Trout in the Watershed Classroom

What A Great Year!

2009-06-01T17:59:00.000-07:00

All of our trout have been released, and the school year is drawing to an end. This will be our final post for Watershed Class 22, but soon there will be a Watershed Class 23 and they will continue the Trout in the Classroom program but it is unclear whether or not they will be continuing the blog journal of their experience. We would like to thank all of our followers and hope that you enjoyed our silly trout tales and learned much! We would also like to thank the Philadelphia Zoo for funding next year's trout project! Thank you all so much! Keep checking back in the fall to see if we have decided to continue it!

Trout Release!

2009-05-16T07:56:00.001-07:00

It has finally come time to release the trout!

We have been releasing the trout in small groups of about five so that all 40 watershed students can see the trout being released with out it being to crowded.

We have already done 1 trout release so far with Mr. Hoover's class of 2nd graders. We did this on the Little Darby near Wayne Elementary School on the Brooke Trail.

We will be releasing the trout farther up the stream next time! So keep checking back to see how our other releases go!

WE ARE BACK!

2009-04-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

We are so sorry that we have not updated in a while. We have been very busy transitioning projects.
In this undocumented time, the trout have been growing and growing and growing! The average size is around 2 inches and the largest are even up to 5 inches! The largest trout have also began to have a rusty red color on their tummies! This is very exciting!
Today Mrs. Gardiner (Tommy's Mom) came in and talked to us about the different flowers in Skunk Hollow like Trout Lilys. We learned a lot about those different flowers.

Observing the Trout and Gary Shmidt

2009-04-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

Watershed has been very busy observing the trout: how they swim, how they camouflage with their natural environment, and their behaviors.

We have noticed that one of the trout has a swimming disability. It had an injury and when it healed the fin became crooked. Watershed has nick-named this trout "the trout with fin scoliosis". We believe that this trout would not survive in the wild because of survival of the fittest. But in this classroom environment he is lucky because he does not have too search for food. The trout team has also spotted him resting on the filter and plants to save energy when he is tired. We are considering keeping him because otherwise he will just have to fend for himself in the wild.

Watershed has also noticed that the trout are sometimes biting one another. They are not an aggressive species so we do not think that this will lead to any harm.

Also, Gary Schmidt, author of 2 Newbery Honor books, visited RMS today. He has written The Wednesday Wars, Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy and, his latest book, Trouble. He came into Watershed and was amazed by our trout! Maybe some day he will read our Nyckel book! :)

Nyckel Update

2009-04-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

The Nyckel Story is almost finished the editing process and we are currently looking around for a publisher. If you know any childrens book publisher's please let us know!

Welcome back from Spring Break!

2009-04-14T12:41:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day back from Spring Break! We thank Mrs. Agner for coming in and taking care of the trout over break!

Unfortunatley, one trout died over break. :( But on the bright side, this is the first trout that has died in a long while! We are unsure of the cause, but the trout team will continue to investigate! We are wondering if the death could possibly be an ammonia/nitrate spike. He was a pretty large trout, and we found him stuck to the filter when we came ot school today.
We will keep a watch out to insure the health of our trout!

GREETING FROM MARS?

2009-04-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

Hey it's me Oscar. I think maybe I made a wrong turn because I'm on the surface of Mars! Threes not not much to do here but look at all the really cool rocks. I searching for water but so far have had no luck. Click the first link to see my new alien friend. Click the second link to see me!

I'll see you next week!

-Oscar

Skunk Hollow Field Study

2009-03-31T11:19:00.000-07:00

Today a group of 6 students, Ms. Ackerman, and a visiting teacher from The Philadelphia School(Mrs. Freedmen) went on a field study at Skunk Hollow. This group is the same group of kids that will be attending the Trout Show tonight. They will present the field study results there and explain the process.

Skunk Hollow is one of the release sites we are considering for our trout so we would like to post the results here. Feel free to post comments on what you think about Skunk Hollow as our trout release site!

