From Tiny Eggs to the Mighty Deerfield River

Over the past few months in our Environmental Science 2 class, our group has been raising brook trout from eggs in our fish tank, aiming to track fish behavior in the Deerfield River.

Rating	Water temp	pH	Ammonia	Nitrite	Nitrate	KH	GH
5	Goal ± 0.5°	7 ± 0.2	0	0	0-10	80	75
4	Goal ± 2.0°	7 ± 0.5	0.25	0.5	25	80 ± 40	75 ± 50
3	Goal ± 3.5°	7 ± 1	0.5	1	50	80 ± 80	80 ± 75
2	Goal ± 5.0°	7 ± 2	1	3	100	80 ± 120	80 ± 100
1	Goal ± 6.5+	7 ± 3+	3+	5+	250	80 ± 160+	80 ± 125+

Our two main research questions are:

1) How can we properly monitor fish health quality and water quality in order to establish a baseline for other studies that want to look at the requirements to keep the maximum amount of brook trout alive from larva stage, to being released into fresh water?

2) How can we create an equation/calculator in order to help others and ourselves to visualize how water quality reflects fish health quality?

We hope to successfully raise the fish we received as eggs into a healthy stage where they can be released into the larger population in the Deerfield River. We also hope to use these fish and the experience of raising them to gain more knowledge of how real environmental scientists deal with challenges and manage their projects related to fish health. Each day we measure water temperature, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, KH, and GH in our tank. We take these measurements and quantify them into one water quality rating for each day between 1 and 5. If our water quality rating is low then we take the steps necessary to ensure that the fish have a more ideal place to grow. Each day we also extract fish from the tank for observation. We run each fish through a checklist that includes length, weight, possible deformities, other observations, and more. Using this data we then quantify a health rating for each fish. By tracking both water quality and fish health over a long period of time we hope to better understand how brook trout grown in captivity respond to their living conditions. We have many healthy trout now and are looking forward to releasing our fish into our very own Deerfield River just a few weeks from now.

Photo: https://deerfieldriver.org/wild-and-scenic