Little Fry... Eat, Swim, Grow!

 At times over the past month it has been difficult to convince the students that our brook trout are alive and well as they looked at the alevin just lying in the hatching baskets. However, once some of the trout began to "button-up"  losing their yolk sacs acting more like fish by swimming around looking for food, the students became more confident we will have some fish to release on May 15th. They are excited to watch them eat and grow! They are especially eager to feed them!

                                                                               The students love to watch the trout eat. They keep a close eye on the tank looking for any trout that do not look well. They remember well our struggle with Ich from last year. They are very protective of the trout! I love to listen to the students as they stand in front of the tank sharing the names of "their" trout. This year one is named Apple, another is  Luke Bryan, and one is called French Fry.  I am hoping that all continues to go well over the Christmas break. The students are eager to begin our book project after the break. It truly is amazing what they have learned about trout! They are eager to share their knowledge.

 The trout are now swimming free in the tank since they have learned to eat consistently for the past three weeks. I like to keep them in the hatching baskets until I am sure they are eating well because it is easier to remove any that die during the transition from alevin to swim-up fry. During the transition from sac fry to swim-up fry, we lost approximately 100 trout that simply did not learn to eat or swim. Some of them appeared to have Ich which had me concerned after last year so I conducted a static salt bath and changed out 5 gallons of water. It seemed to perk up the fish and I have not lost any in the last few days. Below is a picture of some of the trout with Ich. Thankfully, I learned about this disease first hand last year and at a training this summer so I believe we were able to prevent it from spreading to the rest of the trout...I hope!

 

Trout Need Cold, Clean Water!

 The students were eager to help test the water to make sure it keeps our trout safe and healthy. We monitor the water quality  two times a week. The students help by counting the drops of each test solution and assisting in determining which color matches the  test card indicating the level.

 

These were the results we found... ph 7.4, nitrites 0 ppm, ammonia 0 ppm, and nitrates 0 ppm. Looks great so far! As the trout grow, we can expect to see some changes. The students love to see the colors change! They mostly learn that trout need clean water through this and that we can help to keep the water clean for them both in our tank and in the streams!

 

 

All the eggs have hatched and I have been

hesitant to post, but are doing well so far! We had 279 trout last week, but have lost a few over the week. Tuesday morning began with a bit of excitement! When I checked the tank in the morning, the temperature read 59.7 degrees which is outside of my comfortable parameters of 42-55 degrees. At first I thought my eyes were surely not seeing it correctly, but a touch of the water in the tank confirmed it was too warm. The chiller had been accumulating ice off and on since last year. I guess I was just hoping it would keep working...needless to say it did not. Thankfully, Larry Winey from Penns Creeks TU had a backup chiller which he brought to the school immediately. We switched the old chiller out and placed the new one in and began to slowly adjust the temperature as to not shock the trout! Yikes... yes, the students have learned through this that the trout need COLD water! Thankfully, we only lost three alevin through this event!

 

 The students wait patiently to get a peek at the changes!

 

 

     Below you can see the alevin also called sac fry because of the yolk sac that feeds them during this stage of their life cycle! At this point they appear almost dead, until we get too close. Then they scamper to hid under each other. They will remain in the yolk sac stage for approximately 2 weeks. Then the yolk sac will be absorbed which is called  "buttoning-up". At that point they will start to swim looking for food. The students are eager for this stage...they are worried about them now. I assure them they are just fine- "fat and happy"- no need to move around when all you need is being provided!

To date we have 265 alevin and the chiller is keeping the tank just right...this experience is never the same! Each year there is a new challenge and a never ending learning experience. Before long we will begin our trout book project. The students are gaining valuable background knowledge and eager to write.

Eggcitement!

 The smiles on their faces tell the story! I love seeing students excited about learning at school. That is one of the main reasons I love this program. Today we received the second batch of brook trout eggs for our Trout in the Classroom Program. This batch was lovingly hand picked by our coordinator. There was a notable difference in this shipment. There was only 1 dead egg. I placed 179 eggs into another basket in our tank following the same procedure described yesterday. I placed the cover over the tank to help them settle in peacefully. Hopefully, they will hatch over the next few days without incident. If all goes well each student will be able to place their own trout into the stream on May 15, 2014. Wish me luck!

The Journey Begins!

 The eggs are shipped by UPS from Bellefonte.  When they arrive,  I take a temperature reading of the water in the shipment bag. Then I place the bag in the tank to allow the eggs to acclimate to the tank temperature.  Next, I must separate the dead eggs from the living eggs and keep a count of both. I use the turkey baster, a plastic spoon, and a pipette to remove the dead eggs. I have two containers. One is for dead eggs and one is filled with water from the tank for living eggs. Once I have twenty living eggs, I place them immediately in the tank.

 

I continue this process until all living eggs are placed peacefully in the hatching  baskets we made.

