Fish Farming ... When It Goes Belly Up

[ray23]

Yes running day and night so that is not it. It needs additional outside warter I'm pretty sure.

[DonaldBattles]

Hot weather and no rain will continue to make a big problem for us and our ponds. Don't look for any relief before the end of April. I am expecting my fish to die any day.

[RedBullHorn]

Have you got any aeration going in the pond? Might be low oxygen levels.

Water change might help things too, reduce nitrate levels.

Watch the Nitrite not the harmless Nitrate... rule of thumb, Salt to control Nitrite.

[RedBullHorn]

We are gettign a die off of the bigger fish from last year, wiht the current heat. Oddly enough isn't effecting the fry we just put in. I think the only solution is to pump some water in from one of the other ponds available to us.

We didn't run into this last year as we pump[ed a lot of water in, from the other pobds That being said that is an expensive operation. Not effecting the fry adn not sure I have enough big ones left to make it worthwhile money wise. These are Pla Nin, have 0-2 24/7.

It is due the atmospheric pressure then, if you've done everything right. This is a long cold season, not only Thailand (northern region) is affected but the UK, China and some other countries too. This year is the begining of the low peak of the solar system (every alternate 11 years)

Lot of weired weather patterns and atmosheric pressure.......

Ozzydom~~ Where are you~~~

Edited March 22, 2013 by RedBullHorn

[ozzydom]

We are gettign a die off of the bigger fish from last year, wiht the current heat. Oddly enough isn't effecting the fry we just put in. I think the only solution is to pump some water in from one of the other ponds available to us.

We didn't run into this last year as we pump[ed a lot of water in, from the other pobds That being said that is an expensive operation. Not effecting the fry adn not sure I have enough big ones left to make it worthwhile money wise. These are Pla Nin, have 0-2 24/7.

Ray,small ponds are subject to broader temperature variations than say a 1 rai pond,evaporation has been a real problem the last 3 months and we are having to replenish water on a much more regular basis than normal.

I would humbly suggest that you swing your pump into gear and put about 18 inches more water in the pond.

If your replenishing from another pond ,I would also suggest you knock up a nozzle aerator for the pump,video of procedure was in recent video link posted,simple as falling out of bed.

[ozzydom]

RBH.We have one particular pond that we have a problem with in maintaining water quality,the problem seems to be an inordinate build up of Nitrite.

My opinion is that we are getting underground seepage from the village waste water.Regular salt application seems to help a bit but does not fully resolve the problem.

So,I am going to try adding EM A to see if it helps.

I picked up some EM solution (the same one you use)today and want to make sure I understand its useage.

If I understand correctly,I mix 1 litre EM plus 1 litre of mollases in 18 litres of good water to make EM A.

Then after 7-10 days I put this mix into a 200 litre container with another 1 litre of mollases for 7 days to make an expanded EM A mix for adding to the pond.

Please correct me if I have it all wrong.

I was surprised (pleasantly) at the price of ingredients ,== 80 baht a litre for the EM and 20 baht a litre for the molasses.

cheers

dom

[ray23]

Laying out the pipe today. we pump tomorrow starting to effect the little ones, which is next years crop. This will be the first tiem we have since the rain, so pretty good all and all.

Can you add lime to the pond when you have fish in it?

In a liquid form.

[ozzydom]

Laying out the pipe today. we pump tomorrow starting to effect the little ones, which is next years crop. This will be the first tiem we have since the rain, so pretty good all and all.

Can you add lime to the pond when you have fish in it?

In a liquid form.

Leave the lime out unless you do a PH test and find your water is acid.(below 7)

8-8.5 is good for Pla Nin, adding lime (especially the concentrated type)will raise PH, note that every point above a PH of eight you raise it increases ammonia and nitrite toxicity by a factor of 10.

[RedBullHorn]

RBH.We have one particular pond that we have a problem with in maintaining water quality,the problem seems to be an inordinate build up of Nitrite.

My opinion is that we are getting underground seepage from the village waste water.Regular salt application seems to help a bit but does not fully resolve the problem.

So,I am going to try adding EM A to see if it helps.

I picked up some EM solution (the same one you use)today and want to make sure I understand its useage.

If I understand correctly,I mix 1 litre EM plus 1 litre of mollases in 18 litres of good water to make EM A.

Then after 7-10 days I put this mix into a 200 litre container with another 1 litre of mollases for 7 days to make an expanded EM A mix for adding to the pond.

Please correct me if I have it all wrong.