Chemical Data:
DO= 12ppm
Saturation= 105%
pH= 7.5
Nitrates= <5ppm
Phosphates= 1ppm

Biotic Index Total= 7 (4 class 1 BMI's, and 1 class 2 BMI)

In conclusion, the riparian zone was good but it was filled with invasive species and had slightly eroded banks. There was minimal pollution and many class 1 macro invertabrates.

Trout Show 2009

2009-03-30T11:26:00.000-07:00

We are ecstatic to say that we are going to the

Valley Forge Trout Unlimited Trout Show of 2009.

We will be presenting our streamtable and how we educate people about the Trout In The Classroom Program (blog, confrences,etc.).

It is Tuesday, March 31 at Valley Forge Middle School.

Featuring...

Fly Fishing Educator, Author, and Innovator...

GARY BORGER!

Doors open @ 7PM.

Adults $3 and Children Under 16 are FREE!

All proceeds are to be used for:

Enviromental Restoration and Protection of Northern Chester County Trout Streams!

More information at:

http://valleyforgetu.org/

A Great Way to Learn About Trout In The Classroom!

Hope to see you there!

P.S. Look how massive Oscar is!

SHAD in the SHED?

2009-03-27T11:23:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Mrs. Agner and Ms. Ackerman took some of the trout team to Easton, PA for a workshop on "Shad in the Classroom". We all crammed in the van at 10:30am. The ride was about an hour and a half. We arrived at the Easton Area Middle School at about 12:00pm. The school was HUGE. All the students wore name tags!

We learned a lot about the upkeep of a Shad tank. Although they are both local fish the care for Shad is a little bit different. Shad like a current, trout like stagnant water. Shad are super important because EVERYTHING eats them. Some raptors have even evolved over time to lay their eggs in time for shad season. We saw pictures of something called a "Shad Bush" a shrub that buds right before the shad start hatching.

They even showed us how to set up the tank. When it was over we were informed that the school would contacts us when we are able to participate.

If you're interested in Shad check this out!!!

http://www.fishtownshadfest.org/

Survivor 2 - Raystown Lake

2009-03-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

15 students, 4 parent chaperons, 6 brave trout, Ms. Ackerman, and Mr. Savitch headed out to the middle of Pennsylvania on Friday.

We went to the Pennsylvania Association of Environmental Educators Conference. There we presented the Watershed Philosophy of Learning. The Trout in the Classroom Organization also presented a workshop there. You must be thinking, "ARE THEY CRAZY, JEOPARDIZING 6 TROUTS LIVES!" But do not fret, for they all survived! We brought them in a small tank so that the water would not make to many waves to shake up the trout. We also brought a bubbler, a few lunch pack coolers to keep the trout at a comfortable 50 degree temperature (when they melted we changed them, and put the melted ones in the freezer), and trout food of course. It was a wonderfully successful venture and hopefully, the Trout in the Classroom Organization that presented and our own trout fry inspired many teachers to join the Trout In The Classroom Program!

GREETING FROM COLORADO!

2009-03-21T07:40:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! It's your buddy Oscar. I spent this week in Aspen, Colorado! I went snowboarding, skiing and tubing! Here's me skiing with my awesome snow gear! I've got to go! My hot cocoas getting cold! See ya next week!

-gabby and tommy

GREETINGS FROM PARIS!

2009-03-20T10:39:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Oscar. I live in the watershed classroom. Recently I have decided to travel abroad before my friends and I are released into the Darby watershed. So check back every so often for pictures from my vacations!
-----------------------

Hey guys! It's your buddy Oscar! I spent this week in France. So far I have visited the Louvre, l'Opera, Musee de la Marine and many more sights! Here's a picture of me near the Eiffel Tower. It was my favorite attraction!

-gabby and tommy

What Trout Unlimited said...

2009-03-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

As we said in a recent post, the Trout Unlimited people visited the Watershed classroom.

