Aquarium Water Testing Guide

Now that your fish are producing waste... (uneaten food, dead fish, poop) the nitrogen cycle is at work converting that waste into safe and beneficial bacteria colonies. The nitrogen cycle is the biological process that converts ammonia and nitrate (which are toxic to fish) into relatively harmless nitrogen compounds- nitrates.

We add a weekly dose of biological enhancer (MicrobeLift Special Blend) to help build these beneficial bacteria colonies form in our coldwater ecosystem.

Nitrogen Cycle Simple Summary

Waste → Ammonia (toxic) → Nitrite (toxic) → Nitrate (okay)

(If we had plants in aquarium, they would absorb these nitrates and use them as nutrients, completing the cycle. Since we don't, we need to do partial water changes regularly.)

Understanding your Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle

The nitrogen cycle seems complicated to understand, but there is a great video by the Aquarium Co-op that explains the cycle using M&M's to represent ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, which really helps wrap your mind around the process! Check it out with your classroom.

Importance of Testing Aquarium Water

As we take care of trout, this also means taking care of the water where the trout live. There are ways we can observe the water's health with our eyes (cloudy water, fish acting unusual/not eating, etc.), but there are other ways of determining the health of aquarium water that don't always show up visibly at first. Which is why it is important that we regular take water chemical tests. This helps us test the beneficial bacteria in the aquarium and monitor whether they are at healthy levels for your fish to survive.

How to Run a Full Aquarium Water Test:

This video created by our Trout Unlimited expert, Phil runs through the entire process of running a chemical water test in your aquarium using the water testing kit provided to you by DCL. Follow along with your classroom.

Recording Water Quality Data

Not only do we want to regularly take water tests, but we want to record that information somewhere where we can see it, so we can notice any trends, like if ammonia are nitrite levels are rising over the weeks.

Every school has a packet hanging from the side of their aquarium that has an Aquarium Inspection Record in it, as well as a Trout Care Daily/Weekly Checklist. Now that your trout are eating and pooping more in your tank, it is essential to be keeping a weekly record of the water chemical levels. Having this sheet near your tank, gives you an opportunity to keep track and view any concerning trends that may occur. 

You can take this process a step further by inputting this data on the online Aquarium Monitoring Record sheet, so the DCL team has access to this information and can help you troubleshoot any issues that may occur.

With each chemical, you will find a chart where you can match the test tube with the comparable color to find how much of each chemical is found in your tank water. There is a healthy and unhealthy level for every chemical we test, more below...

How do I Interpret the Water Test Results?

You will find a Water Testing Instruction Guide in the box all the chemicals arrive in. This guide walks you through how to test for each chemical, what the test result means, what the recommended levels are, and what to do if you have a spike in a given chemical. Super helpful for troubleshooting!  And here we even have a simplified version your students might find easier to read.

What to Expect? 

Once your trout begin to produce waste, it is natural to see a slight rise in ammonia levels. You will know that the beneficial bacteria are becoming established when nitrate levels also begin to rise and ammonia levels have a corresponding decrease. The bacteria are turning ammonia to nitrite (nitrifying) and then nitrite to nitrate (denitrifying) the waste. 

Overview of Aquarium Cycling Stages:

Stage 1: When trout begin to produce waste (fry stage), ammonia levels may increase, and you may see some trout death due to the ammonia level spike. This is the stage when MicrobeLift Special Blend bacteria supplement will begin being added. 

Stage 2: Ammonia levels should begin to decrease, and nitrite levels will begin to increase. Nitrite may remain high for a couple of weeks. This stage you may see more of a trout "die off."

Stage 3: Nitrite levels will begin to decrease and NitrAte levels will increase. There will be very few trout deaths, if any, at this point as the toxic Nitrites have been converted to less toxic NitrAtes. The aquarium water is considered to be "cycled" at this point.

