Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Your system has started... but there's still a while to go...

Im still having problems with sick and dying trout.
All water tests have been normal all the way through since ive had the system running ph7.2. Ammonia .25 nitrite and nitrate 0
The system is salted to around 2ppt and
The advanced trout i bought are now dying off 1 by 1.
They appear to loose some of the scales from their back end near there tale fin which spreads up there body mostly on the top.
They still seem to feed though i have halved the feed again and make sure there is no uneaten food.

Im really at a loss as to why they continue to loose condition and die.

Can anyone let me know if this sounds like a disease and if so what is it. Ill try to upload a picture of one of the newly dead trout.

Any suggestions welcome

Up your salt level to 6ppt... regardless...

How long since you bought them Edge?

Did you ever sterilize the system?

I've had them since the end of May so about 6 or 7 weeks now i guess.
I'll salt the system some more tomorrow, but i dont hold much hope.
2 of the original batch survived and seemed ok for a few weeks so i got the new batch all seemed fine for a week or so but since then i find 1 dead every 4 or 5 days.
Never did sterilize the system since the remaining 2 trout seemed ok and i was buying more trout from the same supplier anyway.

Salted to 4ppt this morning and will add another 2ppt tonight.
If this dosent help I might try to catch some and treat them with melafix in a seperate tank?
I know it says not for edible fish but im getting desperate.

Having problems uploading pictures on the lap top because i dont have a program on here to shrink them.

will try the pc tonight.

Its a work laptop Rupert so cant install any new software. I do have this program on the pc though. will try it when i get home.

Any thoughts on the melafix?

I wouldn't touch it with a barge pool.... it is not considered safe for fish intended for human consumption.... and there could be questions regarding plant uptake... not sure if there's any data available...

Melafix's active constituent is melaluca oil (tea tree oil) and although the documentation accompanying the product says its not for fish for human consumption, lack of testing is not proof of harm in itself; read more at the start of the thread and make your own decision http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=332523#p332523

Why not try adding very dilute pure tea tree oil directly and see if that solves the problem? Of course, it's not selective so whatever damamge it does to harmful bacteria is also going to happen to beneficial bacteria and therefor un-cycle your system, so you'll have to re-cycle on completion?


Scott

+1
Using a product that states - not safe for edible fish goes totally against what I am trying to achieve in my aquaponic system.

Salt is safe, so I would exhaust this avenue first EdewaterAqua. I hope you can turn things around and get a good result.

I hope the salt does the job too Faye. I am only looking at the melafix as a last resort at this stage and would take the trout out and treat them in a hospital tank if I use it. As fare as I can tell it is one of the more "natural" treatments I could use after salt.

You could trake them out and trar them... but could you eat them later???

If you have a hospital tank... salt it to 10ppt... aerate it thoroughly... and salt bath the trout for a couple of hours... (watch them frequently/constantly and remove if necessary, if they exhibit obvious stress)

Then return them back to the 6ppt tank...

Ok I'll give the high salt bath a go on the weekend as long as I can catch them w ithout stressing them out too much. thanks for the advice