Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Sorry to hear about your loss Helomech.
Do you have any clue about water parameters over that time ?

The gills look nice and healthy

hope all is good looking forward H

Thanks. Yes all water parameters have remained constant. My ph has been high since I started this up in January at 8.0, nitrates 0, nitrites 0, ammonia 0. I have no clue why this started to happen.

Thanks Charlie, I thought they looked good too but I don't have any experience. One of them I found dead the gills where white, but I have no idea how long it had been dead.

sudden temperature variation ?
Maybe oxygen started getting low?
Don't know anything about tilapia but a sudden change in environment (even if it resets) can shock the fish and lead to disease and death.
Maybe even stress from fright can cause this ?
Dunno, I'm just putting it out there

Thanks SuperVeg, any and all ideas are appreciated.

Water temp is very stable, because my tank is buried in the ground and has almost 2k gallons of water total. I have a huge air compressor running this and the water almost looks like it is boiling. But even without that with so much water and less than 30 fish oxygen should be good. Nothing has changed on the system in at least 4 months, I am at a complete loss on this.

By any chance , did you use any types of pesticide and/or herbicide in your garden areas?

That is the only thing I can think of. Because I had some ants issues, and after doing some research, I found out that whatever I use, it will hurt the fish.

Also, it is possible that some sort of poisonous creature dropped in your tank.

Did they eat fire ants? I know they are a huge issue in texas, and the tilapia could of thought they would make a nice treat.

Thanks for the replies and please keep them coming.

No pesticides on my property. The only thing we use is DE Diatomaceous Earth by the chicken coupe, but it is not real close to the fish tanks. DE is supposed to be fish safe, I have used it in one of my inside aquariums with no loss of fish. Unless it came from rai, no posion could have gotten in the tank. Nothing has ever been sprayed on our grow beds.

Frogs, and cricketts have died in the tank before, but as far as I know those are the only ones. When I cleaned out the tank I found one dead crickett.

There are fire ants around the fish tank, but I don't think many make it inside the tank. Though I have no way to know for sure.

Had another one die, the gills where white. Any idea what would cause white gills.

it could be bacterial.. or parasites can cause gill problems.. if it's kind of "cottony" looking it could be a fungus
do the fish act like they're starving for air.. like staying at water inlets, or gasping?
have you checked the contents of the fish's stomach?
is your water alkaline? (this can cause gill problems, but i never heard of it turning gills white)

Have not seen them gasping for air or staying at wter inlets. They always stay near the bottom in this tank. The one that died earlier I cut into it's stomach, but did not see much, not sure what stomach content looks like when eating pellets. My water has a high ph, around 8, I am trying to let it come down naturally. I have 4 tanks, 2 are greenwater and all the fish in those are eating good and not dying. All 4 tanks have the same PH, and other water parameters. They all get the water from my well. 2 are tied into my aquaponics, and only in one tank am I having deaths. In one tank I had one fish die, but in the other I have lost at least 12. Those 2 tanks share water, and are filtered through the 4 IBC grow beds.

Do the greenwater tanks get addtional feed? If not, possibly a food contamination issue. Rodent feces or something up the storage/delivery line.

Thanks

Yes all tanks use the same feed. I also have 2 indoor aquariums with tilapia in them that get the same feed.