Tilapia and temperature

[BenHehle Beamz]

Hi folks, my parents take care of my tilapia and today i got the news that in the last couple of weeks 6 tilapia died. The ibc tank is in our basement, and temperature outside is mostly 0C at the moment. Well the water temperature droped to 15C (around 60 fahrenheit). My parents thought its a smart idea to add warm water everyday to keep the temperature high :( they told me that the fish which died, first swim near the water surface and then later die. Also, the washing machine and the drier are in the same room, so i thought maybe toxic evaporation may cause the death of the fish. I will try to explain them how to do water testing and i will get sone results then. So i wanted to ask you, if you think the low water temperature is the cause or is it possible that the toxic evaporations of the washing machine might cause the death? What do you think?

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi BenHehle,

So exactly how did they warm the water? Was it a drastic movement in temperature? Usually fish swimming at the surface can signify low oxygen levels. The dryer can also vaporize surfactants which enter the FT and damage your fish as well.

[BenHehle Beamz]

As the temperature is that low, i told them to stop feeding them (as they wouldnt eat it anyway). I guess that the swing of temperature is around 4C (from 15-19C) when they added the warm water (took 10l of hot water and add to the system)...which is a very rapid temperature swing.Water is non chlorinated.

As it is so cold, it doesnt make much sense to add warm water, because the temperature would drop back to 15C in very short time.

The dryer is vented outside, but after washing it is very humid in the room, also a strong smell of the detergent. I told them to cover the tank now.

I thought, if the cold water temperature would be the reason for the dead fish, then all fish must have been affected, all must have died. As well as for the Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate, at that low temp. the bacterias wont work efficient enough and im pretty sure that levels of ammonia and nitrite are high. But again, it would affect all fish. right?

I really hate it to sit here and cannot do anything about it. I have 30 tilapias left now, and i really want them to be alive when i come back home :(

[BenHehle Beamz]

Its not a system...its an ibc tank with an external filter. Its just for overwintering the fish. Hope and pray until spring :)

[Alex Veidel]

Okay, maybe this was mentioned already and I'm just missing it but have you tested your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels? And your pH? What's the scoop on your water?