Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Do you have anything in your tank that could have a sharp edge

I lost Two catfish when I had them , nasty sores down the sides , I had a cable tie, at the bottom that was damaging their skin as they swam past took awhile to work that out .

Make certain the tank is covered in case this is damage done by a predator.

Thanks Scotty. The tank is well covered, pretty sure it's not a predator... Other than maybe the Murray cod.

Terra... I think you might be onto something. The tank is an oval shaped corrugated rainwater tank so all the walls are fairly smooth. But the pump, and associated plumbing, has some relatively sharp edges. And the wounds on the fish are in places that would probably rub against these sorts of edges.

With luck it's all academic going forward. The catfish are fun to keep but very slow growing and they don't taste as good as perch. So I won't be getting any more. The Murray cod, in the same tank, looks fine. Maybe it's just a catfish thing.

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You know how sometimes there's a thread you often see in the list of recent thread posts, but you just never get around clicking on it? You keep thinking, I must check that thread, but others seem to keep you busy, or you flip back to facebook, or an email comes in and distracts you... Then one day you finally do click on it and WOW...

Bloody nice system Dave, good work..

Next time I see your thread in the list I will definitely click on it for a look.. Sorry, no further thoughts on the fish issue, I would have guessed fungal as your previous silver had, or rather looked a bit like it had..

Thanks for the advice on the catfish.

And the nice feedback. It means a lot to me Earthbound... coming from you!

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No guarantees here but usually mold filaments (mycelium and other structures) will extend out into the water and look kind of fuzzy. Once you bring the fish out of the water they lie flat against the fish's body and are tougher to see.

Thanks. That makes sense of my findings so far Scotty... too late to check now. both catfish are in the freezer waiting to go out in the green waste bin. If it happens again (fingers crossed it won't). I'll take a close up look at them in a bucket of water.

It's warming up in the Northern Rivers.

Went away for two weeks and came back to a system that will have me eating leafy greens 3 times a day for weeks.

And I harvested my wasabi before it gets burned off by the sunshine and heat. It's been three years. Every summer it dies right back and I think it's finished but it's come good each winter. There's not much to show for it... but it tastes great. I suspect it would do much better in Victoria or Tasmania

How's the wasabi taste Dave? I didn't know much about wasabi until I looked it up. other than its hot. What parts can you eat?

The root tastes a lot like horseradish Boss. It's hot... hard to say much more about the flavour. It doesn't burn for as long as chili. Maybe you've had it with sushi.

The leaves and stalks are edible too. They're a bit milder. A bit like rocket - I think you call it aragula.

Wasabi grows in running streams in Japan. Likes the cold.

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Real wasabi, not to be confused with wasabi paste in a jar, which contains no wasabi at all!

I've got a plant in my small system, it has grown rather large in recent weeks.

Hope you get a better harvest than my three years got me

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Sounds like a fun plant to try and grow . I wonder if it likes high altitudes? I'm going to try and put more effort into our gardens and aquaponics this go round.

Missed your post Boss... sorry! I'm at the top of a hill... but the bottom of the hill is at sea level so can't comment about altitude It does prefer the cold... but not sure about your severe winters.

I was away for a few weeks. Came back to warm weather and overgrown growbeds. Just about caught up with harvesting and pruning. Here's a couple of photos just after I got back.

the last Murray cod seems quite happy on its own in the large sump tank - growing slowly but steadily. I don't plan to eat it for a while!

Jade and silver perch in the main tank are very hungry with the warm weather. Will be smoking a silver perch on the weekend

Have been busy with work and the recent holiday season. But the system keeps on keeping on... with not too much maintenance required these days. Fish have been ravenous in the recent heat wave.

I'm overstocked - still

So these fish were harvested yesterday... now in a brining solution and for smoking this afternoon. Silver perch at the bottom and two jade perch above it. Jades grow much faster - those ones are probably only 12 months cf the silver which is close to 3 years.


I plan to eat the rest of the table sized perch in coming weeks. Will leave me with a handful of just under plate sized perch in my main tank and one murray cod (perhaps 1.5 kg) in my sump tank.

I'm wondering if the bigger perch would badly bully a new batch of jade perch fingerlings. If so, I'll reluctantly harvest the murray cod and move the remaining perch to the sump tank. And if anyone is wondering why the murray cod would need to be harvested... they have very big mouths. Take a look at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8rb7qvwvWc about 30 seconds in.