We had an unfortunate situation last week where one of our schools that had 100+ fish lost all due to a tremendous spike in water temps. That school was on winter recess and work was being done on the electric and/or heating for the school. Security guards who were feeding and monitoring the fish came in one morning to find all the fish dead and water temps of 89.5 degrees. Assuming nothing is wrong with the tank’s chiller, the teacher and students are working to get the tank back to operational status this week.
While I have a pledge from the Pequest Hatchery to replace the fish, I would like some of you to consider donating some of your fish, especially those tanks that still have a lot of fish, to this school in Jersey City. New York state does this in their TIC program and it fosters sharing amongst the schools and allows the donating school to see how their "extra" fish are doing in another location. Please contact me here or via email or my cell if you feel your school would like to help out the Jersey City location in the near future. Many thanks - Brian
Rhonda DeChirico said:
March 1st, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Gill St Bernard’s School would be happy to share some fish with Jersey City if it would be of help! We have actually been wondering if the growth of the fish could be inhibited by the large population and relative size of the tank.
Brian Cowden said:
March 8th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
I am somewhat relieved to report that the loss seems due to that school’s faulty heating system which was under repair over their winter break when the tank overheated, killing all of the fish and was not due to other causes such as equipment failure. I am also pleased that several schools volunteered to donate some of their fish to the Hudson City School of Technology in Jersey City. One of our volunteers is working with Eastside H.S. in Paterson to move some of their fish to the Jersey City tank. While the Pequest Hatchery was more than willing to donate additional fish to Jersey City, the idea of one school helping another fosters sharing and is a better choice, in my opinion. I will encourage those teachers and students involved to share stories about how the donated fish are fairing in their new environment.