Simo's first aquaponics system; Bullsbrook WA

Simo

skipd wrote:

lookin great Simo, :wave1:

a few more names of veges in pics would be good for us newbys, whats the long skinny leafed thing, kinda like agapanthus shape without the flower?
How many fish and how big? Questions questions!!

Hi Skipd,

The plant would be leek I think, grows well in AP.

I Have put 200 fish in the tank over the last year and haven't eaten any yet, I seem to have one die about every month but this has been a bad week ( see below) andf I guess I am down to about ~170 SP of various sizes, some 2 years old some one year old.

Simo

big worm wrote:

Simo wrote:

I am growing some heirloom white and purple carrots atm and while I had a poor germination rate those that did sprout grew well, only problem was when the hit the bottom of the GB and kept growing it pushed the top of the carrot up into the sunlight (the purple bit in the picture) which made that part of the carrot bitter. I might have to make a special deeper GB for carrots.

could you perhaps plant them in a plastic cup with the bottom cut out? like a tall veggie riser or grow tube? or a tote that had no bottem so yo would only need a small amount of extra media? you could add it as they grew out. in soil i keep adding to the top of my potato plants until i have them from one old tire to a stack of 3 or 4
just an idea to cope without a new deeper system

I think this would work big worm, I think some forum members have even done this is the past.

Simo

TEA20 wrote:

Looking nice Simo :thumbleft:

any thoughts on expanding yet

Funny you should say that TEA20, I have plans to build a lean to green house on the side of my shed, get a bigger sump for marron, double the GB volme and turn Burnsys sombrero into a floating raft GB that will sit over the sump.

Just got to find the time

Simo

Well I have had a bit of a HSM over the last few days, first here is the background.

Got home 1 week ago after being away for 2 weeks, the person looking after the system was told to only feed about a quarter what the fish would normally eat so that there would be no over feeding issues should the fish go off the feed for a few days, got home and every thing is running just fine, healthy fish, clear water readings

pH 6.4
Amm 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
Temp 25C

The water was warm and the fish were hungry so they ate heaps, the next day there was one dead fish, nothing unusual I thought they do die form time to time, again fish ate heaps and all was good, the next day one more dead fish so I tested the water

pH 6.4
Amm 0.5
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 10
Temp 25C

So I am guessing that low feed for two weeks meant low nutrients and the volume of bacteria in the GBs had died back accordingly and I was stressing the system by bumping up the feed and fish were dying of nitrite poisoning. No problem, no food until the number improve, increase water turn over and slowly increase food when the system can cope with it. Next day readings were

pH 6.4
Amm .25
Nitrite .5
Nitrate 20
Temp 25C

:cheers:

Yay worked a treat, or so I thought, yesterday I woke to this

Attachment:

Photo0198 (Medium).jpg [ 108.14 KiB | Viewed 2272 times ]

Attachment:

Photo0200 (Medium).jpg [ 94.99 KiB | Viewed 2271 times ]

Readings were this

pH 6.4
Amm .25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
Temp 25C

Nothing alarming there so I take a look at the fish, all 1 year old with the same white discolouration, the fish have always flashed a little bit but only at feeding time so I assumed that they were just trying to get food off the bottom or chasing the other fish away, and I have never put salt in my system after the first day I got the fish.

Is this itch?

All advice appreciated

Simo

So thinking the cause of the fish deaths must be disease I salted to 2 ppt and put 2 cups of garden lime in to bump up the pH a little to help the bacteria.

That night I found more dead fish

Attachment:

Photo0202 (Medium).jpg [ 97.89 KiB | Viewed 2265 times ]

And this morning I found one of my 2 year olds dead

Attachment:

Photo0215 (Medium).jpg [ 94.09 KiB | Viewed 2263 times ]

Attachment:

Photo0216 (Medium).jpg [ 66.98 KiB | Viewed 2263 times ]

Readings

pH 7.0
Amm .25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
Temp 23C

I'm hoping that this is the last death and the salt will work it's magic

Thoughts? Comments? Advice? :dontknow:

earthbound

Not ich, that shows as small white dots (pin pricks) all over the fish. Not sure what that is.... Wouldn't worry about your pH at 6.4, but certainly seems like something is going through them...

Simo

Two more deaths this afternoon, 1 two year old and a one year old, does seem like disease rather than water quality issuse as they are dropping just a few at a time, strange thing is the live fish seem very active hungry and healthy :dontknow:

fingers crossed the salt will sort them out, is 2ppt enough, I don't want to compromise the vegies but if they need 3 ppt to save them I will bump it up.

arbe

Do you have another tank you can set up as a hospital tank? - even if its not big enough for all fish try to save some of them.

jdphish

Kinda looks like columnaris.

Simo

possible, the fins are all intact though and I wouldn't really call the discolouration ulcerative as all the scales are sill there :dontknow:

maybe fungal

jdphish

I bet its on the gills too. Too warm for fungal, some other bacteria if not columnaris. Probably introduced with small fish.

Troutman

How much aeration have you got happening in the tank Simo??
Every dead fish has an open mouth and flared operculum which is usually a sign that they died from lack of DO.

skipd

Hows the fish today Simo ?
That many deaths is very concerning.
I am afraid I am a bit of a newb and do not have any answers. My only suggestion / query would be do you have lots of air pumping into water. Do you have a venturi airator setup to your FT. I would be leaving the system on continuous flow for max airation and dont feed until nitrate and nitrite levels reach 0. Then feed conservativley.
Good luck mate.

skipd

Troutman wrote:

How much aeration have you got happening in the tank Simo??
Every dead fish has an open mouth and flared operculum which is usually a sign that they died from lack of DO.

Interesting observation Troutman, um whats the operculum.

jdphish

My thoughts exactly, troutman. :think:

skipd, the operculum is the gill cover.

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics