[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

NFC: Fish Losses



At 11:38 PM -0500 11/30/01, MDWfield at aol_com wrote:
>I am so jealous.  I swore not to collect any more natives until we have our
>basement redone.  We had our central unit freeze up and stop last summer
>while away on business - lost every darter except for one very old redline
>(which died several months later.)
>
>Now I have to stop over bridges, at the lake, etc. and just look.


I have an inkling of how you feel.  My buddy, Pat Johnson recently lost an
awesome collection of darters from all over the country while he was out of
town.  The fishes were in a tank fed by a trickle of well water.  Normally
the trickle (well, really a spray) is above the water level and aerates the
well water as it comes in.  Somehow the outflow became clogged, raising the
water level and submerging the spray.  Apparently, this caused the oxygen
level to drop precipitously.  It seems that well (ground) water is often
deficient in dissolved oxygen.  Pat's wife was home, but being
fish-challenged, all she could do was call him and give him updates on how
many fishes had died.  He's been a little fish-shy since then, which is
quite unusual for Pat, who never misses a chance to go after the next
darter on his list.

I have had a similiar experience with well water at my Grandparent's in
Florida.  I use their tap water, from a well, to do water changes on my
collections there.  If I put much of it onto the fishes in a short peroid
of time, they quickly start gasping for oxygen.  As the water is exposed to
air in the container, the fishes gradually recover as air dissolves into
the water.

Mark
Columbus Ohio USA            <))><
mbinkley at columbus_rr.com