M4 CONTENTS 3 .......... NIGHTTIME DISSOLVED OXYGEN MODEL ...................... APPLICATION .. ................... .......... ........... ........................... 4 9 PROJECTION METHOD EMERGENCY MEASURES RELATED FISH KILLS COMPUTER PROGRAMS LITERATURE CITED To PREVENT OXYGEN ............ ........... ........... ........... ....................... ............ ........................ 11 11 12 APPENDIX I .............................. ........... ........... ............... ............ 13 21 22 APPENDIX II ............................. APPENDIX III ........................... APPENDIX IV ............................ 28 Information contained herein is available to all without regard to race, color, or national origin. FIRST PRINTING 3M, SEPTEMBER 1978 Predicting Nighttime Oxygen Depletion in Catfish Ponds Robert P. Romaire and Claude E. Boyd 2 CONCENTRATION of dissolved oxygen (DO) has long been recognized as a critical factor in the intensive production of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) in ponds. Depletion of DO may cause fish kills resulting in serious economic losses to the producer. Moreover, fish do not feed or grow well and may become predisposed to diseases in ponds with sudden or chronically low concentrations of DO. Emergency aeration should be initiated in ponds when the DO concentration declines to less than 2.0 parts per million (ppm). Presently, fish culturists have no reliable technique for predicting if DO will fall below this critical level during the night. Therefore, the culturist must make DO measurements at intervals during the night or rely upon experience or 'rules of thumb' provided by fish culture researchers or other fish farmers. Consequently, emergency aeration is frequently used when not required, and in some cases, it is not used when needed. Either situation is a wasteful practice and increases the cost of producing catfish. INADEQUATE The data herein provide the culturist with two practical methods for predicting at dusk (or shortly thereafter) if DO depletion is likely to occur in a pond during any given night, thereby allowing time to prepare for emergency aeration. NIGHTTIME DISSOLVED OXYGEN MODEL Research at Auburn University has led to the development of a practical simulation model for predicting the nighttime loss in DO caused principally by respiration of the biota in channel catfish ponds. The basic equation for predicting nighttime DO decline is: supported by the Office of Water Research and Technology of the Department of the Interior through the Water Resources Research Institute of Auburn University under provision of the Water Research Act of 1964. 2Graduate Research Assistant and Professor, respectively, Department of Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures. 'Research 4 DO = DOsk ALABAMA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION t DOdf - DOf - DO DOt = DO concentration after t hours of darkness, DOdusk = DO concentration at dusk, DOdf = gain or loss of 02 to diffusion, DOf = 02 used by fish, DOm = loss of 02 to mud respiration, DOp = 02 consumed by the planktonic community. A computer program written in the simulation language CSMP-III (Continuous System Modeling Program-III) is used to solve the nighttime DO equation from data on 02 consumption by plankton (8), organisms in the mud (10, 11) and channel catfish (3), and 02 diffusion data from Schroeder (11). Evaluation of the nighttime DO equation gave highly reliable predictions of early morning DO concentrations when Secchi disk visibility was used to estimate oxygen consumption by the plankton community, table 1. Similar results were obtained when the chemical oxygen demand (COD) was used to estimate oxygen consumption by the plankton, table 2. APPLICATION To make the nighttime DO prediction equation practical, a computer algorithm was used to prepare tables of minimum acceptable (critical) Secchi disk visibilities (Appendix I, tables 1A-1H) and maximum permissable (critical) COD concentrations (Appendix I, tables 2A-2H) required to maintain a DO concentration above 2.0 ppm (+ 0.1 ppm) at dawn. Smaller TABLE 1. COMPARISONS OF MEASURED DO CONCENTRATIONS AT DAWN IN CHANNEL CATFISH PONDS WITH DO CONCENTRATIONS CALCULATED BY COMPUTER SIMULATION. OXYGEN CONSUMPTION BY PLANKTON PREDICTED FROM SECCHI DISK VISIBILITY. AFTER BOYD ET AL. (8) Difference DO at dawn (ppm) Secchi disk DO at dusk Fish 2 (lb/acre) visibility (cm) (ppm) measured calculated (ppm) 8.17 -0.17 8.32 84 10.13 