TROUT UPDATE 7

Subj: release the hounds
Date: 2/9/99 9:57:57 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: ECOCTR318
To: EZHIFI, JStoliar, APStoliar, Reefdoctor@webtv.com
To: ddd1@columbia.edu, rip1@columbia.edu
TROUT UPDATE 7

Hello and welcome again to the I.S. 318 Trout Times a lot has happened in the past 3 weeks! For instance, some of the trout have been adopted by aliens (actually they were donated to schools). Mr. Zigler from P.S. 206 in Queens picked up 33 fish to replenish the stock at their site. Joan & Arthur Stoliar have donated their time (again) to transfer 38 of our fry to The NYC Lab School in Manhattan. They still have one fish from their original batch of eggs. It was a little tough to let them go but it is obvious that we will need to reduce our numbers soon.

The big news is, after much class debating, on Thursday 2/11/99 we released the trout from the hatchery into the main tank area. The main cause for our actions was that the water in the hatchery was not being filtered well and the pH was beginning to drop. They put up a fight but we still managed to get all 400 out of the hatchery safely. They seem comfortable in their new environment and have spread out and take up the whole tank! They are getting nice colors on their fins and have been spotted jumping at the surface of the water. It will now be difficult to measure them and keep track of deaths but we have not lost a fish in over 2 weeks. The biggest fish size we have been able to measure is 50 mm but many seem larger than this. We have used a suction cup to attach a small ruler to the side of the tank.

The temperature is till around 50 F, the pH is around 6.2 (we assume the low pH is due to more fish and food waste) and we continue to do water changes every week.

Saci and Mr. Jensen have been credited with a new discovery. We recently found snail eggs attached to the inside of the tank walls. We are concerned that we will have a snail outbreak but we have not decided to do anything about yet. We are hoping that young snails are soft and tasty so the trout will keep them in check. We will watch closely and let you know what develops.

Can you answer these questions? If so, write us back.

-We have read that trout eat everything, will they eat snail eggs? How about adult snails?

-What are the limits in pH for a healthy trout stream?

-How do we calculate how many adult fish we can keep in our Trout Stream System?

Special congratulations go out to Mr. Simic, local educator and friend to the program, on obtaining his first fly rod.

If you haven't already, you may want to check out our website, we are steadily improving it and making updates regularly.

THINK SPRING and Thanks for listening,

~keepers of the trout