Recommended Water Testing Levels:

• Ammonia- Less than 1 mg/l (ppm).
• Nitrite- Near zero (ppm), once bacteria are established in the filter system
• Nitrate- Below 40 ppm (mg/l)
• pH- The pH scale runs from 1 (acid) to 14 (basic).  7 is “neutral”.  A pH of 7.4 – 8.4 is fine for our trout

Ammonia and Nitrite at high levels are toxic to your fish. Nitrate is not, it would take up to 200 ppm for nitrate to be toxic.

What To Do if Levels are Consistently High (Over Extended Testing):

• If ammonia or nitrite levels rise above 1 ppm for an extended period, contact us.  Reducing or temporarily pausing your feeding schedule is a good first step that you can take right away.  Depending on the conditions in your aquarium, additional filter media or aquarium cleaning/gravel vacuuming can also quickly reduce these waste products.
• Nitrate levels will steadily rise during the year.  Without the presence of plants in our aquarium, the nitrogen cycle is incomplete, and there is no place for nitrate to go.  This is not a threat to your trout, but high levels will encourage algae growth, odor, etc.   The only way to reduce nitrate is with partial water changes.

More Troubleshooting:

Depending on where you are consistently seeing concerningly high levels in your aquarium, you may need to troubleshoot further as to what could be the cause. 

A really great resource for troubleshoot is this Pennsylvania Trout in the Classroom document. It provides a great overview of the Nitrogen Cycle, and if you skip over to pages 56-58, you can find causes and remedies for high Ammonia and Nitrite levels that may help target and fix your exact issue!

Thanks for learning!

We also have unlimited resources for troubleshooting efforts on the Finger Lakes Trout in the Classroom Blog under "Tech Support." Explore all there is to learn about trout and water care with your classroom this year! And as always, reach out if you need support!

Hatchery Trip to Collect Brown Trout!

As brown trout alevins make their new homes nestled in baskets in 16 school aquariums around the region, you might be wondering the behind-the-scenes journey of the trout's arrival to your school.

Last week, we took a trip to the NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) State Hatchery in Bath N.Y. Students from South Seneca Elementary School and Dryden High School joined us as we collected trout from their incubator trays and toured the hatchery. 

By the time we arrived, our trout had already hatched into the alevin stage, with their yolk sac connected to them. Using pipettes, Dryden H.S. students removed trout alevins from their trays and filled 16 jars with about 100 fish each. Each jar was meant for one of our 16 TIC schools raising brown trout. 

Later, S. Seneca Elementary students joined the collection process, as the high schoolers taught the younger students proper collection technique. Altogether, the students collected about 1600 alevin trout!

During the visit, two knowledgeable hatchery guides gave students a tour of the facility. Students got to see the behind-the-scenes operation at the hatchery, where they were not only raising brown trout but other fish like lake trout, rainbow trout and more. Students got to feed some the fingerling fish and watch the fin tagging process before the fish were released into the wild. They also learned more about the stream stocking process and got to see the vehicles and machines that enabled lots of fish to get loaded up on trucks to be distributed at streams across New York State.

All around, it was a really great October day at the hatchery. Later, Discover Cayuga Lake staff and Trout Unlimited volunteers helped to distribute the near 1600 trout alevins to schools all around Cayuga Lake where they now nest in their aquarium baskets as they continue to grow into fully developed fish!

-Katie Barnhill

Macroinvertebrates as Indicators of a Healthy Stream

In April, we will be bringing live stream samples into your classroom filled with insects our trout would eat in the wild. We will focus on aquatic invertebrates as indicators to assess stream health. 

We will start by reviewing the life-cycles and adaptive characteristics of these insects. Students will dig though a stream sample, isolating different types of insects they find in ice cube trays with their group. 

Using a dichotomous key, students will identify insect types using the live specimens they have collected. Once they have identified insects in their stream sample, students will "score the stream" using a tool that grants higher points to pollutant intolerant insects than tolerant ones. 

This lesson introduces the idea that we can infer much about the function of a system by making scientific observations of individual components. 

Finally, students will feed a few insect larvae to the trout and see how they react! This lesson is always a student favorite!