They said that our trout project has been one of the most successful yet! We are flattered that on our first attempt at this activity we got such a delightful comment! We are also proud to say that our survival rates are off the charts and that we have not had to remove a deceased trout buddy in weeks! A graph demonstrating the trout survival rates in several different environments is coming soon. This is a graph we used to estimate the survival rates for a grant a few months ago.

Also, there is a Pennsylvania Assosiation of Enviromental Educators (PAEE) Conference Friday, Saturday, and Sunday that Mr. Savitch, Mrs. Ackerman, and 16 Watershed students will be attending. We are excited to say that we will have our own workshop there, so if you are going to the conference, be sure to see us there! A thorough explanation and pictures will be coming soon!

Another Day in the Life of the Watershed Trout...

2009-03-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

Our biggest fish is now measuring in at 3 and 1/2 inches (at least!!) This afternoon Lauren and Michelle did a ten gallon water change.

Trout Unlimited stopped by to check out our progress and seemed very impressed with the quality of life we have provided for our trout. We have the cleanest tank they've seen!

We're starting to narrow down our release sites. We have to keep in mind water temperature, the class of the stream(A,B,C,etc), and the benefits our trout will bring to the Eco-system.

The trout team is delighted to announce we have close to 100 trout in our tank alive and thriving!

Girls or Boys!?

2009-03-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

Latley the watershed kids have been wondering if our trout are male or female. Mrs. Agner and the trout team looked up how you you can tell... and it turns out that we can only tell when they are sexually mature OR, if we where to dissect them all which we are NOT about to do.

We have noticed all our trout have under bites maybe we should call the orthodontist!

-gabby

Mr. Hoover's Class Visits

2009-03-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

Mr. Hoover's second grade class came to visit our trout on Thursday. They first saw the trout when they were just eggs. They were amazed on how much they grew from they time they saw them to now. The trout team and the whole class would like to thank Mr. Hoover for going to the trout convention and bringing the information back to us. Without him we could not have participated in this wonderful project! For all his work we would like to award Mr. Hoover and his class a Tank Hugger Award!

Test Results!!!!!!!!!

2009-03-10T11:35:00.000-07:00

Temp: 50

pH: 6.6

High pH: 7.4

Ammonia: 0

Nitrate: 0

Nitrites: 0

WE GOT WATER!!!!!!!!! :-)

2009-03-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got 32 gallons of water for our lovely trout. We celebrated the water by doing a 15 gallon change. We got most of the debris out of the bottom of the tank. Even though it smells terrible the tank is squeaky clean. All of the test are fine and they look good.

We will be taking more pictures soon and putting them on the blog A.S.A.P.

We Need Water!

2009-03-06T11:34:00.000-08:00

Today we did about a 2 gallon water change. We would have liked to done more but we had no more water. Our trout are getting bigger, even the pin heads. No trout have died in a long time!

COME BACK WATER FAIRY!!!

We need water desperately!

P.S. we have a new blog about our newly acquired Tortoises called http://watershedrussiantortoise.blogspot.com/

Tortoise In The Classroom

2009-03-05T12:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Watershed recieved two Russian Tortoises from a former student who will be going to college next fall.
Their names are Rocky and Wise. Rocky has a roughed up shell, a big appetite, and likes to sleep. Wise likes to be independent and move around a lot. His shell is cleaner and darker than Wise's.
As Mrs. Agner was researching them she was astonished to find that their current living circumstances could possibly make them unhealthy. We need to move them to a larger tank with a lid so we are cleaning out our terrarium for our little buddies. We will also need a UV light and 50/50 substrate with play sand (the kind in sand boxes) and topsoil.

(Pictures coming soon)

Sushi! (but not trout sushi!)

2009-03-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

Watch Mrs. Agner's favorite author on her favorite show this week!!!!!

Trevor Corson is judging this week's episode of Iron Chef America, battle "Cora vs. Lahlou," in which he demands that Cat Cora feeds him an eyeball! You can catch the episode at the times listed below!!!!

