tilapia losing scales, turning gray and dying

[chrisfoerst]

Thanks to everyone who helped give advice for the exhibit. It turned out great and I hope to post some pics soon. I recently came back from being out of the country for more than a month. Family has been helping me to take care of my tilapia but I am very concerned that I am about to lose all of them. In the past week, 4 have died. They lose a lot of their scales and turn a dark grayish color and become very lethargic. Any idea of what they could have? My tank is completely cycled.

[rfeiller]

my response to this type of situation is a complete water change. the parameters that you are able to monitor are minimal. there is a lot more that affects or infects the fish that without the proper lab equipment you have no idea what it is. it could be some chemical used in cleaning the room that was picked up by the pump and circulated throughout the water, could be bacterial, viral, insecticides, fungal, parasitic, such as gill flukes. but by changing the water you have removed the outside of the fish's bodies problems. hope this helps. if you are not still going to eat them use Amquel to condition the replacement water. folks are using ascorbic acid to neutralize chlorimines, i've never tried it.

[chrisfoerst]

Ok, that's what I'll do tomorrow. There's no need to do anything to the grow beds, correct? Thanks for the response.

[rfeiller]

correct

[urbanfarmer]

I think they're sick.

[davidstcldfl]

Wow,sorry to hear that Chris....

Try some salt in your system......1 or 2 ppm.....1 kilogram to 1000 L of water makes 1 ppm. Sorry, I don't remeber the US equivelant.
You may already know (?) ...don't use salt with iodine or that has anti-caking agents in it.

Good luck...

@ Urbanfarmer.... .....

[chrisfoerst]

David,

Do you recommend a complete water change as well and then adding the salt or should I just try the salt first? Is sea salt a good option?

[urbanfarmer]

Wow,sorry to hear that Chris....

Try some salt in your system......1 or 2 ppm.....1 kilogram to 1000 L of water makes 1 ppm. Sorry, I don't remeber the US equivelant.
You may already know (?) ...don't use salt with iodine or that has anti-caking agents in it.

Good luck...

@ Urbanfarmer.... .....

BTW, do you mean salt it at 1 or 2 PPM or PPT? I didn't think it had any effect at PPM (and I don't think I have hands small enough to salt a small system to that proportion, tee hee).

If it is PPT, then add the salt over time. The fish need to adjust to the salt. They CAN do it, they just need to do it over time. Any time frame you have in mind should be fine. 2-3 days or so. Long is better but won't matter much in this case.

If it is PPM, then it doesn't matter the fish can handle it (tilapia are euryhaline and won't even react to it physiologically at that low concentration).

[davidstcldfl]

I agree with rfeiller.
Can you pre-treat all your new water (adjust ph,treat for chlorine/chloromines, match the water tempt ) before adding ? Maybe you could at least do a 50% water change, a day or two apart.
I'd add salt now, and as you you change the water. Sea salt is good. However, it may cost a little more.

I gave the correct ratio...1 kg:1000 L of water...or.. 1 gram:1 liter of water...(dang metric fish pooh, who decided to measure with 'tens'... )
UF is right, I wrote PPM, it should be PPT..... 'parts per thousand'

[urbanfarmer]

I agree with rfeiller.
Can you pre-treat all your new water (adjust ph,treat for chlorine/chloromines, match the water tempt ) before adding ? Maybe you could at least do a 50% water change, a day or two apart.
I'd add salt now, and as you you change the water. Sea salt is good. However, it may cost a little more.

I gave the correct ratio...1 kg:1000 L of water...or.. 1 gram:1 liter of water...(dang metric fish pooh, who decided to measure with 'tens'... )
UF is right, I wrote PPM, it should be PPT..... 'parts per thousands'

OOPS, my eye skimmed over the ratio. I would have understood but darn this headache... 1 gram per 1 Liter is 1 PPT (parts per thousand). That's why I was asking because it's usually in PPT since it has to be in pretty high concentration. The sea is about 35 PPT or 35000 PPM or 3.5% salinity. I believe salt baths for fish disease are suggested around 1 to 4 PPT, but please reference the documentation on that because I could very well be wrong. Tilapia are special though and won't care about those variations, but other fish will definitely care.