The key to loach farming lies in water quality management

On November 10, 2001, at around 8 a.m. in Qianjiang, Hubei, I helped a farmer harvest loaches. In two ponds of 1 mu each (400 jin of fry stocked per pond), we pulled one net in each. One pond had a severe blue-green algae problem, while the other was much better. The netting results showed that the different water quality conditions produced completely different outcomes.

In the pond with severe blue-green algae and relatively poor water quality, one net pulled up more than 600 jin, but many dead loaches from the bottom of the pond were dragged up by the net. Among the loaches pulled up, many of the live ones showed symptoms such as edema and bleeding. At the time, the dead ones pulled up were estimated at around 15 jin, with a size of about 50 fish per jin.

In the pond with better water quality, one net pulled up more than 800 jin, and basically there were no dead loaches in the pond. The loaches were noticeably larger, at about 40 fish per jin.

This proves that water quality is a direct and critical issue affecting the growth and disease rate of loaches.

During the farming process, many farmers encounter these two situations. First: after water quality deteriorates, loaches lose their appetite       Second: when water quality is poor, loaches develop diseases that are easy to recur and difficult to cure.

In fact, these two situations are the most direct effects that water quality has on us. Actually, many diseases are triggered by water quality problems, so managing water quality is the key to loach farming. It also echoes a very common saying: to raise fish, first raise water!!!

But in the process of loach farming, basically about a month and a half after the loaches start eating feed, the water body becomes eutrophic, causing blue-green algae to grow and the water body to deteriorate. This is a problem that basically every farmer has to face in loach farming.

In recent years, looking at all kinds of measures to deal with blue-green algae, they can only be described as control and improvement. There really is no good chemical treatment for blue-green algae. In fact, changing the water is the best solution: inject fresh water to dilute and flush away part of the blue-green algae, improving the loaches' growing environment.

Therefore, when farming loaches, the first thing is to ensure a good water source or a borehole well, so as to ensure good water quality in the loaches' growing environment.

The year before last, I went to visit a friend surnamed Yu in Xinxiang, Henan, to see his loach farming. By now he has been in this industry for more than ten years, always farming at high density, and he never stocks less than 2000 jin of fry per mu. With so many fry and such a large amount of feed, how does he ensure his water quality? He said that for his 20 mu, his electricity bill alone is at least around 20,000 yuan every year. I asked why the electricity bill was so high. He said he pumps water every day to ensure that one-tenth of fresh water is exchanged into each pond. Otherwise, the water quality easily deteriorates and the loaches easily get sick. But precisely because of his investment in the water source, he has always had good returns. This year, he used 1.5 mu and invested more than 200,000 yuan to test the results of winter greenhouse loach farming!!!

In any industry, there are always people who lose money and people who make money. So why can others make money? We must learn from them and put it into practice in our own farming, so that we can keep improving and take fewer detours!!!