Iron Chef America, battle "Cora vs. Lahlou" will air:

Mar 05, 20099:00 PM ET/PT

Mar 06, 200912:00 AM ET/PT

Mar 07, 20095:00 PM ET/PT

Be there or be square!!

LOOK HOW BIG I AM!

2009-02-26T15:00:00.001-08:00

This is OSCAR...... the BEAST!!!!!

To all curious about the Nyckel Story...

2009-02-26T11:24:00.000-08:00

We have finished writing the rough draft and now we are on the editing process of the Nyckel Story! We do not want to give away anything so instead we will fill you in about the real Nyckel.

Nyckel is thriving in our indoor enviroment. He has a small build and darts around the tank often! :)

We love to hear what you think of Nyckel so please post comments!

Trout, it's what's for........... DINNER??!??!!

2009-02-25T16:19:00.001-08:00

On Friday we will be venturing to the Constitution Center in Philadelphia, followed by a wonderful lunch at City Tavern.

We couldn't help ourselves from searching the City Tavern site for the delicious meals that will be in store for us.... and then we found this:

Pan-Seared Brook Trout - $24.95

Pennsylvania brook trout, brown butter, capers, lemon sauce, herbed barley, asparagus & Sauce Béarnaise

Could it be!!?!?!? Our darling fingerlings............ PAN SEARED!!?!?!?!???????

(We'll be ordering the vegetarian dish!)

6th Grade Visits!

2009-02-20T11:20:00.000-08:00

Recently 6th Graders have been visiting our Watershed classrooms during 1st period while most of us were at specials. We had been presenting how Watershed is integrated learning, what we learn about, and the opportunities that Watershed can offer them.

The 6th grade seemed to be particularly interested in our stream table aquarium with our Black Nosed Dace and Crayfish. Untill..................... they saw the trout! All the work we have done with our Native State Fish seemed to really inspire them!

We hope to be exciting a whole new generation of aquaculturists interested in Cold Water Conservation.

:)

P.S. We are still searching for Grant opportunities every day - if anyone has any Grant suggestions we would love to hear about them!! We just recently looked into www.greenworks.org

Swim Nyckel Swim!

2009-02-18T11:25:00.000-08:00

We recently have been thinking about release dates for our trout.
There are many things we must consider before deciding on a date.
Which stream will we release them at?
Is it close enough?
Is it safe and healthy enviroment?
Are they big and healthy enough?
When do we have time for the 45-60 min. procedure?
What materials do we buy to prepare for the release?
And many more. It's never too early to do reseacrh and be prepared.

The location we will release them will be __________________?

To be continued.......!!!!

(Check out L and M cleaning!)

WARNING! TROUT CONTAMINATION! DANGER!

2009-02-17T11:18:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, we are taking a field trip to Valley Forge. Although we are going for a history lesson there is also an interesting story about their trout that would be worth telling.
The trout in the stream off of the Schuykill, Valley Creek, located close to where Washington camped in 1777, are contaminated. A chemical called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) was introduced into the stream from a tire factory nearby in the 1980's. Because of this the trout are a danger to humans if we eat them. You may still go fishing but there is a strict catch-release policy.
We will make sure to stock our trout to a clean, safe, and uncontaminated area!

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-13T11:44:00.000-08:00

Today we did a ten gallon water change! After we did that, we removed the sock from the filter with a little dead friend stuck on it. This is the only death in 3 WHOLE weeks! Thanks to Laurens mom for bringing in Valentines water. Without the help of Lauren and her family we would really have had a difficult time keeping them alive and healthy!!!

Over the weekend Mrs. Agner is going to look for "clean and healthy" snails for our algae problem!!!

-gabby

Fry with Parr Marks!

