Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

In the middle of the day it is getting into the 100's, when it gets above 90 I open up the front of the green house.

How much area does it take to feed 1 lb Tilipia?
thks bob

I am not sure I understand your question.

Depends whether you lay them side by side... or end to end...

Maybe some old roots are in the gravel breaking down - is the gravel packed with old roots?

The grow beds are less than a year old, and the rocks where washed out before they where put in the IBC's. I have one tilapia left in the tank, but went to my pond and caught 12 small bass (less than 12 inches long) and put them in there with the 1 tilapia. The bass seem easy to keep alive. Just need to feed them minnows a couple times a week, and we have all the minnows we want at the pond. Could also feed them some worms.

"Heck I don't even know of anything else I could change."
I could suggest the operator.

Come on down and take over for me. Please.

Its up and only if you pay airfares.

The bass were already survivors, life's rough out in the wild. Sorry to hear about the other fish though.

Passing water through a gravel bed between the two can make a difference in type and count of bacteria and other organisms and it doesn't sound like water can flow directly from the large tank to the IBC without passing through the growbeds. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this could be protecting the smaller tank. Whatever caused the problem could be established in the large tank (from the previous die off) or could have come from a single fish in the large tank.

My belated suggestion would be to transfer the fish to a tank with a higher temp (80's) for a week or two to see if they recover on their own. Try this next time if it happens again and nothing is working.

That sounds expensive. How about I pick you up at the airport.

You are correct the ones in the IBC do not get water directly from the problem tank. Only after the grow beds. I am scared to introduce any fish that may be sick to my other tank. All of the fish in the IBC where hatched on my property, so they should not have had any issues. But it could have been from the previous die off. I can't completely drain my big tank, I can get it a couple inches deep and do water changes, but can't get it dry.

Perhaps the minnows that you are feeding the bass have a parasite that the bass are accustomed to...

This is also a possibility. If minnows weren't added to this tank until long after you were losing fish then it's not as likely to be the issue.

I didn't mean to suggest getting your IBC contaminated. I was thinking a smaller quarantine tank not connected to the system or maybe a 30 to 50 gallon plastic garbage can (for just a few fish and preferably unused). You'd have to watch the temperature fluctuations, do partial water changes and aerate but getting the temp higher wouldn't be difficult. You could disinfect the barrel, the big tank, and the standing water also.

I've had small catfish in 30 gallon plastic trash containers. I've lost the occasional one but many more have come back from near death with the warmer water (were talking barely moving and unable to orient themselves so pretty far gone). I'm convinced more of these would have died if I left them in the other tank based on the ones I didn't move.

It's this type of thinking that's wrong with the world

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversed_map