding the pumps up a bit but i soaked them for 24 hrs and then rinsed them off. now they could have been sprayed in their lifetime i guess ,around some dairy?

ill do full water change and see if i can save some of the few that are still alive. and the other large koi i thought was dead is still there and swimiing about . it was large catfish i had mistaken for the koi

dead catfish are awful to get loose from a net. i learned that today

well i think i may have found the culprit or at least add another maybe thats whats killed johnnys fish item.

i had purchased from a pet store, a large stick-on or floating thermometer i found it in bottom of FT just now and there is nothing inside of it , so im guessing the mercury leaked into my tank when this items seal failed

it was not cheap but still made in china and it leaked.
now i dunno if it was actually filled with mercury or not but whatever was in it , is not there now.

so its another maybe for the list. im refilling FT now


keep pushing on...

eek

hopefully i removed whatever was doing the damage or at least diluted it

Most thermometers now have a red liquid instead of mercury. This is supposed to be dyed alcohol, but felt oily when I broke one. Mercury would probably take quite a while to become absorbed by the fish as I think it has to become methylated before becoming very toxic. My guess would be the pt lumber gradually leaching into the water. Whatever it is, I would do a couple 80% water changes or several 50%.

i dunno what was in it. whatever it was it got loose in my FT. it was probably the pt lumber leeching. but im still guessing. i so hope it was not mercury
from thermometer but formaldihyde is sure not much better or whatever they use to weatherproof lumbers

i just checked and all the other fish are gone now too except the one large koi
and it has placed itself under the water outlet from the aerator pump.

i think trying to wash this mess off of itself. geez!

i go change water again right now in hopes of saving the antique koi

geez this bums me out as i so hate to hurt anything i not going to eat.

i did notice that the FT had quite a bit of solids buildup in bottom so i lowered the main pump all the way to the bottom this time.

and i thought all was going good.the tests were ok , i got lights in GH and a way to manipulate pumps from inside GH.

not now though

I believe several people have encountered problems with catfish and too much sludge build up in the bottoms of tanks. Catfish like to sit on the bottom when resting and much of the nasty stuff will collect in the solids that they are sitting in. And I suppose catfish may be more quickly affected by certain types of contamination since there skin is not protected by scales.

Wow, it stinks now knowing!

it sure does dan. i really checked everything as close as i could too

now i have performed 3 water changes
and added fish again from my friend down the road.

this time is 3 female and 1 male catfish about 3 pounds each

i think im going to only cover half of the FT with shade cloth this time

hope it works out this time. my friend with the fish farm is not nearly as concerned about losing fishes as i am

he is like cheer up mate. im still in shock of losing everything i had

3 lb each, thems some big catfish!!! I know I've netted 3 pounnders out of my tank before and been a little worried that they might pull me in!

We all kill some fish eventually, just a real bummer you were not actually trying to harvest those first ones yet. Hang in there.

thanks TCL

monday im going to gainseville and try to find a better aerator pump to make darn sure i have enough oxygen going to them.

i would think i do have enough with the 700gph splashing back into pond and then the sump returning water and splashing from about 4' up but i dont have access to a meter

soon i will have to address the solids buildup i am getting

the fish farm friend does not think it was the pt lumber as he stocks many new ponds and some have large docks and floats all mde from new pt lumber
and they not lose fish.

he thinks my fish got a fungus and that is what killed them. now where that came from i do not have a clue.

so for the last 5 hours i have been checking them about every 15 minutes
cause im all nervous about whats going to happen. hopefully nothing but better plant growth and happy fish

Most fish diseases including fungus and bacteria are usually everywhere. They are normally opportunistic infections that only affect the fish when their immune system is a little weak (like most people and the common cold.) If something stressed the fish out, like a water quality issue (ammonia spike, nitrite spike, pH difference between your system and where they came from, Sudden pH change in the system, drastic water temp fluctuations, Low DO (this is what usually causes a sudden fish die off like waking up in the morning to all the fish dead cause the pump didn't get switched on after tinkering with the system last evening sort of thing.)

Salt can help for many things but I am careful with Catfish since they do not like high salt concentrations so I try to stick with 3ppt or less for the catfish.

So what do your water tests say lately?

i just checked it
ph is still at 8
ammonia is 0


water is back to being way cloudy with these larger fish stirring it around

1 of these guys are larger than all 30 i lost.