I was surprised (pleasantly) at the price of ingredients ,== 80 baht a litre for the EM and 20 baht a litre for the molasses.

cheers

dom

You got it half right by way of my method, you mix 1 litre EM plus 1 litre of mollases in 18 litre of water, then you will need to bottle each litre in a 1.25 plastic Coke bottle, seal it tight and keep them 18 bottles for fermentation in a preferably a dark cool place out of the sun or a place (out of the sun) and cover with a dark cloth will do just fine. Leave it for 7-10 days (this method's shelve life in only 6 months, IA's method which is more concentrated, a third portion of each ingredient to make a litre, have a shelve life of up to 3 years.)

After 7-10 days, you have your own EM-A brew, all in the convenient of the Coke bottle, it is up to your own discretion upon usage. I use a bottle of the EM-A brew plus a litre of mollases, top up with 50 litre of water for the usage of mixing with pellet feed together with other supplement like Vitamin C . For treatment of ponds' water, i use "up to" 2 bottle plus 2 litre of mollases top up with 200 litre of water in the blue PVC barrel. I use 2 x 200 litre for a 800sqm size pond.

Once you mix the EM-A brew with the quantity of water like 50 or 200 litre for your intended purpose, let the mix sit for 24 hours before use, shelve life is only 7 days, after that the brew odors of "sweet & sour" will start to diminish indicating near expiry.

Adding more or putting in less, it's all up to you, if it makes you feel good pouring 4 bottles of EM-A brew into the 200 Litre PVC barrel, then 4 bottles it is, and feel good about it.

There is a guide line but getting it right or doing it wrong, result are always on the positive side.

Edited March 23, 2013 by RedBullHorn

[ray23]

Thanks, Dom

We will add water tomorrow and Monday get the water checked.

[ozzydom]

RBH.We have one particular pond that we have a problem with in maintaining water quality,the problem seems to be an inordinate build up of Nitrite.

My opinion is that we are getting underground seepage from the village waste water.Regular salt application seems to help a bit but does not fully resolve the problem.

So,I am going to try adding EM A to see if it helps.

I picked up some EM solution (the same one you use)today and want to make sure I understand its useage.

If I understand correctly,I mix 1 litre EM plus 1 litre of mollases in 18 litres of good water to make EM A.

Then after 7-10 days I put this mix into a 200 litre container with another 1 litre of mollases for 7 days to make an expanded EM A mix for adding to the pond.

Please correct me if I have it all wrong.

I was surprised (pleasantly) at the price of ingredients ,== 80 baht a litre for the EM and 20 baht a litre for the molasses.

cheers

dom

You got it half right by way of my method, you mix 1 litre EM plus 1 litre of mollases in 18 litre of water, then you will need to bottle each litre in a 1.25 plastic Coke bottle, seal it tight and keep them 18 bottles for fermentation in a preferably a dark cool place out of the sun or a place (out of the sun) and cover with a dark cloth will do just fine. Leave it for 7-10 days (this method's shelve life in only 6 months, IA's method which is more concentrated, a third portion of each ingredient to make a litre, have a shelve life of up to 3 years.)

After 7-10 days, you have your own EM-A brew, all in the convenient of the Coke bottle, it is up to your own discretion upon usage. I use a bottle of the EM-A brew plus a litre of mollases, top up with 50 litre of water for the usage of mixing with pellet feed together with other supplement like Vitamin C . For treatment of ponds' water, i use "up to" 2 bottle plus 2 litre of mollases top up with 200 litre of water in the blue PVC barrel. I use 2 x 200 litre for a 800sqm size pond.

Once you mix the EM-A brew with the quantity of water like 50 or 200 litre for your intended purpose, let the mix sit for 24 hours before use, shelve life is only 7 days, after that the brew odors of "sweet & sour" will start to diminish indicating near expiry.

Adding more or putting in less, it's all up to you, if it makes you feel good pouring 4 bottles of EM-A brew into the 200 Litre PVC barrel, then 4 bottles it is, and feel good about it.

There is a guide line but getting it right or doing it wrong, result are always on the positive side.

Thanks mate,got it now

[highlander403]

was thinking of keeping a few, poss 30/50 pla nin in a concrete pond abt 9ftx9ft x 2 ft deep would i need aireation ,they are for our own use,

we already had abt 500 pla duc in it untill recently.

scotty

[ray23]

Well we pumped in two feet of water yesterday, had eleven belly up this morning. Now we will see what the next d few days bring. Th reason it;s expensive is that I used to do this mnmyself, so it was only fuel. These days can;t do that anyo more so labor involved.

At least we have learned something for next year and can react quicker to it. Maybe save few fish.

