Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Starting to get discouraged....long post.....need help
Firstly, I had 40 tiny little fish that all died within 3 days....i got sick fish from the store. These were starter fish to kick off the cycle.
Then I went to a real aquarium to get some large feeders, to do a better job of starting the cycle. I chucked them in, all was good for about 3 months, then I lost 1, then another the next day, then another 2 days after that.
I put it down to freak deaths, then i lost 1 every day for about 1 week. I decided to hospitalize. I dosed the water to 6ppt salt, some antibiotics and chucked them all in and chucked a heater in to stabilize.....I forgot the set the correct temp. Killed 9 in one night.

I checked PH and it was always stable at 7.2. Then one night I checked PH and it was at 8.8+!! I did a 30% water change with ager, and then chucked in some shell grit to help buffer and keep the PH stable. My KH is almost non-existant. I thought maybe the low KH was allowing the water to swing in PH heaps, and I never noticed it.
Saved the rest, and lost a few more over the course of a few days. then they stopped dying, but still didn't look happy (sitting on the bottom, off food, changed to a dark colour etc)

Cleaned the tanks (fish and sump), refilled water, aged the water, chucked them back in, and they looked OK, but not fantastic.....I have steadily been losing 1 every 3-4 days, no I have 1 left. and he looks bad. he sits on the bottom, not eating at all, when the pump starts, he just floats around with the current. If you go to grab him, he swims away, but kinda weird, like circular swimming, down. He is dark, instead of the lovely silver browny hue he had.

Every dead fish had a blood mark on the bottom of their eyes, right in the coloured ring. I had some with cotton like fur, (came off with shocked salt to 10ppt for 30 mins), also had blood around orifices, fins joints and some with scales coming off. All of these deaths seemed to be off the same thing at the time. I mean, one would die of blood around the fins, and another would be the same....then after no deaths, the next 3-4 would die with fluff on them, then the next batch missing half their scales.

I tried so hard to save them all, now i know my last little guy has about 3-5 days left in him. I have lost 40 all up.....
I have slivers coming in 2 weeks......I am scared i will lose them all.

What am I doing wrong....how can I prevent this!!

Also had VERY SLOW growth in veggies I planted in Autumn, (Broc, cauli, perp leaf spinach).....
I added Chelated Iron, and a touch of epson salts for magnesium....
I dunno.....any local experts feel like a visit? I am in Croydon North VIC.
Sorry about the HUGE post.

Hiya steltzer, sorry to hear about your fish. You need to post photos of your system and explain the set up for the resident experts to assist. Photos of dead fish will help also.
Things like water parameters, media type, water and media volume, aeration etc.

+1

Alright getting some pics organised...thanks heap, BRB

photo's tell 1000 words in these scenerio's.

From the sounds of it though id say you might be meddling with things a bit too much though, i am guilty of this myself sometimes, i think i see an issue in the system and quickly react to combat what i think it is and cause more issues than i had in the first place.

ive found with aquaponics its best to take it slow and just give small corrections to let the system bring itself right in time.

The blood in the eyes and orifices sounds like a systemic bacterial infection, if they were salmon id say with 99% confidence it was yersinia, but seeing they arent salmon i dont know. You would be best to figure out what lead to them contracting the disease and sorting that out first and foremost and then the disease and everything else will probably come right on its own. Look at possible lack of water flow, possible stagnant area's or overstocking, could also be the ph swings stressing them.

figure out what is causing the massive swings in ph, not many things cause ph to swing upwards like that. But adding shellgrit i would have thought would only make it stay high.

OK, system is:
1 x 800l fish tank, mounted on platform in garage.
2 x 250ltr grow beds with expanded clay media
1 x sump tank (under grow beds) 600 ltr

I have a arduino control board that control the pump in the sump. There is a float switch in the FT, that sends a signal to the board, and locks out the pump for 20 mins, which allows water to drain out into the grow beds, albeit slowly.

Hang on let me make a quick vid about it, and I will post it up here, best way to explain it clearly....

Pics:

12345

How many fish did you start with, how many fish were in round 2? Did you cycle first?

How much oxygenation do you have going? Is there plenty of water movement? Air pump?

And what were your ammonia/nitrites sitting at? Were you testing them?

I had 40 tiny fish to start with, they all died within 3 days....they were sick from the store.
then I got 10, 2 weeks later 10 more, then 2 weeks later 20 more. total of 40 feeder gold fish.
Did i cycle......I put the first batch of fish in, waited 2 weeks then stuck in some seeds....bad move?
I have never seen my water "cycle", I have never had any ammonia, nitrites or nitrates...ever!
I have a 4 hose, 10w air pump, running 4 air stones in the fish tank.

I am uploading a video to youtube as we speak, and i will post the link here to watch, thanks.

I'd say you were cycled if you haven't seen any ammonia/nitrites, my system is the same, I never see it anywhere.

And I'm just troubleshooting now, but the inside of the growbeds look grey, not the green of the outside showing through. Did you paint it? With what?

Left over lead based paint from my grand dads shed

well your pictures show your system to be well thought out with no obvious flaws.

it must be something to do with water quality and your ph. im not familier with scoria as it was too expensive to buy in tassie but i thought it was relatively inert?

the paint looks to be in two layers on the outside of the plastic, first coat grey primer.

i would have thought goldfish would be pretty hard to kill. ive had my rainbow trout from ph 4 all the way to ph 8.5 and jumping around anywhere inbetween and they never blinked.

maybe get some rainbow trout? they are hardy buggers.

ps. get some good quality fish food and pump it into them, youll start seeing ammonia and nitrites and nitrates and your plants will start going alot better id imagine.

..
Was it not a case of death with gaping mouth = Oxygen Deprivation

So what oxygenation do you have.. I hope it is not just returning water..

http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=23422

Have a peek at the tables in there..

Knowing Pre-Death activity will also help, but like with many FT's, you likely are unable to really "Study" their general activity... again consider the table from true experts, and think what best fits..

eg.. has there been any corresponding increase in deaths with temperature.
ie.. increasing temperature = decreasing dissolved oxygen..

Sorry - just noticed that line..
..
.

How long has the tank been salted to 6ppt for? Maybe the illness affecting the original fish is still active in your system?
if it's just one fish left and he doesn't pull through, you might like to do a total water change and then salt your new water riiiiiight up for a while to kill any nasties. Lower the salt level with water changes before the new fish arrive, but still leave a bit in there to help the new fish deal with the move and consequent nitrite spikes etc.

I wouldn't add any antibiotics unless you 100% know what you're trying to treat.