Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey people, its been along time between posts,mostly i guess because everything has been smooth sailing....up until now.

Im losing perch daily

symptom: cloudy eye/s

no other obvious problem, no red/white dots or skin irritation.

Ive tried big water changes,

3ppt salt

6ppt salt

9ppt salt


this seems to help but the problem eventually comes back....40 degrees today.....lost five, some pushing 1kg

I seek advice

Whats your water tests

ammonia high..hence water changes, low reading on nitrite/ate

Ammonia high and water temps up, > not good
I would stop all feeding and do more water changes

What is your filtration capacity and how many 1kg fish you had?

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

With the amount of rain we have been having, did you add any Lime to your system

Why the sudden jump in ammonia??
It hasn't even had a chance to convert to nitrite yet...
Have a REALLY good look for a sunken rotting carcase.
when you suck out water for a change, try vacuuming any muck off the bottom that may have bits of rotting pets in it

Good luck

Whats the ph

cloudy eyes is definately a water quality issue. My guess is the ph is crashed probably below 5, hence bacteria has crashed and water quality is up the creek. Keep doing large daily water changes

Thanks for all the help,

yep, a dead and burried fish was in the tank but not the culprit for the ammonia spike i dont think becuase after it was removed the problem returned.

For those who haven't seen the system it consist of a 3500ltr fish tank and 16 bath tubs for GB'S. have about 15kg of fish in it atm

after reading the suggestions i feel ph could be the issue, will have to buy a testing kit.

Monya, aside from water changes is ther anything else i can do to improve ph...i had a bag of oyster shell it it for awhile...does this stuff maintain its bufferring ability?

Hey, wheres rupe lurking...can someone please tell him i need some more fish!!!!

baking soda or bicarb. and a test kit will save you plenty in the long run, by keeping your system in check before it gets wacked out.

ok, ph test kit only goes down to 6 and it was a strong 6 indicator so my guess is it may be lower, so i know its low - treatment plan is:

return bag of oyster shells to system

change water a necessary

low feeding regime - more lettuce less pellets

cross fingers

There was mention of bi carb, lime and also rain, lime would bring ph up right? and how does rain effect the system?

how much bi carb to add big wormy?? missus won't be pleased

Hi Simon, skip the bicarb... grab yourself a bag of "slaked lime" - "hydrated lime".... brickies use it... (having salted high lately... there's no sense in adding more Sodium)

Add a handful.... should bring your pH back into then readable scale.... pump continously overnight.... and aerate madly...

But be careful not to drop the temp too much... especially if you have ammonia anywhere above 1...

No feeding...until the ammonia drops.. you've crashed the bio-filtration as Monya suggests...


I'll be in contact on the weekend... been a real nightmare organizing stocks over the last month...

thanks Rupe! will do.....with the salt, sodium level would be low atm as i've done changes since then, do you think i should keep it at 3ppt. what brand do you use, is there sea salt available in bulk?

Sunray pool salt... pure sea salt.... Bunning had it on special the other day... $6.95 for a 20kg bag... and yeah, I'd keep it at 3ppt... just let the level fall through top-ups/transpiration...

Make sure you bring your pH back though....