Day 48:The End of Trial One

All the trout are dead. From what I can tell,the mucus-like slime that was growing in the tank actually formed a seal around the intake sponge that fed water into the chiller preventing any water from going into the chiller. This led to the temperature in the tank rising from 55 to 66.5 degrees in less than 24 hours. The fish could not survive at the higher temperature. I had been cleaning it out of the sponge and other intake/ output water tubes, but being gone Sunday and Monday led to the overgrowth that caused the problem. The stench was filling both the first and second floors of the lab's wing of the building so I began to clean it all out. The slime had invaded every crack and crevasse of the system. The filtration system, the hoses (inside and out), the gravel, every suction cup, the glass, everything. I began the job, but one of our wonderful custodians, Bret, actually got rid of all our disgusting trash, cleaned the aquarium inside and out, and cleaned all the buckets we had used for cleaning as well. I couldn't believe it. Something I had been stressing over all day...done. Wow! Now the only decision is what to do next...Should we be good scientists and talk about trial and error, and keep trying? Or would anther failed attempt be too devastating?

(Side note: I am amazed at how awesome our entire custodial staff has been about this project. They have cleaned up big, smelly messes, gallons of spilled water, fish food and many other unmentionable messes without ever complaining. They have helped lift, move and arrange 20 or more tables in the lab. They always ask about the fish and also ask how they can help. I am so thankful for all of them and their help and interest in our project. Even if they do keep threatening to bring their fishing poles!)

Day 44: The Watty Team

This week my cousin and I were the trout team and Robert came and told us to feed the fish more food. My cousin Jaia keeps feeding them more food than I do. Hi,my name is Jaia. It is really fun being on the trout team,but we're down to our last hundred and the fish food smells better than the water. Today we fed the fish and I thought most of the fish were dying. I tought it was sad but Robert said that he could bring more fish eggs for us if we asked but Mrs.Metz said she will think about it. We had a solid black fish named Ms.Jellybean and she was the only black fish,but then all of them started turning black so we didn't know which one was Ms.Jellybean. This week the water was really green and it started growing fungus,even the chiller had fungus on it and in the tubes. The water was so green it looked like it is the color of moss.

Day 37:Team Girty

A lot of our trout died this week and now our tank is growing fungus, or something slimy. Mike LaVoie came to teach us about the body parts of the trout. He told us how they use their body parts for defense and other things. He brought a giant stuffed fish. We labeled all the body parts. Gary Sneed also came with him to teach us about water quality. We asked them a ton of questions and learned a lot .

Robert Blankenship came to find out why the fish are dying. He took live fish and dead fish and water back to his lab. We have not heard anything yet. We observed the water getting green and cloudy and it is smelly. We feed them a bigger amount; two spoonfuls four times a day. The fish that are alive are getting bigger and swimming around.

Written by Jayden C. and Josh G.

Day 34: Tragedy Strikes

Mrs. Metz-Bugg here with some sad news. On Saturday morning when I went to feed the fish, everything seemed fine. The fish were active and swimming with no noticeable changes. When I went back in first thing on Monday morning, there were a large amount of dead fish in the bottom left hand side of the tank. At the time I didn't know exactly how many were dead, but the count at the end of the day, after removing as many as I could, was 87 dead. Though there were a few stray dead fish in the bottom center of the tank, the majority were around the chilling in/out hoses and pump, so I began to check the equipment. The water was still cold and was circulating properly through the tank and hoses. The filtration system also seemed to be circulating water in an effective way. I just didn't know what to do next. I fed the trout a couple of pinches of food and went to class. My trout team this week, Josh and Jayden, fed the fish two more times and continued to look for any changes in the aquarium or the trout. They have sharper eyes than I do and have several times spotted changes or anomalies that I did not see. They said they saw the dead fish but no other changes. After the students left on Monday I took some time and using a net and tweezers removed all the dead fish that I could, 87 in all. This morning when I went in, more fish were dead in the same places. I fed them in the morning and the trout team fed them at 12 and I fed them again after school. This time I gave them a larger amount of food at the suggestion of Robert, our trout expert from the local hatchery. I also removed the dead fish, 138 this time, and sat observing them for some time, trying very hard to get any kind of clue as to what was happening in our little habitat. This is what I noticed. Many of the fish that were settling on the bottom and seemed as if they were dead, when I moved my net towards them the trout would begin to swim to the top or around to other parts of the aquarium. At first I thought this was caused by the movement of my net circulating the water, but after watching them for a while they did swim all over for quite a while. I also noticed that the water was cloudier. I don't know whether this was from the food I had given them or from the dead fish remains, or some other cause. I also noticed as counting the dead I had removed from the tank that many of them had a very slight green tint, especially on the tops of their heads. I just don't know what is going on and it is upsetting that we have worked so hard and been so diligent and now something is killing our trout. I know the picture is gruesome, but I think it really shows the quanity of fish that are dying. I have also included a video to try to show some of the behaviors I have described in hopes that we can find the root of the problem. Robert is coming tomorrow and will be taking some samples to look at under a microscope to try to find out more information in hopes of saving the remaining trout. Remember we began with between 500 and 600 so we still have plenty of healthy swimmers, but loosing so many in just two days is disconcerting. I will report further when we know more. In the meantime, think happy fishy thoughts for our trout in hopes of a speedy recovery.

Day 30: The Black Trout

This is Tori T. This week we saw a black trout in our tank. We decided to name the because it was the only one that was black. We voted on three different names, Miss Jellybean, Miss Vader,and Michele Obama. Our winner was Miss Jellybean. Mrs. Coker came to see the trout and we told her about the trout and she thought it was cool. Morgan and I told Mrs. Hines' class about the trout. The water was getting a little lower so we had to move the thermometer down into the water. One morning I saw Miss Jellybean floating on her back and she was about to get sucked into the chiller tube. I started to see her swim away from the tube. I was happy because she did not get sucked in to the chiller. We have a lot of questions so we hope that Robert comes to visit soon. (photo by Jamie Lossiah)

Day 23: Students Taking Over!

We are Jaime G. and Shirley P. We just got our trout and one is missing an eye. It also has a jaw that's not closing. They are swimming faster now and they used to be at the bottom and now they are at the very top, well most of them. We are feeding them two pinches of food 2 times a day. The food is like dust and it stinks very badly. The temperature was from 55.8 to 54.3 degrees Fahrenheit. We got to answer all kinds of questions that Mrs. Cannon's class was asking when they were in the lab. One day I got too close to the tube and it fell and water sprayed all over me,Shirley, and Jaime just sat there. Then he ran to get Mrs. Metz so she could help us fix it and save the fishies. It was a exciting week!!!!!
(photo by Dani Swayney)

Day Twenty One : Go Team!

Since our trout are using up their yolk sacks, and we have begun feeding them, we have established a weekly Trout Team. Each week, two students will be in charge of feeding the fish as well as monitoring and recording temperature and other any other observations. The Trout Team will also be in charge of being guides to any classes who would like to visit the trout. Lastly, I am giving over this blog to the Trout Team. From now on, the Trout Team will be in charge of writing a blog at the end of each week to chronicle their observations and any major happenings. I am very interested to see what they have to say!