Bad Couple Days

We have been having a bad couple days with the lab tank.  Today, we took out 8 dead ones and found at least 5 more spinners that are probably going to perish soon.  Trying to figure out what is the matter.  One fatality was examined under the microscope and large abcess-like growth was found on it's head.  On a good note, the fish that were transferred to the room tank are feeding well and seem to have adjusted well.

Free at last

Well, we just couldn't wait any longer.  We let the fish loose on Thursday, December 9th from the net breeder and they quickly adjusted to "free" life in the tank with the other set of fry.  Many fish are actively feeding at the top of the tank, and fry are getting fed small amounts several times a day.  From all accounts, we still should have about 600 fry between the two sets, even though we have allowed all of the misformed fry to continue until they perish on their own.  One of our two headed fish is still living, and it is a daily routine to look and see if he is still ok. 

Today, December 13th our chiller arrived back from Tradewinds, even though school was cancelled for the third time in the last 8 days.  We just can't seem to get away from the lake effect snow showers here in Butler County!  Chiller is plugged in and running, and it is hoped to transfer fish over to the room tank early this week.  It just seems a lot emptier in the room without the trout in there!

Swim-up Fry

Our brookies seem to be doing well, if not a little behind schedule from previous years.  By this time last year, all fish were actively feeding at the top.  This year, about 25% of the fish are actively swimming up and feeding.  I have altered the water temp up a little bit to see if that has any effect. 

We are also still waiting for the chiller to be returned from Tradewinds so that we can move those fish back to the classroom.  They are ready to be out of the net breeder, so I hope the chiller comes soon.

Room Tank Issues

Well, this has been an interesting start to this school year.  Our brookies arrived in two different batches, including a batch of sac fry, and appear to be doing well.  However, our chiller has died in the tank in the classroom.  It is now on it's way back to California for repairs, and all of our trout are in the tank in the lab.  I will try to keep the trout from the room tank in the net brooder until the chiller comes back to keep the batches separate.

2nd Batch

Received our second batch on Wednesday, November 10th.  Most were already sac fry, with a few eggs thrown in as well.  These fish were placed in the science lab tank in the gravel to simulate a more natural appearance as would appear in nature.

One interesting find for the class was this two-headed fry that didn't make it in shipment.

Eggs Batch 1

Our first batch of eggs arrived on Wednesday, November 3rd at about 10:20 AM.  We quickly started sorting them and eventually moved this batch of eggs into the room tank.  Total of 451 viable eggs went into the tank.

This is the next day:

The second batch is being shipped out November 8th, with the majority expecting to be sac fry already.  A lot of our eggs hatched over the weekend.

Birdhouses

BJHS ESP Environmental Issues class just finished up construction of bluebird boxes for installation at various stream improvement projects around our area.  Several will be installed next spring at the Thorn Creek Habitat Improvement Project when classes go to tour and complete testing activities.

Tanks are running

This week, we fired the chillers up to make sure that both tanks will be ready for the eggs when they arrive in November.  Water levels and chemistry is being checked daily, and we have been playing with the chiller settings to make sure that all is ok.  So far, everything seems like we are ready to go for this year with both of our tanks...

Tornado TV

For those of you that have Armstrong Cable, the video from last year's TIC program will be airing on the Butler Area School District (Channel 50) channel starting today, September 10th. The video will be airing daily at 11:00, 5:30, 7:30, and 8:30. The video is approximately 17 minutes in length.

Release

Finally the weather has cooperated!!! On May 20th, we emptied both tanks and let the brookies go into the Connie!! Total released on the day was 156 in two trips. 49 students accompanied us to the creek and everyone had a chance to let at least one go. We had an awesome year - total fish that made it to the creek - 294! Did a little math and got an aquarium egg to fish in creek ratio of 42.8%. Ran out of food the last two weeks, started on a diet of maggots and fruit flies. Pics to come later, as well as our cumulative video production. Look also for a story in the PG North section on May 27th.

Major Issue

Well, we have had our first major hurdle of this school year. On Wednesday, the chiller working in the room tank quit working. Water temps quickly spiked to near 70 degrees. Luckily, we have the other tank in the lab, so ice was quickly added and half of the fish moved to the other tank. The rest of the fish were emergency stocked - 81 of them. To date, 136 brookies have been stocked in two different stockings, and the lab tank still has over a 100 fish in it. It has been a great year!!

After contacting Tradewinds Chillers, they have placed a new chiller in the mail. Hopefully it will be here soon so we can alleviate some of the crowding in the lab tank. We are hoping to stock the remaining fish sometime in mid-May.

Starving Fish

Our fish are so hungry, they have to jump out of the water to get something to eat.

Jumping Training

Haven't updated in a while...really busy here. Had to remove some fish from the tanks in late March to alleviate the water conditions - we couldn't keep the water clean with the size and number of fish. Sent 55 brookies into the wild on March 25. Lately, the fish are getting very active with lots of jumping and voracious appetites. Below is a video from some of the jumping abilities.

Underwater Feeding

Footage from in the tank of a feeding in the room tank.

Visit from the PFBC

A big thank you to Tim Wilson, PFBC biologist stationed in Linesville, for coming to our class on Friday, February 19. A great overview of trout management in Pennsylvania was given, followed by a student question and answer session. This was a very informative presentation - thank you!!

Video

Here is one of the dominant fish having just eaten one of the weaker ones.

Cannibals

We have noticed the cannibalism of the brookies starting to take place - in fact, we got a video of a decent-sized fingerling with a tail sticking out of its mouth. Not that are fish are hungry, but they are just starting to become very territorial.

Progress

Look at the size of the belly on the middle one. These fish are in the lab tank, and the pic was taken yesterday, Feb. 9. Tanks are starting to get a little crowded with fish, and we were hoping to get rid of some of them in the beginning of March. With 2 ft + of snow on the ground, not looking likely at this point.

On a brighter note, it looks like our tanks have cycled through the nitrogen cycle. Our ammonia levels have dropped, and our nitrate levels have risen slightly. Still switching between 5 and 10 gallons of water daily, just to get rid of waste and excess food.

Underwater View

A fish eye view from the lab tank. These fish seem to be growing faster, even though they get fed less and get less attention!!

Good Progress

Our fish are still progressing nicely. No major issues or changes, no major die-offs. Next big step will be to remove the guards off of the filters - our fish are big enough not to get sucked in any more, and the waste can not be effectively removed. We have started testing nitrates, and the room tank has been about 5-6 ppm, while the lab tank spiked to about 20 ppm. Something to watch out for.

Growing Nicely

Our fish are growing nicely in both tanks. It seems like the switch has been good for the room fish, as they are eating well and we have suffered only a few losses. The lab tank just keeps trucking along, without any real changes. No water quality problems, minimal fish loss...just happy trout!

Happy New Year

Well, the day before Christmas break the new filter arrived, so a massive fish transfer took place after school. Numbers were much lower than expected, as 196 fish were transferred to the new bigger tank. Over the break, a number of fish perished, a little higher than expected. As of right now, we figure about 175 fish in each of the tanks. Still not too bad.

They are growing like crazy - pics to come...