Tilapia swimming in circles

[Ronaldo Maximus]

I introduced about 40 Tilapia fingerlings to my system this morning. It is the first time I have had fish in the tank. Up to now I have been using ammonia to cycle it and maintain the ammonia level. This evening when I went to check on the Tilapia several were erratically swimming in circles. It didn't look like a good thing.

Could this be an indication that the little guys are in distress and may soon go belly up? The pH is at 6.8. The ammonia level has risen to 0.25 ppm. The nitrite and nitrate levels are 0. The tank temperature is 80 F.

Thanks for the help

-RM

[Jim Troyer]

That seems normal to me...

[Keith Rowan]

how big is your tank? how big is your gb?

do you have aeration? (warm water holds less 02)

[Ronaldo Maximus]

The tank is 300 gal Rubbermaid.  It has about 170 gal of water in it.  The growbed is 4'x8' 10" deep.  I have constant aeration of 17 LPM.  I was cycling the water pump on for 15 min and off for 45 min.  I changed that to on for 40 min and off for 20 min until I can get the ammonia level under control.

I observed some of the fish this morning.  Every once in a while one of them would go into the crazy spinning cycle for a few minutes, then snap out of it.  I just doesn't look right, but maybe that's what Tilapia do.

Anyways, I am excited to have the little guys doing their job.

-RM

[Keith Rowan]

are they rubbing along the bottom when they "go crazy"?  that's called "flashing".. which doesn't necessarily mean anything bad..but could be a sign of stress..

are you turning over the volume of the fishtank water at least 1x an hour? (i like it a bit more than 1x, and wth higher densities  it's recommended to have higher turnover)

so your growbed is 10" deep,, if your water is flooding to about an inch under the surface, you've got about 180gallons of filtration..

with  40 fish, you'll be pushing your system's filtration capacity before the fish reach 1lb, tilapia are pretty "messy" compared to many fish, and remember that small fish eat more than big fish (7-12% body weight for fingerlings, 1-2% for adults). be sure to test regularly and monitor for ammonia and nitrite spikes..

i'd also salt to 3ppt if and when the ammonia starts to go up,and hold off on feed.. then i'd be thinking about harvesting the biggest fish or 3

or add another growbed before you run into problems

 

 

[Alex Veidel]

I think they're just active because of the high temperatures. Sometimes they act a little erratic when you show up to check on them as well; doesn't mean they've been like that the whole time. Having a presence hovering over the water gives them the spooks, but they'll adjust in time.