Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So what happened to #6, #7 and #8?

Didn't manage to get them replaced.

Had to buy new ones but bought 10 got 1 free.

All is good today and i just gave them the first feed.
They where splashing at the surface quite a lot compared to the first batch.
only fed about 1/3 of a teaspoon though.

Edgewateraqua, glad to hear the good news

Bunson, #6, #7 & #8 all passed away between Tuesday night and Thursday lunchtime.

Wife says the remaining two trout are going well. If they're still OK by Thursday night (when I get back to civilisation) I might wait another few weeks and see if Troutman's got a new 150-200cm friends for them

Deano

Hi guys.

Sorry for the late reply - been pretty busy lately and not much getting done with the crazy Perth weather.

Tested the water lately with readings of 7.6 pH, ammonia ~1ppm, Nitrate & Nitrite 0.

Only seen one fish for the past 2-3 days, imagined that the poor guy had jumped out or been munched by the 10 marron still in the tank . Unfortunately today I found him at the bottom of the tank with a oozy haze around him. From the very brief autopsy it didn't look like he was touched by the marron and by the smell, been dead for a while.

Plants have been going really well on the other hand, carrots are going ahead in leaps and bounds, already harvested a strawberry, and the cabbage have grown really well.

Strategy going forward would be wait at least a month, then get:
a) 7-8 advanced trout
OR
b) 7-10 silver perch and harvest in 9-12 months rather than rush the trout.

Open to suggestions on numbers & types of fish. I imagine the ten marron will keep on growing at the bottom of the tank over that time as well (could you imagine the feed in 12 months time though?!? mmmm )

Thanks very much

Dean

Hi Folks,

I have been running an aquaponics system for over a year with a good size shoal of Sliver Perth, some looking fairly large. The population has been stable with no deaths and a healthy set of plants.

I got 20 rainbow trout from Woodvale a few weeks ago and put them in the sump tank, within a few days some were floating which I got rid of. Within the last two weeks the trout have all died and I fished the last dead silver perth out this morning.

My fish kill took me from 130 silver perth to an empty system within 3 weeks. I only assumption is that the trout have introduced some fatal infection to the system.

My next question to the board is ...

how do I clean the system before putting any fish in ?


Thanks

Jon K

Welcome to the forum Jon

Sorry to hear of your losses.

What type of system configuration do you have? e.g. FT size, GB size, aeration, design etc

Did the fish have any sort of visual fungus or infection?

Did you have the species in together?

p.s. we love pics

What type of system configuration do you have? e.g. FT size, GB size, aeration, design etc

A standard BYAP Family System (4 grow beds, 1 large tank, 1 fingerling tank, Air pumps)



Did the fish have any sort of visual fungus or infection?

I did not see anything obvious but then I did not look too hard - one had a red blotch (perch)

Did you have the species in together?

Perch in the main tank, trout in the sump.

Nice set up!

A few people have had issue with infected trout from woodvale this year although Im not sure if this is the case with yours.. You must be spewing you lost the lot.

Not sure about sanatising your system, I might leave that question up to someone else sorry.

Hope to see you back on track soon

Hi Jon,
Mmm a couple of things come to mind here.
If I am correct you have a 4 bed system.
That being the case we would recommend no more than 100 fish.
As trout were recently introduced, does that mean that you also increased the feed going in to the system? Did you test the water at any stage?
At first sign of sick or dying fish I recommend
1. a water test = this may indicate cause.
2. adding salt
3. monitoring the fish and taking immediate action.

Have dying fish that have been left unnnoticed contributed to further fish deaths like a domino effect?
Is there uneaten food, fish waste, decaying leaves which have contributed to poor water quality.
Was there any signs of damage or disease on dead fish.
Were there any signs of flashing?

It is always easy to find fault with suppliers however the fact is that transporting fish causes them some stress. I believe that the smaller they are the better they cope.
Was everything done to ensure that the fish were transported in a matter that caused them the least stress.
Was the water temperature appropriate eg less than 20 degrees?
Was their an adequate oxygen supply?
Was the time they spent in transit the least possible eg straight home?

For a further read about fish health you can download the first edition of the magazine free http://www.byapmagazine.com/firstissue.html

Hi,

Were there any signs of flashing? What is flashing ?

My wife corrected me on the number of Silver Perth, we got 100 and some marron to start with - the marron all went walk abouts and we lost about 5 silver perth in the early days. I kind of expect to loose a few due to the change in environment and shock of being moved. I remember 130 but I expect that is how much I spent :-)

The overall kill was fairly quick from the first silver perth to the last (few days) and I have been in bed with flu so only ventured out to remove the dead. Essentially I spotted the silver perth spending more time at the surface than normal so I got the wife to change the air stones as they had got clogged.

We took the trout straight home and the bag was given a blast of oxygen.

What I want to do now is empty the tanks and give them a clean inside, I do get leaves in which I clean out regularly and there was a bit of left over food, so water quality might have been too much for the trout but I had not seen any problems with the silvers until the trout died.

Flashing is when the fish scrape themselves on the side or bottom of the tank.
Silver perch swimming at the surface was perhaps a sign that they were not happy - would have been a good time to test the water quality. I would suggest that you get a test kit now and test the water quality. Ammonia, pH, nitrite are the ones thatt can effect fish health.
If everything appears to be in order - then add five healthy fish and see how they go. It might save you a whole lot of time cleaning out the tanks.

It's very easy to blame suppliers when there are fish deaths, but as Faye has said, and I hinted at a while back... I'd be reluctant to blame them. If there was an issue with the health of their stock then they would be losing fish at the same rate as the people that have purchased them. Any respectable supplier, which I believe the WF&LF to be, would not sell stock under those conditions.

The two biggest issues I could see that would contribute to fish deaths a few days after purchase would be differences in pH and/or water temp between the suppliers ponds and the customers tanks at the time of relocation... did anyone ask Woodvale what the pH theirstock pond was?... it's no good checking the pH of the water in the bag when you get it home, it will be different than that of their pond, due to Ammonia build up in the bag during transit.

As a matter of course I'd be asking Woodvale what the pH and water temp is in their stock ponds... and try and match that as closely as possible.

It could be, especially for those with newer AP systems, that their pH may be quite high, maybe high 7's or even low 8's, and with Woodvale's ponds being well established, their pH could be in the low to mid 6's.

I expect I should have been more prepared in putting new fish in, the silvers had been happy for sometime so you stop worrying about things.

I do need to have a check of my system, somethings the water levels drop to a point were I need to give it 15 mins with the hose to top back up but I can't see any leaks.

I also need to make sure the leaves don't get in, so draining and giving the bottom a clean allows me to start again.

Hi guys.

Test today: 7.6pH, Ammonia ~1ppm, Nitrite 0.25ppm (ish), Nitrate 0ppm.

Noticing a green haze (algae?! ) on the sides of the tank, and Nitrite readings must indicate that the bacteria are alive and kicking.

#10 is still fine, and the ten marron are living the dream.

Luckily no damage from the storms over the past couple of days. Really heartbreaking to hear the stories of lost power and fish.

Off to work in the morning, back in 8 days. This week on, week off roster is the go.

Dean