Egg delivery day for Trout in the Classroom

Some instructions for teachers and mentors who received rainbow trout eggs on Thursday, 18-Nov-2010.

Yes, if you have a cooler or thermos, have Debbie bring that to the Sportsman's Warehouse with her. It helps keep the eggs cool so there won't be much difference between the egg temperature and the tank water temperature. Do not let ice touch the eggs; rather put foam or air bubble plastic layer between ice and eggs in plastic bags or thermos in the small cooler.

The egg hatching basket edges needs to be lowered below the water surface level so the alevin can swim out when their yolk sac gets lighter. Lowering the hatching basket can be done now.

The best practice for developing your first team of 3 students is to assign them the following tasks for egg delivery day:

1. Acclimate egg temperature to tank water temperature to within (+ or - 2) degrees
2. Add 1/4 teaspoon of BioZyme to the intake foam and lava rock
3. Remove dead (white) eggs from the egg hatching basket with a turkey baster, pipette or small dia. straw.

Now, the students are already doing scientific work. After Thursday, 18 Nov-2010, No. 1 will rotate off the monitoring team and No. 2 will become No. 1 and No. 3 will become No. 2 monitor. Then a new team member will be added as No. 3. This weekly rotating team of monitors can be used to let each student have at least one to two weeks of training before accepting a higher level of responsibility the following week.

Assign No. 1 as the leader and teacher who will continue to monitor water quality by testing for ammonia and nitrite to be less than 0.50 ppm and nitrates to be below 30 ppm. Otherwise, if No. 1 leader finds ppm higher than these maximum levels, all leaders should meet after testing and determine what anomalies they find and what solutions they recommend to the class teacher and log these anomalies in the daily log.

Assign No. 2 as the next No. 1 leader and teacher who will learn tasks from Leader No. 1 for their next week. Then they will monitor the pH levels to range between 7.5 and 6.5 pH and air hose output. If the range is higher than 7.9 or lower than 6.1 confer with the other members of the monitoring team with these anomalies to determine what solutions they should recommend to the class teacher and log these anomalies in the daily log.

Assign No. 3 as the next No. 2 leader and teacher who will learn tasks from leader No. 2 for their next week. Then they will monitor temperature readings ranging between 51 and 55 F degrees. If the chiller is set on 53 F degrees with differential set on 2 degrees the range should match the goal of 51 and 55 F degrees. If temperature is not within this range, determine if the chiller is plugged in and running and note the settings for 53 F and Dif 2 and report to the monitoring team after all data are gathered so a solution can be recommended to the class teacher and log these anomalies in the daily log.

The class teacher will observe the daily log before conferring with the monitoring team for their recommendations. If the variations are beyond the ranges and it is determined that a water change is necessary to bring these anomalies within range, the class teacher will assign two students to do the water change with the gravel vacuum. Daily water changes of 15% to 25% water may be needed until the testing ranges are within their normal range.