251 -0.39 7.49 7.10 9.70 504 46 -0.97 3.18 6.69 4.15 49 965 4.00 -0.27 4.27 30 7.30 1851 -0.55 2.40 1.85 7.80 2161 27 of period of measurement. from stocking rate and average weight gain for the particular feeding Date' 5/25/74 6/29/74 7/30/74 9/11/74 8/29/75 'Beginning 2 Estimated rate. NIGHTTIME DISSOLVED OXYGEN TABLE 2. COMPARISONS OF MEASURED DO CONCENTRATIONS AT DAWN IN CHANNEL CATFISH PONDS WITH DO CONCENTRATIONS CALCULATED BY COMPUTER SIMULATION. OXYGEN CONSUMPTION BY PLANKTON PREDICTED FROM CHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (COD). AFTER BOYD ET AL. (8) Date 1 (lb/acre) Fish 2 COD (ppm) DO at dusk (ppm) measured DO at dawn (ppm) calculated Difference (ppm) 5/25/74 251 38.9 10.13 8.32 7.73 -0.59 6/29/74 504 41.2 9.70 7.49 7.55 +0.06 7/30/74 965 37.5 6.69 4.15 4.16 +0.01 9/11/74 1851 47.9 7.30 4.27 4.76 +0.51 8/29/75 2161 72.3 7.80 2.40 2.13 0.27 1Beginning of period of measurement. 2 Estimated from stocking rate and average weight gain for the particular feeding rate. Secchi disk values or larger COD values than those found in the tables for any combination of water temperature, fish density and DO concentration at dusk would cause the DO to fall below 2.0 ppm by dawn. Where Secchi disk or COD entries are designated safe (S), the DO concentration at dawn would not be expected to drop below 2.0 ppm. The nighttime DO model revealed that in ponds containing up to 4,000 pounds of catfish per acre no DO problems should be encountered when the average DO concentration at dusk exceeds 12.0 ppm. Careful monitoring of DO is recommended, however, when Secchi disk visibilities are less than 20 centimeters (cm)3 or COD values exceed 100 ppm, regardless of the DO concentration at dusk. Studies have shown an increased likelihood of incurring oxygen related problems in ponds with a Secchi disk visibility less than 20 cm or where the COD exceeds 100 ppm (6, 7, 8, 12). Likewise, these prediction tables are not applicable for ponds during periods in which massive algal die-offs have occurred. Certain information is required to use the tables. This includes Secchi disk visibility or COD, water temperature and DO concentration at dusk, and the standing crop of fish (pounds per acre) in the pond on the date of measurement. The standing crop of fish in the pond may be estimated from stocking data and feeding rate or from stocking data and average weight of fish in seine hauls. For convenience, the expected standing crop of channel catfish (pounds per acre) at the beginning of each month during a typical 210-day growing season (March through September) is given for three common stocking rates, table 3. An error of + 500 pounds of fish per acre 31 centimeter - 0.394 inch. ALABAMA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION \VIE3 E11- I CTI II 1>1 AT I I' ILI I) X\I 1 IIIIF I-I ki I) H 51 I,()\STOCK DS (ii l'ii 11(1))XI (%I F',11 i C 1k I II N VA l 1 IIICXS OK A\ IS I') ,A R I . % (1 \larch 1 \has 1 Jum 1 I Jule 1 Auut1 Sep)temb~ler 1 April 1 2,000 74 195 326 5:35 895 1495 2300) 3,001) - -11 17.3 278 -45:3 726 1184 19.30 119 October 1 2970 4.10(0 148 227 .357 571 898 14.36 2295 :34(1 -- wxill not seriouslx affect critical Seccthi dik (or COD x-allies,. W\atcr telnlperature and D o nc~lenltration shold be incas( urcd~ wi thin zI- hour of dusk. Templeratulre and~ D)O (leterlin ati (Ils niav I e madt~e wxith a pol1aroi raphlic. DO( meter, fi trc I IJo\\cx ('1 rcliahlle DO Nallies Inax he obtaIilnd wxith a xxater anal x si s kit, fi i.ure 2, if' a DO( meter is not ax-ailIal e (4,5). Temperature andl DO( determVin~atiolis shlold bec mlade at the surface, :30, 60, and 90 cm dlepth)s and the ax era(gc of the fourl mleasurements taken as the correct reatli mu. FIG. 1. Polarographic dissolved oxygen (DO) meter. NIGHTTIME DISSOLVED OXYGEN FIG. 2. Dissolved oxygen (DO) kit. Sccchri disk x isi hi lity or CUD1 mutst 1 e Ireasurred, prcferabI\ ibet\\ een 10:00 aiim, and 4:00 p.m. Secihi dlisk \ isilbilit\ shotI~l lbe measrdSI with a 20-cem (8-inch) diamleter dlisk wxith alternadte black anid wh litef <(uiatrarts, fiirc 3. Thet Sctchi diisk \isilbilit\ is oibtainredL by lo\\eriiit(, the dhisk inl pond xxater until it disappears and the d1epthi recortded. Tihe dis~k is tilin raised and~ time depth of reappearancee nioted. lihe ax era(e of tihe (depthl of( isaplpeararlce andt the dlepth ofi reappearar ce is takern as tihe correct readlin. .Apartial list oif suipplilers of i)O meters, wxater iii al x sis kits. andl Sccichi dIisks is