My First single IBC DIY System

[Edvanr]

Here is a video update showing the bell siphon in action....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xONe3CtJk54

[Edvanr]

Unfortunately we have had a death in the family.

I noticed this little guy was floating around the tank,he did no look healthy and I could tell his skin did not look right.

When we were picking up the fish yesterday the guy catching them found one that looked very similar and threw it back into the pond, said something had attacked it. Anyway I am hoping that this guy was sick before he came home with me and that it was not my system that killed him.

I found him sucked up against the pump, still alive but i decided to pull him out. Think he was a goner...

Any clues from looking at him? Should i try to dissect him and find out more? No idea what I would be looking for... Should I be worried or just put it down to the stress of yesterdays transport?

Here is some footage of the other fish...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrYbwvtPqMs

They are a lot more active then yesterday when I brought them home. I think they are really hungry but I a resisting the temptation to feed them too much. They seem to be coming up to the surface a lot, I hope it is not because of lack of oxygen in the water, hopefully they are just hungry... Any thoughts?

[Edvanr]

If you have a look at the previous video I posted (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrYbwvtPqMs) you will see clusters of white bubbles on the water. These seem to be increasing in the system.

I am not 100% sure, however I think it is from slime/mucus coming off the fish. Could this be correct? If I look at some of the fish very closely I can see what looks like a thin strand of snot coming off their body.

Is this normal? Should I be worried?

After this mornings death and a few hours of reading other posts I am considering adding 2-3 ppm of salt into my system. Would this be a good idea?

Cheers,
Ed.

[Yabbies4me]

Hi Ed,

Salting to 1ppt prior to adding new fish is a good idea, but now that you have an issue, depending on what it is, salting to 3ppt may be recommended. The salt helps the fish maintain/develop their protective slime coat.

If it's just stress related, then maybe salt to just 1ppt, but if it's a disease issue then a dose at 3ppt may be required. Rupe might chime in if he sees your post, if not maybe send him a PM.

Cheers.

[brett&vicky]

If you have a look at the previous video I posted (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrYbwvtPqMs) you will see clusters of white bubbles on the water. These seem to be increasing in the system.

I am not 100% sure, however I think it is from slime/mucus coming off the fish. Could this be correct? If I look at some of the fish very closely I can see what looks like a thin strand of snot coming off their body.

Is this normal? Should I be worried?

After this mornings death and a few hours of reading other posts I am considering adding 2-3 ppm of salt into my system. Would this be a good idea?

Cheers,
Ed.

gday we salted our system 2ppt after some deaths (looked like your video) now all are fine
lot and lots of air trout love it cheers brett&vicky

[Edvanr]

Ok after one more death I decided to salt up to 3ppm. From my calculations that worked out to 1950 grams of pool salt into the 650 litres of water.

I mixed the salt into twenty litres of water and poured it into the system.

Fingers crossed this will fix the problem and sort out the fish.

One question, once the salt is added to the system is it OK to remain in there for good? Or should I flush out some of the water after a period of time?

Cheers,
Ed.

[Drdamage]

I thought your supposed to pull the fish out of the system and into another tub to salt bath them?
I'm still learning.

[Yabbies4me]

If you have fish with signs of infection, lesions etc, you should take them out of the system and salt bath them for a short period... at 10ppt from memory. Then reintroduce them to your sytem that has been salted to 3ppt, or 6ppt depending on the illness. Most plants, except strawb's and possibly peas, will handle 3ppt okay.

If your fish have a problem with their slime coats, after relocation, stress etc, but no signs of infection, then simply salting your system to 2ppt or 3ppt, like B&V did, will help them get over stress and develop their protective slime coat, without the need for a salt bath.

The salt is gradually watered down with water top-ups and is also consumed by the plants. Someone on here, FishFood I think, said he could salt his system to 1ppt and a couple of months later the salt level would be 0.0ppt when tested.

Some of the above info may vary for different species, I'm sure someone will fill in the gaps if it is.

Cheers, Yabbies.

[Drdamage]

If you have fish with signs of infection, lesions etc, you should take them out of the system and salt bath them for a short period... at 10ppt from memory. Then reintroduce them to your sytem that has been salted to 3ppt, or 6ppt depending on the illness. Most plants, except strawb's and possibly peas, will handle 3ppt okay.

If your fish have a problem with their slime coats, after relocation, stress etc, but no signs of infection, then simply salting your system to 2ppt or 3ppt, like B&V did, will help them get over stress and develop their protective slime coat, without the need for a salt bath.

Cheers, Yabbies.

ahh ok ,Thanks for clearing that up. Just checking in on this thread because I have a similar system and I'm kinda 2 weeks behind Edvanr, so I may get the same problems.

Very helpful so far, Thankyou.

[Edvanr]

Thanks for all the info Yabbies that has been a great help.

I checked the water this morning after adding the 3ppm of salt yesterday. It looks like the PH has jumped from 7.0 up to 7.6 overnight. Should I be concerned or is this normal when introducing salt? I have some hydrochloric acid, i am considering trying to lower the ph back down to 7, would this be a good idea?

Ammonia has slightly increased to 1.5 and still no readying for nitrites or nitrates...

One other fish has been looking quite unwell, doing a bit of upside down swimming, i was going to pull him out this morning but thought I would give them until the end of the day to see if he can get back on track.

Ed.