Trout Journal

We received our new fluval filter and things have settled down some. We have lost a few more fish. We estimate the count to be about 20. The students are concerned but hopeful that things will go well from here on out.

Trout Journal:
1-6-11
Brandon, Ethan, David, Jess, and Mar:
Today was a very good day! There wasn't anything dead or alive in the bucket. The temperature is 50.8 (as I speak this minute). Trout Rule!!! TROUT are very awesome.

1-7-11
Malachi:
We had a good day. It was 48.4 degrees in the tank. Six were dead. It was a good day.

1-10-11]Brandon:
Today is Dillon, David, Austin, and my day. Temp 48.3-only three dead. Trout Rule! Trout are awesome.

Trout Journal

12-23-10
Ethan, David, and Brandon:
Today we found a couple of dead ones. We all like doing this. It is so fun! If there is one thing we could do for the rest of the year, this would be it.

1-3-11
Savannah and Ethan:
Today when we vacuumed there was a lot of live ones that came out in the bucket. The trout are so fun! But there are 6 dead. I hate when they die. Every time I find a dead one, I think of their place.

Austin:
Today there were six dead. I really like the trout.

Fried Filter Frantic Faculty...

Yesterday afternoon the trout crew realized the filter in the aquarium was not working. They removed approximately 30 dead fry from the tank, vacuumed the tank changing 5 gallons of water, and began to worry as Mr. Hart and myself set into action to get another filtration system from our local trout unlimited sponsor-Larry Winey.




Mr. Winey brought another filter that we were unable to get working after approximately a couple hours of intense problem solving. Thankfully, Mr. Hart is known for his aquariums and offered two other filter systems that he had in his classroom. I was reluctant to use them due to cross contamination. However, weighing the options we decided it was our only option. In order to keep the beneficial bacteria that we had built up in our filter, we transferred the filters and ceramic cylinders into Mr. Hart's filters. It appears to be working although we did have 23 more fish die today.


Things were going so smoothly so I guess it was time for a little excitement. The students love this project. I am hopeful that we will return to smooth sailing once again.

Trout Journal:

12-13-10 Savannah and Leda:

I love doing trout, having fun being able to do more stuff. I just got blasted with water. Trout are unique. Doing this-amazing!!

12-15-10 Leda and Savannah:

I'm thankful for the trout. They're amazing. They're a lot to work with, but we know it is worth it. Savannah says we are going to name them!! One is called Big Eyes and another Fishy Flyer.

12-21-10 David, Ethan, Austin and Dillon:

The trout are doing good. We found a couple dead ones. We are doing our best to keep the trout alive.

12-22-10 David, Austin, and Ethan:

A lot of trout are dying and we don't like that.

Article Written by Ethan Hosler published
in the Lack Tuscarora Times 12-17-10:

The Brook Trout Are Swimming Up

A few days ago we left some trout swim through the tank. They are doing well. My friend David and I are cleaning the tank every day. We love doing it. First we test ph. Then we vacuum the tank. After that we add water with buffer in it. Then we are done. That's all I have about the trout this time.

Loving It!!!

All 232 of the trout are swimming free in the tank. We will continue feeding them, changing 5 gallons of water each day, and monitoring water quality through testing.

My first graders love to feed the trout and watch them swim. I know as the trout grow it will become harder to maintain the water quality with the number of trout we currently have. What a good problem to have!

Today our tank crew consisted of two young ladies who were more than happy to tend the tank! They did a fine job.The students really do love taking care of the trout.

Trout Journal
12-13-10 Savannah and Leda:

Doing the trout is extremely fun! We love it. We just don't get to do much when we help because we are usually the cleaning ladies !!Lovin it!!

What do you know about trout? Take this quiz to find out!

Trout Quiz

If you win, you may receive some cool Orvis fishing equipment or a dream fishing trip for two!
Test your trout knowledge! Good Luck!

Little Swimmers!

Things have been going very well with our second shipment of sacfry. To date, we have 232 alevin/fry. We are entering a new phase of the life cycle of the brook trout. When they absorb the yolk sac and begin to search for food, they are called swim-up fry.

As they begin to swim to the top of the breeder basket in search for food, we have been lowering the basket to allow them to swim out if they choose. So far there are approximately 70 in the tank and the rest remain in the breeder basket. Soon they all will be in the tank which will be a new challenge for the tank crew. As they change the water daily, they will need to make sure they have not gathered any of the little ones which can be fun a challenge.

The little ones are still sensitive to light so we will keep the tank covered until they grow a little more. We have begun feeding them the size 0 food which is almost the consistency of saw dust. Hopefully, they will learn to eat.

Trout Journal
12-8-10Ethan, Malachi, Dillon, and David:
The trout are doing extremely good. We have no problems with them.

Eggcitement- Once again!

Once again our whole school was filled with excitement on November 3, 2010 waiting for our shipment of trout eggs to arrive. Mr. Hart and I were a little concerned when we opened the container to measure the temperature to find the initial reading at 72 degrees. We assumed that we had not let the thermometer in the container long enough to get an accurate reading so he readjusted the thermometer to find the second reading at 68 degrees. We quickly placed the bag in the tank to acclimate then proceeded to separate live and dead eggs and count.

We had received a total of 390 brook trout eggs; 82 were dead upon arrival. We placed 308 in the tank. We removed 8 that had died on Friday. Over the next three days all the eggs had hatched, but they died almost immediately. We had lost a total of 210 more sac fry or alevin leaving only 90 viable sac fry in the tank.

Mr. Hart and I were greatly concerned because we had never lost so many in such a short time span. I contacted our coordinator who sent us another shipment of sac fry which we received yesterday. We placed an additional 236 sac fry in the tank bring our total to 323. Today the students removed seven sac fry leaving our total count at 316 to date. We tested our water quality and all the numbers were within our normal ranges. We believe the temperature of the container upon arrival may have caused the large number of deaths. We can not be sure, but the second shipment is doing fine so it makes us wonder.

The planning process for our trout release day on May 19, 2010 has already begun. I am thankful for the second shipment of sac fry to help ensure that we have something to release on release day. The students are already looking forward to spending the day at Guss Park in Licking Creek. The new tank crew has begun tending the tank, removing dead fry, checking water quality and temperature. They are excited about the program.

Thoughts from the Tank Tenders:
11-3-10
Leda: The trout are cool! Can't wait to release them.
Nadine: I love trout. They are a neat type of fish species.
Alyssa: This is a really neat thing to me. I have never raised trout at my old school and I never
had fish at my school.
MiKayla: I love the trout and I can't wait until we release them!!!!