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Comment by Kris Pauly on December 23, 2013 at 8:07am

The Greenhouse is built.  I just need to fill the flood and drain grow bed and plant.  If you want to take a sneak peak here is a quick video done last night after we tested the plumbing.  I will do another video after we plant.

http://youtu.be/zvnohggcsko

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on December 22, 2013 at 12:32am

Hey Kris Pauly. Have fun. I look forward to seeing your results!!!!!! 

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on December 21, 2013 at 7:38pm

Just a note. Cold kills tilapia by a number of methods. A one is just cold shutting down the fishes metabolism. However a second way is more insidious. Before it directly kills the fish, cold reduces the fishes metabolism making it vulnerable to attack from a number of directions. In this state, transport stress or an environmental shock like low oxygen or high pH that the fish would normally survive, will now kill them. Their immune system is also weakened allowing attack from pathogens particularly several types of fungus. All of these factors and more can converge to kill your fish in cold water.

Comment by John Malone on December 21, 2013 at 12:43pm

I've had fish die in the past for unknown reasons and I decided against eating them. This particular fish was a definite cold victim and was an overnight casualty so I knew how fresh he was and the exact temperature he had been 'stored' at.
These fish are over 18 months old, this being the second winter they've been through. I should really harvest the whole lot and get some fingerlings to replace them, which I probably will do in the spring.
I find killing and cleaning fish to be an unpleasant task, which is the main reason this batch is as old and large as they are. As a farmer's kid, I don't have any moral qualms about processing the fish, I've dispatched plenty of rabbits in my time, it's just something I don't like doing.
I've been focussing my attention on the gardening aspect of AP and pretty much ignored the fish as they tend to do their own thing without much need of my input

Comment by sunset on December 21, 2013 at 12:27pm

Comment by sunset on December 21, 2013 at 12:25pm

@John   Yeah, I saw your post earlier and that is what got me wondering about it.  I suppose if you are confident they died from the cold, then why not?  For me, coming back to a fish massacre is different.  I had no idea how long they were dead and floating around in there and I can't really be sure what the exact cause of death was.  Could have been a couple died from the cold and then the ammonia spike killed off more and then it dominoed....but who knows.  

I could not help but notice that your fish are about 50% bigger than mine.  Mouth to tail my biggest is probably only about 10-11 inches max.  

Comment by John Malone on December 21, 2013 at 11:23am

@sunset

I normally don't eat sick or dead fish, particularly if I don't know what killed them.

However, when the cold snap hit and one didn't make it, I figured I take the chance.  He was delicious.

Comment by Jim Troyer on December 21, 2013 at 10:40am

@ Sunset:

I don't eat fish that were sick, dying or dead before I pulled them.  Better safe than sorry.

Merry Christmas!

Comment by Kris Pauly on December 21, 2013 at 9:15am

@ Dr Brooks - thank you for the article.  I am in the process of setting up a small hatchery for my operations, and with your permission, I will use this design as the core.  Very simple.  Once i have it set up,  I will send pics.  It will be a multi core setup.

Comment by sunset on December 21, 2013 at 12:55am

hey guys...if you find dead fish in your system, do you harvest them or toss them?  How long can they float in there before you would definitely just toss them?  Sadly, I went away on vacation for a few days and came back to some fish stew with multiple dead fish.  I ended up tossing them since I was not sure what to do.but figured it would be good to know for the future.  

Discouraging to lose a bunch of fish.  I am not sure if it was the cold spell we had a while ago that finally caught up to them or something else.

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