Pump Failure !!!!

[jpcw]

My pump failed last night, went to feed the trout this morning and there were 8 floaters :( I've chucked in two smaller pumps and tried aerating the water as much as possible. Also done a small water change. The ammonia is very high. How much of a water change should I be doing. Don't want to shock the remaining fish any further but am very worried about the ammonia levels.

Also on a purely practical note, what should I do with the dead fish. Size ranges from 300 – 450, don't know how long they have been floating.

[wa shane]

I had the same problem this is what i did.Four amp charger,300w inverter,car battery,40lpm air pump.All fixed.

[GaryD]

Hi,

I'm sorry that I missed your post. Shane is right......the answer is air almost every time. A 30% water change would also have helped right things quickly.

How'd it all work out in the end?

Gary

[jpcw]

I do have an air pump which was running during the pump failure. I have since upgraded it to a 400L/h pump.

The Ammonia levels were through the roof so I think that is what killed them. it turned out that the pump broke a blade of the impelar which jamed the pump, I suspect it may have been stop/starting for a few days and finaly stopped al together.

Ended up loosing 15 fish, about 50%.

[GaryD]

Hi John,

Bad luck mate.

The important thing is that you've identified the cause and resolved it.

There's a tendency among we aquaponicists to resort to periodic (rather than daily) testing a bit too early in the process.

I conducted daily tests for the first 18 months after I started my first system. The result was that I lost less fish during that period than since....because I could see what was happening in time to take corrective action.

A conventional recirculating aquaponics system will take at least nine months to reach a point of balance.....and soon after that (depending on the circumstances), it can begin to develop issues arising out of the accumulation of solids in the grow beds, which begin to send the system down the fish-killing track.

I've seen it dozens of times.....including in systems operated by staunch advocates of using grow beds to capture solids. All of this happens at a time when we have begun to relax our water-testing regime.

While this was not the problem in your case John, the potential for change in any system is a good case for regular (if not daily) water testing.

Of course, there will be those occasions where something will happen very quickly and you'll lose fish and there's nothing you can do about it.

In the last 24 hours, I've been working with someone who has lost all of her fish (in several tanks) and the cause has me mystified. I've discounted all of the usual causes of such loss largely because the operator does very regular water tests. While I suspect pesticide spray drift, I can't confirm it without laboratory analysis.

Gary