2009-02-11T11:36:00.000-08:00

The trout are getting so big! Our little fishies now range from half an inch to a whopping 2 and a half inches! We are beyond happy about their growth spurt and their adorable prutruding bellies! We've noticed that most of our small trout stay in groups in the bottom, and our bigger trout are in groups at the top. The trout group is extatic to anounce that our finned friends are OFFICIALLY "Fry with Parr Marks"

Water Pennies in our Tank!?

2009-02-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

Well, we wish we were talking about the ecologically important BMI (that's benthic macro invertabrates). No sir, we are talking about a real................ penny. Abe Lincoln himself.

We thought a penny would be a good size indicator of how much our babies have grown. We held the penny up to the tank glass and tried to snap away. The problem is the fish still look distorted in size because none of them swim directly against the glass. It's difficult to show just how big and fat many of them have become!!!

Mrs. Agner accidentally dropped the penny into the tank when she tried to compare the size from up above. Smooth moves!

Thanks for the Inspiration Lexus!

2009-02-09T06:22:00.000-08:00

Here are the winners of the Lexus Eco Challenge: http://www.csrwire.com/News/14454.html

Congratulations to them all! We truely are all stewards of the natural world.

Our team didn't make it but we are stiil extremely proud of the work we did! The good news is that we will continue to update the blog of course! Our mission in all of this was to spread the word about trout and cold water conservation and that's just what we'll continue to do!!!!!!!

Check back later today to see how big our babies have grown!

RECORD BREAKING TEST RESULTS!

2009-02-03T14:38:00.000-08:00

Today we had the best chemical test results we have ever had!

Here they are:

Average Temp: 51 degrees fahrenheit

pH: 6.9

Ammonia: .15

Nitrate NO-3: .5ppm

Nitrate NO-2: .25 ppm

Survivor!

2009-02-02T12:58:00.000-08:00

Today when we were doing an almost (because of the events we will soon tell you) 5 gallon water change we accidentally sucked up a little trout friend! This does happen quite frequently but it does not usually make a full journey through the syphon to the water bucket before we get it out, well at least not usually alive. When we saw the trout swimming happily around the water bucket we freaked. We could not stick a net through the bucket because there is a bottle neck, we poured out the water into another bucket, where we scooped the trout into the net and into a cup of water. Then we safely brought him (or her) back to the tank. We are sorry there are no pictures of this exciting event but we wanted our baby trout back to his house and within a few minutes that's just where he was!

Stow-aways?

2009-01-29T11:34:00.000-08:00

Clear Brook Trout? I don't know.

Most of are trout are dark brown with beautiful sparkling spots but a few are clear and yellowish. We are wondering if a few Golden Trout eggs could have possibly gotten mixed in with our Brook Trout eggs. Although this could just be a great example of differentiation among the species... but we have heard rumors that some of the other Trout in the Classroom participants having received different kinds of eggs - even EEL eggs!! Hmmmmmmmm...........

Look at the difference:

Brook Trout:

Possible Golden Trout:

Tell us what YOU think!!!!

TANK HUGGERS!!!

2009-01-27T10:29:00.001-08:00

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank....................

Trout Unlimited:
This Tank Hugger Award goes to Trout Unlimited for periodically visiting our classroom and their generous donations to our cause!

Mr. Savitch and Mrs. Ackerman:
They recieve a Tank Hugger Award because we would like to thank them for teaching us everything about the trout, letting us participatie in this project, replenishing our water supply, and coming in on vacation to be our "Trout Sitters"!

Mrs. Agner: She recieves a Tank Hugger Award for being the Trout Team Advisor, helping us write the grant and planning the blog posts, scheduling water changes, being our personal marine biologist, and so much more!

Julie S:
A Tank Hugger Award goes to her because she made a rotation sign-up which gives every Watershed parent an oppurtunity to donate water to the RMS Watershed Trout Orginization!

Lexus Eco Challenge:
We give them a Tank Hugger Award for inspiring us to challenge ourselves and to make a difference in our watershed!

Without these Tank Huggers none of this would be possible. Thank you all so much!

