Chapter 4: Water Quality and Environmental Requirements

Web: Water Quality

Introduction
This, it is important that an aquaculturist have understanding of the water chemistry and
possesses the skills necessary to provide a suitable environment for the venture to be
successful.

Environmental criteria
 Physical variables
 Chemical variables
 Biological variables

Physical Variables:
a. Temperature
Environmental parameter having the greatest effect on fish.
A primary factor affecting the economic feasibility.
Water temperature greatly influences physiological processes.
A temperature increase of 10 causes rates of chemical and biological reactions
double or triple.
Fish that has a characteristics growth curve and an optimum growth range that
changes with temperature and fish size.
Curve: Growth, Temperature, Mortality

Acclimatization is the process of which fish physiology is slowly altered so that it

can adapt to environmental changes such as temperature and pH.
Every species also has upper and lower temperature limits beyond which it
cannot survive.

Curve: Growth, Temperature, Mortality

 Water temperature is responsible for the development of thermal stratification in
fish ponds.

Chemical treatments of fish ponds are also affected by water temperature.

In warm water:
a.) Fertilizers dissolve and herbicides react more rapidly;
b.) Fish toxicants are more effective and react quicker, and
c.) The rate of oxygen consumption by decaying manure or vegetation is greater.

b. Density
Pure water is most dense at approximately 4ºC.
Adding impurities and salts to water increases its density.
An increase in pressure increases water density.

c. Freezing
Pure water freezes at 0ºC while seawater at -1.4ºC.
Salt addition lowers the freezing point of water.
Freezing characteristics of water is more unusual that those of other fluid.

d. Salinity
The concentration and composition of dissolves salts in the body fluids of fish
and invertebrates must be maintained within fairly narrow limits to buffer against
changes that can cause physiological disruption.
This process is called osmoregulation, requires expenditure of metabolic energy.
 Chlorinity is defined as the total weight of chlorine, bromine, and iodine,
contained in a body of seawater after all bromine and iodine have been replaced
by chlorine. Since chlorine accounts for about 55% of the salinity and is easy to
measure, chlorinity can be determined and salinity is calculated as

- a measure of the concentration of dissolved ions in water

- reflects the geological and hydrological conditions in the geographical region

estuarine waters have varying salinity from near full-strength seawater down to
about 3 g/L.

When salinity is changed by more than about 10% within a few minutes or hours,
fish and invertebrates may not be able to compensate.
As with temperature, it is wise to gradually expose fish to changes in salinity.

Euryhaline fish species can tolerate a wide range of salinity.

e. Turbidity
It is a measure of light penetration in water. It is produced by dissolved and
suspended substances, such as clay particles, humic substances, silty, plankton,
colored compounds, etc.
The denser these substances, the higher the turbidity of water.
 Turbidity caused by phytoplankton is usually desirable in fish ponds
x Turbidity caused by suspended clay and other colloidal particles is
undesirable.
x Turbidity caused by suspended solids appears to affect fish more than
clay turbidity.

f. Color
Color is a result of the interaction of incident light and impurities in the water.
Water color in highly productive waters like fish pond is largely dependent on the
color of the predominant species of phytoplankton.
Unproductive waters generally have a bluish color and are very transparent since
color is caused by light scattering as it hits dissolved particles in the water.
Impending oxygen shortages in the water can often be detected by changes in
color.

Chemical Variables
a. Dissolved oxygen
Along with temperature, DO controls the metabolism of fish and invertebrates.
Fish can acclimate to low Do and other physio-chemical stimuli.

Oxygen solubility decreases with increasing temperature and increasing salinity.

Decreasing barometric pressure, increasing altitude and increasing impurities
decrease oxygen solubility.

Fish do not grow well when DO concentration remains below 25% of saturation
for long periods.
It is commonly accepted by aquaculture researchers and producers that fish
performs better and healthier when the concentration of DO is near the
saturation.
In general, warm-water species tolerate lower DO conditions than cold-water
species.

Warm water fish in ponds die after short-term exposure to less than 0.3 mg/L
DO.

To support life for several hours, a minimum of 1.0 mg/L Is required, and 1.5
mg/L is necessary to support fish for several days.
 Generally, a minimum DO concentration of 5 mg/L is recommended for warm-
water fish and 6 mg/L for cold-water species and a minimum concentration of 6
mg/L for all marine species.

When DO declines:
 Changes in behavioral and physiological responses.
 A compensatory point is reached where the oxygen demand for tissues is greater
than that which can be supplied by behavioral and physiological responses.

b. Total alkalinity
Alkalinity is measure of pH buffering capacity or the acid-neutralizing capacity of
water.

In natural freshwater systems, alkalinity ranges from less than 5 mg/L in soft
water to over 500 mg/L in hard water. Natural seawater has a mean total
alkalinity to about 116 mg/L. Thus, alkalinity is rarely of concern in brackish and
seawater aquaculture systems.

c. Total Hardness
Classification with respect to the degree of hardness:

Soft 0 – 75 mg/L
Moderately Hard 75 – 150 mg/L
Hard 150 -300 mg/L
Very Hard >300 mg/L

As a rule, the most productive waters for fish culture have a total hardness and
total alkalinity concentration of about the same magnitude.
d. pH
the pH of water expresses the intensity of its acidic or basic character. In
equation form, pH is the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion activity:

1
pH = log + = −log[H + ]
[H ]

e. CO2
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a normal component of all natural waters.
It enters surface waters by diffusion from the atmosphere and is also produced
through fish respiration and the biological oxidation of organic compounds.

f. Electrical conductance
It is a measure of dissolved mineral content (salinity) of water and changes in
direct proportion to salinity. The greater the proportion of ions in water, the higher
the conductivity.
Conductance can be used to obtain reliable estimates of salinity or total
dissolved solids.

g. Total gas pressure

It is the sum of the partial pressures of all gases dissolved in water.
Supersaturated water can cause a condition called gas bubble trouma or gas
bubble disease.