References - The Stressful Journey of Ornamental Marine Fish 2
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The Stressful Journey of Ornamental Marine Fish

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Continued from page 1

The results for the shore line water were as expected for a non polluted area:

pH 8.1 8.3
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 0
Nitrites 0
Phosphates 0
Specific gravity 1.024
Temperature 74-78 F

The samples of water from the bags in the three communities did show alarming readings, 12 different samples were tested, the results were all very close. Following are the averages:

pH lower than 7 (6.0 6.5)
Ammonia Higher than 0.8 mg/lt
Nitrates 15 20 mg/lt
Nitrites 0
Phosphates 0.1 mg/lt
Specific gravity Higher than 1.027
Temperature 78 F

The holding facilities at the exporters level, some of them are constructed with plywood covered with marine epoxy. The filtration systems design is very elementary and inefficient. The only filter media used is crushed coral (the use of bioballs is not widespread; I saw two exporters using them but the design and efficiency of the filters was considered poor). The use of protein skimmers is not widespread, some use them but the design is extremely poor if we consider the volumes of water that their systems handle. There was an exporter using a primitive version ammonia towers (inefficient). An analysis of water was conducted at the holding facilities of an exporter. The results are the following:

pH 7.9 8.0
Ammonia 0.2 mg/lt
Nitrates 80 100 mg/lt
Nitrites 0.1 0.2 mg/lt
Phosphates 1.0 mg/lt
Specific gravity 1.022

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