[grimleybob]

was thinking of keeping a few, poss 30/50 pla nin in a concrete pond abt 9ftx9ft x 2 ft deep would i need aireation ,they are for our own use,

we already had abt 500 pla duc in it untill recently.

scotty

I would have thought 2ft isn't deep enough as the water will get too warm

[highlander403]

thanks for that bob guess we will put some more pla duc back in the pond

scotty

[DonaldBattles]

Thanks to the guys on the forum I have had some friendly Thais pump my lake. Fed them, gave them fish and they drank Lao Kao. They really knew what they were doing. They spent most of the day with 3 cast nets taking the fish from one lake and building a netted holding area in the second lake. Will wait for the rains to put water back and then stock with the red tilapia.

[ray23]

Well we are losing less each day. Dom do you think building a filter system for the large pond would help?

Would I be losing my algea doing that?

[David48]

.

Edited March 26, 2013 by David48

[IsaanAussie]

Finally got around to pumping out my pond after over 10 years.

[RedBullHorn]

What a nice big catfish, Made In China too...

[ozzydom]

Well we are losing less each day. Dom do you think building a filter system for the large pond would help?

Would I be losing my algea doing that?

No Ray, your pond colour is the way it is because of the suspended soil materials, and this is because running aeration 24/7 keeps the clay etc in suspension,not allowing it to settle.

It all boils down to the fact that you overstock,which necessitates the need to aerate so much.

If you were to stock at say 1.5 fish per square metre (surface area )you would not need to aerate and the sediment would settle.

[ray23]

Well we are losing less each day. Dom do you think building a filter system for the large pond would help?

Would I be losing my algea doing that?

No Ray, your pond colour is the way it is because of the suspended soil materials, and this is because running aeration 24/7 keeps the clay etc in suspension,not allowing it to settle.

It all boils down to the fact that you overstock,which necessitates the need to aerate so much.

If you were to stock at say 1.5 fish per square metre (surface area )you would not need to aerate and the sediment would settle.

Thanks Dom

[ray23]

Eliminate nitrite = solution is Salt.

Neutralize bad bacteria = solution is EM.

Once every week, i salt my pond, 1 sack of salt per 800sqm pond size.

Once every month, i apply EM to all my pond, activated EM in 2 x 200 litre blue PVC barrel per pond.

Fight chemical with chemistry, fight bacteria with bacteria, fight fire with fire.

Some point of interest for rearing in tank

Maybe time to give this a try. I pulled water today to have it checked. Things were going good until today we hit nearly 40 here in Udon today.

Thought about what you said Dom I always listen when yuo talk about this. The pond was fished out through the year, so I reduced the stocking level. Probably have about 600 fish now. most are fry. When I look at the water it looks like a good algea content not muddy. Catfish in the other pond are in the same water and doing great.

Dropsy seems to describe what I'm seeing. Some are missing their tails. If I have to go under 600 I might as well stop. can't cover costs.

We will see what the tests show tomorrow.

[RedBullHorn]

The naturally formed tail handicap (catfish) is from bad generic, I've them too (some)...

Edited March 27, 2013 by RedBullHorn

[DonaldBattles]

Is it wise when restocking to put some small cat fish and snake heads in with the tilapia?

[canuckamuck]

Snakeheads are voracious predators, and catfish keep the water muddied up. Why would you want them with your peaceful, tidy, tilapia?

[RedBullHorn]

No it isn't wise when restocking a newly prepared pond full of fingerling size Tilapia. If you are doing the green water method, catfishes will cause heavy turbidity in pond water and compete for DO. Since if you have catfishes living alongside with the Tilapias, you will need to feed the catfishes and Tilapias will compete for its shares. Catfishes grow faster than Tilapias, they're aggressive and will harm some Tilapias. Snakeheads are aggressive too and will harm both but the choice targets is the tame Tilapias.

You can introduce snakeheads and catfishes at a later stage when Tilapias are bigger at around 4 months old. 3% predatory fishes is ideal to control Tilapia population if some not properly sterile and produces offsprings.

Edited March 28, 2013 by RedBullHorn

[IsaanAussie]

Has anyone tried treating a green pond with molasses? Attached is an article I have just been reading.

Molasses use in ponds.pdf

[RedBullHorn]

Me. That's the pond water treatment i had been doing all along, but my molasses is mix with water and EM-A (better than just plain molasses, right ?). That's want I've been talking about.

[ray23]

Had the water tested today at the Udon Fishery. No bacteria. Add one kilo of salt once a week.

Here is the surprise, I described my pond actually described it a smaller then it is. The guy said to put 100 Kilos of lime in.

That is one heck of a lot of lime. What do you think Dom?

I'm trying to decide how to approach this. Put in the Kilo of salt and one kilo of lime.

If it infact it is 100, I can't see dong that at once. Any thoughts how to put it in the water?

I just read the article on Molasis, is it doing the same thing as the lime?

Where do you find it?

For now I will stick to the lime since that is waht I was told by the fishery. Comments are welcome.

Edited March 28, 2013 by ray23