Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I got 50 new baby tilapia in a home fish tank they have been dying on me even the most healthy larger ones. About 4 a day. (no Aqua system reg tank items) We have been running a filter Aqua tech power filter. 5-15 gallon tank. We figured the water fall on the filter would give enough oxygen. readings from last check

water temp= 75 deg
nit-20ppm
nitri-0
hardness -75ppm
alk- 40ppm
ph- between 6.2-6.8

We cleaned the water and put in more oxygen bubbles to see if this will help. Starting to feed them more reg, a bit at a time to keep the tank clean from extra food.

We had them delivered and half were dead...they had stuff around the dead bodies so we took them asap after the tank water went to temp with the water in the beg ( we did not pour in the water from the bag as it had dead fish) .but we wonder if they could have gotten sick from this??? maybe???

We are feeding them = TeraCichild flakes

If i forgot any info plz let me know asap as we are getting 50 more Tuesday don't want them to die as well.

Have you read the "IBC of Aquaponics"? it's great information, if you haven't just click on the link above.

There's plenty of good information on Tilapia on the net.


http://www.jamaicabroilersgroup.com/doc ... ilapia.pdf

Is 24c a bit low for small tilapia?

Don't see a TAN reading there.

More research and reading is needed I think.

no 75 degree temps is not the problem unless there was a drastic temperature change like 10 degrees diff.

From the description there was probably low do or ammonia poisoning in transit which is why there were DOA. The living fish still had exposure to the same cause and are likely dying from the same cause. The damage was already done, nothing you can do other than transport your fish better.

Well, this is fitting. I have tilapia fry, maybe 2 weeks old. Up until a day or so ago they were doing great, lost like 2-3 out of 200-300, so not concerned. But in the last few days they've started dying off around 10+ per day. They dart around the tank and then just give up. Not sure if the darting is a symptom or just a last reaction before death. I haven't seen one dart and croak, but the darting activity is new, just like the increased die off.

We've been keeping up on water changes every other day or so, and have a sponge filter in the tank and now an air stone as well. My wife checked all the water qualities and it all appears "normal", but I'm not really sure if normal means anything different in the world of baby tilapia. The tank temp is about 75-80°F.

For food we've been giving them a homemade gel cube. Now before you panic, it's just fry powered mixed with a gelatin and then allowed to set up. It's great because the cube sinks and the fish pick it apart without making a big mess of the tank. We can drop a few in and they have food all day.

My only thought is maybe it's the food somehow. We aren't giving them branded tilapia fry powdered. It's cichlid flakes of over 40% protein that we've pulverized to powder in a coffee grinder. So perhaps something critical is missing that would be contained in fry powder. Or maybe the gelatin is what's getting them. Again, the water quality checks out, but we did increase feeding lately. Now with them dying we've cut it back, so maybe we were over-feeding...?

I cant say what your problem is form the information provided but i wouldnt grind the food into powder.. just choip it up a little. and tbh, they will pick apart full food pieces too. I sometimes put in an algae waffer and they will just peck at it while it dissolves.

The only way i have ever lost tilapia fry is because they were eaten. They are just as hardy as their parents.

It is easy to hurt your water quality with powder food. It sometimes goes uneaten and starts decaying. Have you checked your ammonia and nitrite?

Thanks Brian. Yes, all the water quality checked out perfect. It seems the rate of die off has slowed now, and all of sudden they all have big poop strings which I had never notice before. Is there a sort of development phase they go through when they poop for the first time. That was my only gues at this point, that they were just bound up. Those that didn't poop croaked due to bloating or whatever. I mean it looks like a tank full of jellyfish with all those poop tentacles! Maybe being bound up internally would explain why they would dart about the tank, maybe they were in pain.

Anyway, like I said, the die off rate had greatly slowed. I think there were only three dead yesterday afternoon after losing 10-20/day there for a few days. So you say just a solid algae water huh? Interesting. The gel food really is nice and I think helps prevent waste, but I suppose a solid chunk would be the same. But I agree, the powder is very messy!