Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

There are still about 20 plants of parsley, 20 coriander and 10 dill in it. And nitrates read 0.
I only feed about 10g a day. And before hatching the system supported 100g feed per day with trout.

That sucks. I'd imagine they are more succeptible to changes in the water, even smaller ones.

You might have spiked with the pulling of the plants, something that sorted itself out overnight.

Still sucks though. How many are left?

Bad luck, and all was going so well ! Something must have come from disturbing the growbeds, I hope the water test picks it up.

Damn, that's terrible news Ben.
I've been looking online and there is a small chance that passionfruit (esp native varieties) may have toxic leaves and unripe fruit. Didn't find anything concrete about the sap or broken roots or even consensus about the toxicity but it is a small possibility.
A test with a goldfish in a tank with some passionfruit roots would be a tempting experiment.
Ethically questionable but tempting...

If it passionfruit is the culprit I suspect that cyanide compounds might be at testable levels in your water.
It is a long shot and I really am only guessing without any knowledge on the subject though (disclaimer).

Reading further, if it was the problem one symptom would be brightly red coloured blood (and maybe gills?).
It is also apparently volatile and should leave your system reasonably quickly, maybe only 24hrs (info was about hay though...), assuming the source of it is is removed.
But I may be on a wild goose chase here and distracting you with a big red herring.

Perhaps there was an anaerobic zone around the roots, and pulling them released sulfur dioxide. Was there any rotten egg smell when you pulled them?

Thanks guys
There are 200 and a few left. Interestingly weaker looking ones are still alive too, so is "2d" a one eyed one that stands out of the crowd with a bright speck instead of an eye.
I had a close look at the dead ones and there were no obvious signs. Gills were deep red.
I drain the beds frequently and have a good inlet distribution of water. No bad smells when I pulled the plants out. All roots nice and white.
Thinking how sudden it happened and no obvious signs of disease I lean thwarts a poison of some sort.
Very interesting about the cyanide in passion fruit.
Mine is a two year old purple fruiting grafted plant. I cut it down after fruiting and get a good 5m growth and lots of fruit each saison. I put it in soil now to cover a fence. The root ball was about 30cm diameter.
I am very reluctant to put the beds back on line. Maybe I drain them completely and flush them with town water and start cycling new? Shouldn't take long with the bio filter still working. Any thoughts?

The passionfruit poison breaks down quickly doesn't it?

I'd think if the survivors are still around, it'd be fine.

But I'm nowhere near an expert on it, so don't trust my opinion on it.

..
Indeed an interesting but sad experience, and a possible suggestion that major GB culls be done off line to at least allow noxious trapped gasses to settle... and for the GB to be flushed if the water availability permits ..
..
. Peter
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wow, thats sad. I too would have leant towards anoxic zones and sulphur as thats the only thing i can think of, doesnt mean it isnt 1000 other possibilities though.

This is an awesome thread, where did you get the eggs from and how were they transported?

Couldn't you sell the fish as pets without all the red tape? To backyarders, liability then becomes their problem?

they're sooo cute, did anyone notice that? All this talk of disease and plumbing, but no one mentioned how cute they are, those little squidgy bodies and big eyes. Even the crooked ones are cute..

Thanks for posting, I'm following.

In Victoria no in NSW I don't think so

I don't really want to sell them. Even with permits in place.

I found out what happened!!!
The sump pump had a leak. I just got zapped when I touched the valve of the Venturi coming of it.
Off shopping for a new one now and a volt meter!
The remaining ones are happy feeding and once the pump is replaced and no electric current in the growbed loop I'll connect it with the fish again.

Well that's answered a question I always wanted to know. Wondered if water would act as an earth.