 This year we placed 202 living eggs between two hatching baskets.  I removed 42 dead eggs from the shipment. As a result of the difficulties last year, we are keeping the tank temperature a little warmer in an attempt to allow the eggs to develop more quickly to allow more time for feeding before Christmas break.

     I was concerned because  a lot of the eggs had streaks of blood and began to die over the next few days. All the eggs hatched, but  about half of the alevin also had streaks of blood and then died. We lost around 100 fish since their arrival which began to concern the students. After speaking with some of the other teachers at our in-service day, I  soon learned we were not alone. Today, I received a call from our TIC coordinator who informed me we would be receiving another shipment of eggs. They had tried a new way of sorting the eggs this year using a machine to separate the dead eggs from the living eggs. She felt it stressed the trout causing them to die because the eggs that were sorted this way were the ones with the most deaths. It is a learning process for all. She hand picked us another batch of trout eggs due to arrive either tomorrow or Thursday! Check back to see how we make out!

 

 On a positive note, we planted seeds several weeks ago that had not shown any signs of life until I began placing the dead trout eggs/alevin in the soil. Apparently the Indians had a great idea because the seeds began to sprout!  I am always trying to find the positive things to keep me going.  

Mrs. Winey! Are the trout here yet?

On Tuesday November 5, 2013 I answered this question over 200 times throughout the day. In an attempt to make the arrival of our trout eggs a teachable moment, I thought we would incorporate a lesson on how punctuation helps us understand how to read with expression. I intended to introduce the  question mark and the exclamation mark and place a sign on the trout tank letting the whole school know that our trout eggs had indeed arrived. The students colored the words and the punctuation marks  for the

sign in groups. Then we place the words and punctuation marks in order to make the sentence and response,
Mrs. Winey! Are the trout here yet? Yes!

We discussed how the exclamation marks help the readers know we are excited and the question mark indicates asking a question. One of my students raised his hand and said he thought the question mark should go after my name  because they are asking me and the exclamation point after are the trout here yet because they are excited and want to know now.
Because the students often call my name in an
asking tone, I decided to go with it even if it
is not completely grammatically correct and teach them that the punctuation marks can change the way a sentence is read. We practiced reading it both ways and the students decided they wanted the question mark after my name and the exclamation mark to show they were excited. It definitely was a better expression of  how we wanted the sentence to be read. I did tell the students that to be grammatically correct we should use the question mark after are the trout here yet.

Another Successful Year- Thanks to All!!

Trout Release Day is always bittersweet! I am always amazed at how everything comes together! I am blessed with an abundance of community support for our program! I can't thank everyone enough! I'd like to give a special shout out to Central Juniata EMS for joining us on our release day this year to help put us at ease about taking 130 elementary students to Karl B. Guss Park where cell service is sketchy!

Here is Joe who drove the ambulance with a few of the students. I truly believe he had a great day along with everyone else involved! On a side note, Bunny Princess and Mater made it safely into East Licking Creek and the students who released them said they were happy! Although the little girl who released Bunny Princess asked me on Friday afternoon in school if we could go get Bunny  Princess and bring her back to the tank! Sometimes it is hard to let go! Enjoy the video of the events of the day!
http://www.kizoa.com/slideshow/d4550470k3626026o1/lack-tuscarora-trout-release-2013

Bunny Princess meet Mater!

 

Good news, we have not lost any trout so far from this new batch. It is amazing how the trout are growing! All except one tiny one that never seems to get any food because he is  chased away by the larger fingerlings. We noticed he was laying on the bottom not looking well last week so... We concluded that it was not getting enough to eat and the students begged me to  put it in the basket with Bunny Princess to allow it a better chance to get some food during feeding. After about an hour of chasing him around the tank and enlisting Mrs. Hoover to assist me in capturing him, we placed him in the red basket with Bunny Princess.

 One of the students named him Mater! So we introduced Bunny Princess to Mater. They appear to be good room mates so far!  Bunny Princess has grown and could more than likely hold her own in the big tank, but the students want to keep her separate so they know which one she is. She is larger than Mater. Hopefully, he will catch up before release day on May 16.



 

Third Time Is A Charm!

I am almost hesitant to say that the trout are doing well in fear of jinxing myself... We received a new shipment of 69 fry to add to our tank...Bunny Princess is still alive and well swimming in her own red basket floating at the top of the tank. My first grade class insisted we provide her protection since she has endured so much so far being the only fry to survive ich. She is much smaller than the trout we received and would most likely be eaten by some of the larger fry.

 We have placed a cover over half of the tank to provide the trout with some type of  hiding place and provide less stress on the fish as the tank is in the lobby and the constant motion by the tank stresses the fish which in turn can create water quality issues. We are hopeful to keep this bunch alive until May 16. It thrilled my heart to hear the students talking in front of the tank saying which trout was "their" trout and sharing the names that they had chosen for their trout. Hopefully, the third time is the charm!

