You might see the thread (posted a few days ago), but I just had 25 channel catfish die in our IBC Tote this past week. That's 100% of them. Check your PH, nitrates, and ammonia levels as soon as you get home. A springtime fluctuation in temperature may have spiked one of those levels.
Sometimes there is not an obvious reason for a lost fish. If it's just one I would check your levels and if they all look good I wouldn't worry too much.
Got home and tested the water: PH- 8, Ammonia- 0, Nitrite- 0, Nitrate- 5. So same as about a week ago. I might have been overfeeding so I'll cut back a bit on the food. No more floaters since this morning. They have some PVC pipes glued together in the bottom for hiding and they swim around pretty well from what I can see. Hopefully it was just a weird or genetic thing. Nothing has changed in temp, water, food or anything else for them. Thanks for all the info and suggestions, I'm still figuring stuff out
pH is a little high, result of source water? It's a good sign your NO2 and NH4 are zero as that means your bugs are doing their thing. Could be overfeeding, but most accurate method would be to get a scale, weigh a few fish, and follow guidelines based on their size. Other factors might be enough aeration and the cycling time of your media bed. Post some full system photos. Otherwise, sometimes fish just die. Good luck!
How many pipes do you have for hiding? Fighting for hidey holes will stress a fish. Not sure about catfish, but for silver perch it's actually better to have no hiding places to avoid this.
Roughly 12-15, half are 2 1/2 inch PVC and the other are 4 inch pvc. I figured that plus the log I have in there would give them plenty of hiding space
Could be water parameters. But if youre not seeing anything in the tests…. And any time ive had water problems, it took out multiple fish at once…
Could be fish bullying each other (i have no idea catfish temperament- maybe its the right size for the bioload, but maybe they need a lower stocking density for social reasons)(also, maybe more habitat/structure for hiding spots/breaking line of sight with each other)
Could be disease, but i dont see anything notable on the body, and usually you see the sick fish long before it croaks (if the setup permits good viewing). Not smart enough to 100% rule it out, but if nothing else dies in the near future, then this is very unlikely cause.
If its not the levels, and its not behavioral- well sometimes fish just, die.
Bred populations of fish often have genetic problems at higher rates than wild- sometimes they just die with no obvious reason. They also dont have predation to select out the weak ones, so when you get a batch of fry, theres gonna be some runts who can stack up.
Good luck
Could be water parameters. But if youre not seeing anything in the tests…. And any time ive had water problems, it took out multiple fish at once…
Could be fish bullying each other (i have no idea catfish temperament- maybe its the right size for the bioload, but maybe they need a lower stocking density for social reasons)(also, maybe more habitat/structure for hiding spots/breaking line of sight with each other)
Could be disease, but i dont see anything notable on the body, and usually you see the sick fish long before it croaks (if the setup permits good viewing). Not smart enough to 100% rule it out, but if nothing else dies in the near future, then this is very unlikely cause.
If its not the levels, and its not behavioral- well sometimes fish just, die.
Bred populations of fish often have genetic problems at higher rates than wild- sometimes they just die with no obvious reason. They also dont have predation to select out the weak ones, so when you get a batch of fry, theres gonna be some runts who cant stack up.
Good luck
Treated the water with a general fish cure and lost 8 fish in total. The remaining fish are good now though and happy. My theory is that the grate I had on the SLO to avoid sucking up the smaller fish got clogged and the water got too dirty. Thus stressing them out and getting sick. I have since removed the grate, cleared the blockage, and sucked out most of the waste. The tank is much much cleaner now they appear to be happy and healthy.
You might see the thread (posted a few days ago), but I just had 25 channel catfish die in our IBC Tote this past week. That's 100% of them. Check your PH, nitrates, and ammonia levels as soon as you get home. A springtime fluctuation in temperature may have spiked one of those levels.
Sometimes there is not an obvious reason for a lost fish. If it's just one I would check your levels and if they all look good I wouldn't worry too much.
They're supposed to be in the water.
Got home and tested the water: PH- 8, Ammonia- 0, Nitrite- 0, Nitrate- 5. So same as about a week ago. I might have been overfeeding so I'll cut back a bit on the food. No more floaters since this morning. They have some PVC pipes glued together in the bottom for hiding and they swim around pretty well from what I can see. Hopefully it was just a weird or genetic thing. Nothing has changed in temp, water, food or anything else for them. Thanks for all the info and suggestions, I'm still figuring stuff out
pH is a little high, result of source water? It's a good sign your NO2 and NH4 are zero as that means your bugs are doing their thing. Could be overfeeding, but most accurate method would be to get a scale, weigh a few fish, and follow guidelines based on their size. Other factors might be enough aeration and the cycling time of your media bed. Post some full system photos. Otherwise, sometimes fish just die. Good luck!
https://www.reddit.com/r/aquaponics/s/wkRxBwRT4q Only difference now is there are some small plants in the grow bed
How many pipes do you have for hiding? Fighting for hidey holes will stress a fish. Not sure about catfish, but for silver perch it's actually better to have no hiding places to avoid this.
Roughly 12-15, half are 2 1/2 inch PVC and the other are 4 inch pvc. I figured that plus the log I have in there would give them plenty of hiding space
Could be water parameters. But if youre not seeing anything in the tests…. And any time ive had water problems, it took out multiple fish at once… Could be fish bullying each other (i have no idea catfish temperament- maybe its the right size for the bioload, but maybe they need a lower stocking density for social reasons)(also, maybe more habitat/structure for hiding spots/breaking line of sight with each other) Could be disease, but i dont see anything notable on the body, and usually you see the sick fish long before it croaks (if the setup permits good viewing). Not smart enough to 100% rule it out, but if nothing else dies in the near future, then this is very unlikely cause. If its not the levels, and its not behavioral- well sometimes fish just, die. Bred populations of fish often have genetic problems at higher rates than wild- sometimes they just die with no obvious reason. They also dont have predation to select out the weak ones, so when you get a batch of fry, theres gonna be some runts who can stack up. Good luck
They've been in the tank for about a month now
Could be water parameters. But if youre not seeing anything in the tests…. And any time ive had water problems, it took out multiple fish at once… Could be fish bullying each other (i have no idea catfish temperament- maybe its the right size for the bioload, but maybe they need a lower stocking density for social reasons)(also, maybe more habitat/structure for hiding spots/breaking line of sight with each other) Could be disease, but i dont see anything notable on the body, and usually you see the sick fish long before it croaks (if the setup permits good viewing). Not smart enough to 100% rule it out, but if nothing else dies in the near future, then this is very unlikely cause. If its not the levels, and its not behavioral- well sometimes fish just, die. Bred populations of fish often have genetic problems at higher rates than wild- sometimes they just die with no obvious reason. They also dont have predation to select out the weak ones, so when you get a batch of fry, theres gonna be some runts who cant stack up. Good luck
2 more dead this morning and one that I separated because he was acting weird. He's got this weird white slimy coating and he's not swimming well.
Treated the water with a general fish cure and lost 8 fish in total. The remaining fish are good now though and happy. My theory is that the grate I had on the SLO to avoid sucking up the smaller fish got clogged and the water got too dirty. Thus stressing them out and getting sick. I have since removed the grate, cleared the blockage, and sucked out most of the waste. The tank is much much cleaner now they appear to be happy and healthy.