Tuesday, March 19, 2013

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!

Thursday, March 7, 2013

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!