Survival of the fittest!! ...Bunny Princess LIVES!

So much has happened since my last post...We have encountered another round of ich! I spent 4 hours Saturday at the school giving the remaining living trout a salt bath in an attempt to keep some alive. On Monday, the students were glad to see one survived the process and is holding her own. She has been named Bunny Princess by one of my first graders who announced Monday that the only fish living was her fish Bunny Princess!

 

I contacted JHS's Ag. teacher Mrs. Morgan to find out how their fish were since we do our release together. At that point she had 80 fish. Sad to say she also has encountered ich and has lost most of her fish. I stopped at the high school to  discuss what I had learned about bathing the fish in salt. She now has 5 fish surviving.

 

We contacted the PFBC and found out the fish at the hatchery have ich as well and it is a systemic problem throughout TIC this year. They agreed to send more fish, but they will also have ich. It appears this year, we will be learning about the diseases fish get and how to treat them...Hopefully, we will have a few to release in May...It truly is a learning process!! Stay tuned!

Fish Tales!

  

The students were so excited today  to become

Published Authors and Illustrators  in 2013

Fish Tales!

Today our book came! The students were so excited to actually hold a book written and illustrated by our class! Each student wrote and illustrated a nonfiction and fiction story about our Trout in the Classroom Program and trout.

Water Chemistry



Testing Water Quality...

The students enjoyed checking the water quality parameters to help make sure our water is perfect for our trout. Today's test results: 7.8 pH; 0 Ammonia; 0 Nitrates; and 0 Nitrites with water temperature 51.9 degrees. We have lost a few fish here and there. Currently we have 44 healthy fry.

checking pH, ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites...

all within normal ranges!

Trout Training!

 

Day one in the tank... feeding time...

Couldn't resist checking in on our new little ones! I was worried about our new trout making a smooth transition and really afraid not to check in on them. Hopefully, my mind will ease. Thankfully, I found them eagerly awaiting some food. It did not take them long to figure out where the food gathers in the tank. It tends to collect in the back right corner and look where the majority tend to hang out waiting for their next meal! Two days in and they are trained already! Amazing!



Day two... feeding time...





They discovered the food gathers in the top right corner!



Still accumulating a little ice ... but temp holding 53 today

If at first you don't succeed....fry, fry again!

Trout arrive as students dismiss!

Thank You PFBC for putting the smiles back!

The students were so excited today when our shipment of fry came from the hatchery! We placed the bag in the aquarium to allow the temperature to acclimate.  Tomorrow morning when the students arrive the fry should be swimming free in the tank!  I placed them in the tank this evening. Hopefully they will be alive and well in the morning. I have been having a little difficulty with the chiller. It has been accumulating ice. I have tried to change the parameters on the thermostat to see if I can resolve the problem without much success so far. The tank temperature is holding at 51 degrees, but it continues to accumulate ice. I hope we can keep this group of trout alive. The students are eager to feed the fish!

Happily swimming in their new home!

So far, so good...stay tuned!

Trout Trouble :(

Patiently waiting to feed fry.

October making egg baskets... getting ready for eggs!

Sac Fry in egg baskets!!

 In October we had made  larger egg baskets to help spread out the eggs to prevent bacteria from spreading in an attempt to decrease mortality rates of the eggs. The baskets worked well. We lost very few during this stage of the life cycle. The students asked almost daily when we could begin to feed. I kept assuring them once the sac fry lost the yolk sac we would begin feeding small amounts. About 10 trout began to swim out of the baskets so we lowered all the fry to  the gravel at the bottom of the tank just before Christmas break.Our trout were doing so well before Christmas break... some had just begun to swim and look for food. The students were patiently waiting to be able to feed. As I went in to check on them 3 separate times  over  the 10 day break I began to find a number of trout dying... since then we have lost all . This was very difficult for the students. Our water quality parameters test fine within normal .25 ammonia 0 nitrites and 5 ppm Nitrates. We did experience a rise in pH to 8 so I changed out 6 gallons of water in an attempt to lower it, but I am at a loss as to what has caused the die off. Some other schools  are experiencing similar results. The trout looked ill to me. They were not interested in feeding and they were covered with a fungus that began at the tail. After speaking with our Trout in the Classroom  contact she explained the timing of their development and Christmas break this year did not allow for the fry to establish a feeding routine prior to the break which made them more susceptible to bacteria without them having a strong enough immune system established. In years past, the trout had been feeding continuously for at least 10 days to 2 weeks prior to break. This year ours had only been eating around 3 days prior to break.  The students were so excited to hear that we will be receiving another group of fry next week. Please pray we can keep some alive until May 16, 2013. The students were so worried that we would not have any trout to release.

On a brighter note, the students have been working hard on our book project. I can't wait to submit the final draft later this month. Below is the cover page for the book...