Cannibalism happening in tanks across the region

A bigger trout digesting a smaller trout in a tank at a Union Springs classroom in 2015

It seems every year, we hear of reports of cannibalism in trout tanks across the region. Sometimes there is a suspicion that cannibalism is happening, as trout seem to be "disappearing" from the tank, and one or two trout are abnormally larger than the rest. But sometimes, students actually see a larger trout eating a smaller one in action, as they will spot a fish tail hanging from a trout's mouth. 

Trout, like many fish are cannibalistic and will likely eat smaller members of their own species. This is an example of natural selection, as some trout are better at adapting to their environment. 

When visiting schools, I always ask students for an update about what's going on in their tank, especially since they are spending a lot more time interacting with their trout aquarium than I am. One of the first things I usually hear about is the possible cannibalism happening. I often ask students why they think this is happening. Then I'll ask them which kind of trout has a greater chance of surviving in the wild, the small trout or the bigger trout that is able to eat the smaller trout?

A trout that has moved beyond small, dried up fish food and is able to capture live, moving fish in their environment indicates smarter, faster, more agile behaviors. Wouldn't a fish displaying these behaviors have a better chance of fighting off future predators like bigger fish, otters and birds of prey?

An angler in Strawberry Reservoir in Utah found a partially digested fish in the mouth of a cutthroat trout. Brett Prettyman/Trout Unlimited 

 

March: A time to think about clean water and individual actions

Spring is just around the corner! Which has us thinking about the upcoming trout releases. And as we begin planning for the releases, one building block to the student's Trout in the Classroom experience is understanding the importance of caring for the trout's environment once they are swimming in local streams. Which is what this month's Watershed Pollution Prevention lesson is all about! 

During Visit #4: Watershed Pollution Prevention, we will present on topics including water cycle and watershed so students can gain an understanding of how pollutants can enter into a watershed. Then we will look at different types of pollutants and how they can eventually be harmful to trout, the food web, and the natural ecosystem once they make their way into the water. 

Students identify pollutant actions, with a particular focus on trash, pesticides, fertilizers and ways natural landscapes can increase or decrease run-off. Once they have a good grasp of harmful pollutants, how they make their way into a watershed, and the damage they can do to aquatic life, it's time for the class to conduct their own watershed pollution survey!

Groups of students use a pollution scavenger hunt worksheet to examine their school campus for signs of pollution hazards and pollution preventers. At the end of the hunt, students score their school and its process of eliminating or adding to watershed pollution. This has led to conversations about problems students noticed in their school, or awareness of positive school behaviors. It's great to see student's brain's working to come up with solutions, or goals to continue to prevent pollutants from entering waterways.

The pollution prevention lesson is happening during a convenient month for continued education on topics related to pollution prevention and watershed awareness. March 18th is Global Recycling Day, which brings awareness to recycling as a way of protecting natural resources. This year's theme is #RecyclingHeroes. Here are some great examples of rising youth stars who's bright ideas and initiatives have made a difference in local and global recycling efforts. 

As we visit 20+ schools in the region teaching pollution prevention, we often hear insightful ideas students have about protecting local streams from pollution. Students participating in the Trout in the Classroom program have a great opportunity to be environmental advocates in their community, as they learn trout's habitats needs and understand the importance of clean natural waterways for their trout to continue to live and thrive!

March 22 is World Water Day, which is a great time to ponder inequalities to clean and accessible water worldwide. Here are three activities put together by UN Water for school kids of all ages to learn about water conservation and peace building. Explore these concepts with your class through engaging and fun activities like art and even football! 

For a local way of engaging with conservation, students are invited to join Ithaca Fishing and Conservation Day is happening Saturday, March 23 at Boynton Middle School. The event is put on by Trout Unlimited and Discover Cayuga Lake will be there to do science activities with students. 

What would your trout would be doing in the wild right now?

