PH Test: 7.2
Nitrate (NO3) ppm (mg/l): 0
Nitrite (NO2) ppm (mg/l): 0.25
Ammonia ppm (mg/l): 0
Stress Zyme: 5ml
Water Change: 2 gallon - 2 gallon
Number of Fish Removed: 0
Fish were fed today at 10:00am today. It looks like the automatic feeder turned at least once during the day yesterday. I say this because some of the food spilled over the sides of the funnel and were left on the aquarium cover when I came in today. Honestly, I don't really like the automatic feeder that much. I think it's better for me to be there feeding the fish, that way I can make observations and know that they are being fed. The feeders settings typically feed too little or too much at one time. Too much food at one times tends to cause the food to drop straight to the bottom, so the fish who hang out at the top of the aquarium don't have enough time to react to the falling food and it throws too much food in at once. Since most of the salmon are surface feeders, they typically don't notice the food on the aquarium floor, this is especially true for the fish who always swim near the surface of the water. When the librarian and I feed them, however, we disperse the food all over the aquarium rather than just dumping the food in, and we watch the fish to make sure that they are all eating and acting normal, we also feed them at pretty consistent times of the day, which the fish are used to. Using automatic feeders takes away from the project because you don't actually get to watch the fish as they feed. In addition, it can be dangerous; if the feeder feeds too much food at once, it can destroy the water quality and actually poison the fish, if the feeder feeds too little, some of the fish could starve. The feeder is not very trustworthy, and it's unpredictable. I would be okay with using it for weekends and leaving it on a low feeding setting so that it does not feed too much, so that the fish still get fed a little, but I would never rely on it as the sole feeding source. During the week days I plan to unplug the automatic feeder and manually feed the fish so that I can pay close attention to the health of the fish and make sure everyone is eating properly. For this weekend, since it is the first weekend we are using the automatic feeder, the librarian is planning on checking up on them once on Saturday and again on Sunday to make sure the feeder is not feeding too much. If there is a problem, she said she would call me so I can come in and do what I need to do. Today I only did a two gallon water change, instead of four, to make sure I have back-up water for the weekend in case of an emergency (approximately 3 gallons of back up water). In addition, I cleaned the aquarium and the filters thoroughly today. Everyone looks very strong and healthy! I took some pictures of the new fish filter (those shown in yesterday's blog), the tank, and the different food sizes, I also took some pictures of the fish feeding.
Yesterday a lady from a local daycare along with a 2 little girls came in to visit the fish. They have been coming to see them on Thursdays for the last two or three weeks, and last week I let the girls feed them, they were ecstatic! They seem to be really interested in watching the fish which is neat to see, since teaching the public was one of the biggest goals of the whole project! The daycare lady asked me last week if there would be any way that they could be informed of when and where the release would take place, as they were really interested in being there to watch the release. I thought this would be a great idea, so I made sure to get her contact information so I could let her know. The fish are getting close to their release date now, once their parr marks on their sides fade to silver, they will be ready for release! My teacher is thinking that the release will be in the next week or two, I'm guessing it might be within the next three or four weeks though, but it all depends on their development. I remember when the fish started losing their pouches and started changing color, it happened pretty quick, so they could be ready really soon, or they could be ready a month from now. I guess we'll have to wait and see what nature decides is the best time
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