Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hi noticed some silvers in one tank were flashing this morning i put a hand full of salt in each then thought wonder how much is in there [ questian how do you measure salt content]

F&F that question was the subjects of about 4 pages- end result is no easy way to test.

Have you previously had salt in there?

besides, a hand full in 2000 aint gonna make or break anthing

Yes steve probly 5 to6 kg in 3000 litre

by my calcs that works out to 2 ppt. worst case scenario as the plants may have taken up some.

top ups of water won't have effected it.

If you changed water yout then it will also be less.

Be aware that flashing is not a sure sign of anything, the lsat lot of silvers i have n my indoor aquarium did it a bit in the first two weeks, noting has come of it.

Steve

Ok there have been doing it for a wile now with my new net caught a few no signs of marks or gashes they look good

its not just when they are feeding is it? i find that if you don't spend much time with the fish (like me) the feed more like in nature, they spot the food and then you see a flash of silver as they take it and dive down.

The flashing we're always on about is when they flash themselves up against an object or tank bottom.

Mine still flash now and again but I know all is good - and as Steve said they seem to flash sometimes at feed time, nearly as if they are trying to kill the pellet by banging against the ground.

damn kookaburra fish

Yep i would say thats it

Easy way is to weigh the salt before adding it to the tank - 1kg of salt in 1,000 litres is 1ppt (reference Monya), with all your fine machinery (and "the shed"), you must have a set of scales there somewhere mate

Of course this all becomes academic when you do water changes as Steve said

not tryn to be a smart arse, Ive noticed alot of people here trying to find a cure for something that might not exist.......why worry about the dark clouds,....wait for the storm.

Alot of fish "flash" especially if there are a few in the same tank/group/school....survival of the fittest....first to the food gets fed.

If you manage to catch a few doco's about fish you will notice that its a natural action.

is all good but .....btw Ive found a replacement for my tv rofl...I sit n watch me fish in me new indoor tank.....thanks alot steve

BK - a lot of us have had serious Ich infestations in our fish. Mine were rooted, close to dead and I resurrected them with a good treatment program. Because others have bought from the same place and we know the fish are most likely to have ich, the treatment is used as a preventative and if done straight away in a hospital or nursery tank, it is cheap and easy to do.

Regarding natural selection, I wouldn't generally disagree if we were breeding our own fish. Problem is that the fish we keep (perch) we cannot breed ourselves so we are not continuing a resistent strain. To expalin properly:

I may buy 100 fingerlings that have ich. The population ends up heavilly infested but 10 of the fish with best resistence pull though without treatment. If I could bree from these I may end up with a resistent strain. But cause I can't, I have lost 90% of my fish and I am likely to lose a similar % next time I buy fish.

THe dudes in America who grow tilapia and breed from them could follow your strategy and from what the VI guys have said, this is in fact what they do and they lose only about 10% to disease these days.

From the fish that I bought in August or there abouts (30 in total) which were heavilly infested with Ich and fungus, I have lost only 1 fish, which died soon after I got them. It was the one worst infested with fungus because of sever injuries sustained at the farm. I credit this survival solely to proper salt treatment.

we'll be doing a 4ppt in an ibc when our fish get here (week long holiday camp)

cool..........have we all bought them from the same place? maybe steve n I have been lucky, or is it because of the different climate .

is all one great AP learning curve lol.....and maybe I need to spend time n read ALL the posts lol, was only going by what I have experienced( albe it limited) in keeping reptiles and fishing and watching WAY too many doco's lol .......lol am hoping that watching the fish in my indoor tank I might catch more fish

Jaymie, u sure u wanna go that high straight up?

maybe 3ppt?

BK, you're right in a sense, it all about knowing which flash, the feeding flash or the rubbing them selves up flash

hey, how are the cats feeding, i'm still not sure if mine are actually eating, i crush the native pellets up and the silvers and cats go nuts, but i don't actually see the cats taking the feed...............am about to try some egg