We've been observing our trout hunting and eating zooplankton in captivity, but what about all the baby trout in the wild? Will they have the upper fin in hunting and competing for food when we release our captive trout? Is a winter stream environment a nurturing habitat for baby trout? Let's find out!

A baby wild trout has about 4 months of life in its stream habitat by this time in February and is known as a trout "fry" or "parr." Check out this cool video to see what a brook trout parr looks like at this time of year!

Here are some cool facts about wild trout parrs and how they grow up: 

1. A wild trout parr will be smaller than a trout parr raised in captivity. This is because growing up in the wild is typically colder than growing up in a tank, the water can even be a temperature that would normally cause water to freeze if the stream is running fast enough! The colder the water a trout grows up in, the slower the trout will grow. 
   

2. 

   Stonefly larvae in June 2020.

   A wild trout parr starts hunting almost right away as soon as it can swim, and sometimes even before it can swim! While our captive trout learn to come up to the surface of the tank and beg for food, a wild trout looks for its food at the BOTTOM of a stream. This is called BENTHIC feeding and means that trout grow up mostly eating stonefly, mayfly, and caddisfly larvae that can be found hiding among the rocks of healthy streams. 
   
3. A wild trout parr will hunt and eat zooplankton, just like we watched with our captive trout in our recent feeding experiments! Wild parrs don't typically eat Daphnia (the zooplankton we fed our trout), but they do eat a different species of zooplankton... known as copepods. In fact, a common copepod that trout like to eat is called a calanoid and might look like a Plankton you've seen before (hint: Spongebob).
   

   

   Calanoid, a microscopic zooplankton.

So what do you think? Who has the upper fin? A trout that has grown up hunting and spent its whole life in the wild, or a larger trout that doesn't have as much experience hunting or hiding among the rocks? 

-Originally posted by Marina Howard, March 17, 2021

Some Cool Facts About Daphnia!

Daphnia are a zooplankton, meaning that they are animals (zoo) that live at the water's surface, drifting with the currents (plankton). But daphnia are not just any zooplankton... they can live in incredible conditions! 

Studies show that daphnia can live in slightly salty water like you would find where a stream meets an ocean (estuary) and that they manage small levels of salt just as well as completely freshwater! This is incredible. If a human were stranded on a boat in even mildly salty water, they would not be able to survive drinking it because the salt would just make them thirstier - but daphnia can. 

A healthy daphnia (left) with a daphnia
producing hemoglobin (right). 

And here is something even more incredible: if the water source is not changed for the daphnia and they start to use up all their oxygen, they create the same chemical that we have in our blood (hemoglobin) to bind oxygen - making their oxygen intake much more efficient (and turning them slightly reddish colored). That's crazy! Think if you were trapped in your classroom without an air supply and everyone breathing up all the oxygen, pretty soon you would feel super lightheaded, but daphnia have a mechanism to be able to survive days longer in an environment without a lot of oxygen.

If you think that is cool, just wait until you get to watch a trout chase a daphnia around a glass in our feeding experiments. We will have videos and more results of our live feedings coming by the end of next week, stay tuned!

You can check out more about daphnia through our worksheet and a slideshow shared by our teacher program on the teachers' tab of this blog. 

-Originally posted January 29, 2021 by Marina Howarth

Daphnia heartbeat

First Live Food Experiment!

Our young trout have grown to a size of about 2 or 3 centimeters in their "parr" stage. Are they ready to hunt and eat living prey? At this point in the year, classes are ready to conduct their first "live food" feeding experiments, using a common zooplankton, called "Daphnia". 

First, students have a chance to practice observation skills, as they get to know the "costar" of this experiment. Daphnia are about the size of a sesame seed. 

Then, student research teams prepare their hypotheses and perform an experiment to see how their trout will respond to an opportunity to try a new food... that just might try to escape! 

Finally, students evaluate their results and compare with other research teams. Here is a typical chart that depicts how many daphnia are eaten by trout during 20 second intervals over five minutes. Interesting... for more on this lesson and teaching materials, click on the "For Teachers" tab!

Trout Care Checklist