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  1. #1
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    Catostrophic Fish Kill Help

    Okay, so in August I put plants in the greenhouse AP system and they have been growing like crazy. About 2-3 weeks later I introduced some Tilapia that I had in the garage (6-12") and for the last two months things were going fantastic. About six weeks after the Tilapia were put in, I introduced some trapped Bluegill fry and a few gold fish into the other fish tank (330 gall ibc totes). My thought was to have one tank for bluegill and catfish, and one tank for tilapia (seasonal). Both tanks are on a common system with 2 ibc totes buried in the ground as sumps with 300 gallons worth of media filled grow beds and 300 gallons worth of raft tank. Still everything went fine. About 3 weeks ago, I bought 60 4-6" channel cats from a hatchery and I was so excited. Up till this point every thing had been going great with no fish deaths at all. The fish were delivered on Friday and that weekend I installed two auto feeders. Within a few days I noticed a few catfish died (2-3 daily). Then all of a sudden gross amounts of fish died daily both catfish and Mature Tilapia for about 3 days till they were almost all gone. The fish turned whitish in color and seemed like they may have been bleeding from their gills. The gills were a grayish color. While netting dead fish I noticed excess feed on the bottom of the tanks that had a clear gelatinous coating around it. I cleaned the tanks and did a half water change for the system, added Ich medicine and still the fish continued to die. After the fish died off, I let the system keep running for a couple of days and tried reintroducing comet gold fish. Within a week they were all gone. I am new at this, but I am learning. How can I nail down the cause of death? I tested the water and nitrites, nitrates, and ammonia were within normal range. PH was 8.0. I can attribute overfeeding to some cause of death, I used an herbal anti fungal spray on some cucumbers (pet safe), and the catfish may have had a disease coming into the system. Any thoughts?

    With thriving plants in my system, how can I kill or eliminate what is killing the fish? Do I need to do a complete water change and scrub the tanks and filter barrels (radical flow flowing into a vortex)? What will clorox (chlorine) do to the plants?

    Any input will be appreciated. I still have blue nile and golden brood stock in my garage to start again this winter. Thanks for listening.
    Tom

  2. #2
    Members Apollo's Avatar
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    Re: Catostrophic Fish Kill Help

    Tom, so sorry to hear about your problem. It seems like you were doing so well. I'm new to all of this so not able to offer much help. Check out my post "100% Alive to 95% Dead in 12 hrs." Please let me know if my dead fish & yours look the same. All my other fish are still doing fine...never did find out what killed my fish.

    Thanks Apollo...For more info on my set up go to "Pipe Siphon by Apollo", best of luck.

  3. #3
    Members Aloha Don's Avatar
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    Re: Catostrophic Fish Kill Help

    There are several active threads about dying fish...
    I have been told to be careful adding new fish....this may be the case of the new infecting all others....
    When my fish died, it was due to ammonia spike....I have no experience (yet) with diseased fish..
    I heard that some Aquaponcists (Hope I got that right )add hydrogen peroxide to their systems....
    Anyone here add peroxide?
    Is it beneficial to the system?
    Put all excuses aside and remember this: YOU are capable - Zig Ziglar

  4. #4
    Members Apollo's Avatar
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    Re: Catostrophic Fish Kill Help

    Tom, it's been almost 2 months...how's everything going? I've had a total of five fish out of 50 that has died for some reason unknown to me. If you look at my tank, water, my readings and all the live fish all looks great, only my largest gold fish had any signs of sickness or injury. The other 4 fish just died with out seeing any signs as to why either before or after.

    Hope to hear back...with good news.

  5. #5
    Members Lordshandyman's Avatar
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    Re: Catostrophic Fish Kill Help

    Do you have any updates.

    I too have suffered a huge fish kill without knowing what caused it. My system has been running for around a 1.5 years with no fish deaths, till 4 weeks ago. Lost 1 baby, then next day, several, then 5 then 10, then around 5 then 15... All time the water test come back excellent. I just lost my large male breeder today.

    Would love to know if you have made any progress.
    Trust God, after all, only He knows what He is doing.

    Random Thoughts: There is some truth in every newspaper and magazine, you just need to know where to look....
    For instance: The name, price, date, and page numbers are usually always true!

  6. #6
    Members foodchain's Avatar
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    Re: Catostrophic Fish Kill Help

    Just a thought. But I added up how many fish you had in there. You overstocked your system, and in agriculture any time you increase densities it dramatically speeds up how fast anything bad can happen....ie...pathogens, etc.

    Gelatinous stuff on bottom was rotten food. Them going off food was likely caused by too many fish, and lack of DO in water....this I believe, someone may have a different opinion, is confirmed with the grey gills. Healthy, oxegynated tissue is bright bright orangish red, even right after death.
    Channel catfish prefer fast moving high DO in water. flatheads, bull heads, etc tolerate lower DO. And they put off a lot of waste. Comets put off huge amounts of waste in relation to their size/mass.
    Tilapia are more tolerant, and that's why you didn't have losses of them at first.

    Essentially you caused a sudden amonia spike from hell. The GB is reactionary, and would've had a surge in nitrates/nitrites. When you tested for amonia, that's likely why you wouldn't have seen much, it's passed the majority of the amonia spike by the time the fish die. It's not usually the amonia that kills...it's the aftermath.

    Chlorine/clorox in your system is not a good idea.
    Methalyne blue, is for fungus's, etc....and will dye pretty much anything it comes into contact with.

    Change all the water, as as much as you can get out. Scrub everything with salt...epsom salt works and is cheap. Rinse everything out, refill with water. Epsom salt has magnesium in it, and any residue left after washing it out should benefit your plants.
    No fish for a couple days, at least 3....let it cycle through and watch the water parameters.

    Then add new fish SLOWLY over several days. Let your GB build up again. Remember you have to give everything time to react. You make a change in your system, you have to allow time for it to react accordingly. Everything you do impacts some part of your system. Especially in a closed loop system.

    Best advice......less fish and make a bigger system. Bigger is more stable. In that small of a container, there's no way those catfish would ever have reached maturity. I lost several 2-3 ft channels this last week due to a similar problem caused by the weather front, and mine where in several thousand gallon pond.
    At first I left this blank...but now I believe: "It's better to keep your mouth closed, and have the world think your a fool, than open it and confirm it."

  7. #7
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    Re: Catostrophic Fish Kill Help

    Thanks for your insightful input. I believe you are right on all accounts. Fish stocking densities are numbers that are all over the chart depending on who you talk to. I am going to lean to the more conservative side this spring as I gear back up, thinking 8 -10 gallons of water per pound of fish. I am also thinking of getting out of the tilapia game right now as it is way to expensive to heat their tanks in my colder winter climates. I could use bluegill, channel cats, or yellow perch as an edible fish. I could also use common carp as they are also edible if pressure cooked first. The pressure cooking turns all the small bones into mush. Works well like a canned fish or fish cakes.

    As for the DO, I have some changes to make by adding a covered spray bar to the raft bed and venturis to the fish tanks. I just have some overflow and drainage issues to take care of also as I make changes.

    The people on youtube who try and sell stuff for AP drive me nuts with their "it's so easy" approach. It is very scientific to do this correctly, you are a fish murderer, and you have to be willing to throw out your ideas and do it again and again till it works. LOL

    Thanks again for your input.

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