Behind The Scenes – Water Testing Procedures

Just thought we would share with you a few of the water checks we carry out here at Partridge Lakes to make sure our waters are the perfect conditions for our fish to thrive in.

We check the oxygen levels in the water at numerous times throughout the day, the most important time is at 6.00 am as during the night oxygen levels drop (which is why we have our aerators on timers between midnight and 6.00 am pumping oxygen back in!)

We also check have a water quality testing kit so we can check the pH, ammonia and nitrate levels!

The pH testing shows if the water is too acidic or alkaline as it needs to be neutral otherwise the conditions can lead to fish deaths, damage to outer surfaces like gills, eyes, and skin and an inability to dispose of metabolic wastes!

We also test the Ammonia levels, ammonia is the primary component of fish waste. Ammonia is harmful to fish, and putting too many fish in a lake causing it to become overpopulated, overfeeding or a combination of these factors can lead to an increase in ammonia which can lead to unsafe water conditions.

Another check we do is the nitrate levels – nitrifying bacteria living in the lake converts ammonia to nitrite. A rise in nitrite usually follows an ammonia spike. Nitrite inhibits oxygen exchange to fishes’ bloodstream, thereby causing them to suffocate. Fish that are experiencing nitrite toxicity will often breathe rapidly and gasp at the surface (although there are other reasons they do this), and their gill filaments will turn from bright red to dull brown or grey in colour.

All of our tests today showed perfect levels of all of the above, although the water temperature is still a little cold for this time of year at 14 degrees (probably due to all the heavy rainfall recently)!

Hope you enjoyed your fishery science lesson