Friday's Chemical Tests

2009-01-23T11:43:00.000-08:00

Chemical Tests:

pH AM: 7.6

pH PM: 7.4

Ammonia: .25ppm

Nitrate NO-3: 10PPM

Look how much like real Trout our babies are beginning to look!! Isn't Life AMAZING??!?!!!

How to Impliment this Program in Your Classroom

2009-01-22T12:15:00.000-08:00

Today we had a teacher from Montgomery Day School visit us. Hopefully he liked what he saw and will be able to create a similar program in his class. We love being able to share what we're doing with educators and students alike!! We're always open to visitors and are always excited to share all the work we've done.

We used a program called Trout in The Classroom as a guideline to raise our trout. Below are links that will help you find information on the program. Trout Unlimited has helped us greatly from supplies to donations to information. You can also check with your states Fish and Wildlife Service.

Remember: the Brook Trout is not only the state fish of Pennsylvania but
New Hampshire, Michigan, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and
West Virginia!!!

Trout in The Classroom
http://www.troutintheclassroom.org/

Trout Unlimited
http://www.patrout.org/

Trout Hit The Movies!

2009-01-22T09:19:00.000-08:00

Our first attempt at bringing you a video so you can see exactly what we're up to! We promise it will get more professional as time goes on... this is just an overview :)

Trout Food in the Wild

2009-01-22T08:43:00.000-08:00

We hope you did your research just like us!

We now know that Brook Trout eat crustaceans, frogs, amphibians, insects, molluscs, Benthic Macroinvertebrates, smaller fish, small aquatic mammals such as voles, worms and flies in the wild. It is a cycle because some of the amphibians eat the trout fry but when the trout become adults they eat the amphibians.

Salvelinus fontinalis

2009-01-21T05:55:00.000-08:00

Our babies are eating up to 1/2 a tsp. of the special "size 2" food a day! They always seem hungry - but we monitor the amount we allow them carefully. We have begun to notice great size differentiation among our little fry - some are more than 2.5cm and some are still only 1cm. What could be causing this?

Our theory is that most of the "swim up fry" who stay near the top of the tank are able to consume the most food. The little guys at the bottom are forced to forage through the pebbles for left overs. In short... some are greedy and some are content just waiting for the crumbs. It is basically survival of the fittest.

We will be trying to photograph this size difference today after our trip to the Eastern Planetarium!

So, you know what WE feed them... but what do you think they eat in the wild?

(the answer when we return...)

OUR PATRIOTIC FISH WELCOME PRESIDENT OBAMA!!

2009-01-20T12:00:00.000-08:00

Water Fairy

2009-01-16T18:05:00.000-08:00

Today we got a large donation of water! w00t! Thanks to whoever gave it to us, it is greatly appreciated!

Thanks to you we were able to do a 36% (20 gallons) water change. The trout are looking great! They are swimming happily in their cold fresh spring water.

Nyckel Preview

2009-01-15T08:22:00.000-08:00

We have promised you an excerpt from our children's book in progress, Nyckel.

"Below the quiet, still pool, deep into the Darby Creek, swam a group of shimmering speckled Brook Trout. One of them was me. I was not raised like any normal fish, I was pretty lucky. My name is Nykel and this is my story."

The Plants Kicked The Bucket

2009-01-14T11:45:00.000-08:00

Well some of them at least. A couple of the plants died and they started to rot. We think the plants died because the water temperature is to cold for them. Remember we have a chiller for our trout who need a constant temperature of no more than 50 degrees F. Yesterday the nitrates were 40 ppm which is almost fatal to our friends! We took the plants out, cleaned and today the nitrates are 10 ppm. Phew!

P.S. Nyckel update is coming soon!

Trip to Newlin's Mill

2009-01-09T11:39:00.000-08:00

Today we we went on a field trip to Newlin's Mill (Click on it to link to their web site). Similar to us taking care of baby trout they make sure their stream (the west branch of Chester Creek) is healthy for adult Brook Trout. They do this by performing many tests to make sure the stream is healthy. Newlin's Mill also makes small dams so there are enough deep pools. Check them out when you have some time!

On an unrelated note, we did a 10 gallon water change today for our trout and the plants we put in look great!!!! New Pictures are coming soon!!!!

P.S. Even though they take great care of the trout we hope to be releasing them somewhere more local!

Trout go Green

2009-01-08T11:14:00.000-08:00

Today we brightened up the tank with some plants. The reason we put plants in is because they help to lower the nitrate count. We did a full water change on Tuesday. This brought the nitrates down.

Ringing in the New Year with Nitrates!!!!

2009-01-05T11:16:00.000-08:00

Over break Connor went to New York City, KM went to Chicago, Lauren stayed home, Eric got a tan, and the trout grew half an inch and sprouted spots! (Pictures coming tomorrow!)

Mr. Savitch and Mrs. Ackerman came in almost daily and diligently took care of our responsibilities while we were on break. Without their dedication our little friends wouldn't have made it. However, because we weren't able to be here every day over break the water quality is not as high as we usually keep it. Not to worry though, we are working twice as hard as usual to prepare for a major clean out!!! Unfortunatly we estimate 35 trout died over break; which is around 15% of our trout population. Hopefully we will see a drop in the mortality rate now that we have retuned.

Nyckel fans: he is alive and well! We caught him flipping his fins around and foraging for food!

Our plans for tommorow:

30% water change
major filter cleaning
hopefully we will be adding freshwater plants soon (to help reduce nitrogen)
wipe down sides of aquarium because there is slight alagea growth

P.S. Spring water donations are desperatly need and greatly appreciated. Thats all the trout wanted for the holidays! Please make their dream come true!!!

Drop offs are being accepted at the Watershed classroom door on Windermere Ave.

The gift of a Clean Filter!

2008-12-23T07:24:00.001-08:00

As part of our action plan we are completing a 30% (16.5 gallons)water change this morning and another 10% water change in the afternoon. Hopefully this will cut the HIGH LEVELS of Nitrites.

Carefully syphoning the water... don't want to suck up any trout friends.

We accidentally put the filter back together wrong.... it got stuck. We fixed it though.

We cleaned the filter with fresh spring water.

Mrs. Agner reading us the instructions!!

WARNING! WARNING! NITRATES & NITRITES ARE DANGEROUSLY HIGH!!!

2008-12-22T09:21:00.000-08:00

As you can see from the picture of this test, our nitrate level is extremely high.

The fishes waste produces ammonia. Our filter has good bacteria in it to decrease the level of ammonia, but when there is to much ammonia the bacteria turns it into nitrates and nitrites. See the Nitrogen Cycle below.

The nitrate and nitrite count should be close to 0ppms but it is .5-1.0ppms which is dangerously high.

From http://www.freshwateraquarium.about.com/:

"High nitrate levels are especially harmful to fry and young fish, and will affect their growth. Furthermore, conditions that cause elevated nitrates often cause decreased oxygen levels, which further stress the fish."

Plan of Action:

Tomorrow we are going to do a 40% water change (THE MOST WE HAVE EVER DONE).
Get some freshwater aquatic plants-live plants use nitrites and help keep nitrates in check.
We could have been feeding them a little too much because overfeeding is a major factor of increasing waste. We will now be monitoring the food intake even more diligently!
We are going to do a full clean of the filter before our winter break.

OPEN HOUSE

2008-12-19T06:07:00.000-08:00

Today we had Open House. Open houes is when all of our parents come to the watershed classroom to see what we have learned. There were many presentations and it was a fun and exciting expeirience. The Trout presentation went first, and we showed the parents and siblings there the website and what we were doing for the grant project and what we learned about the trout. We talked about the Lexus Eco Challenge and we even sang a song!

Here are the lyrics:

We're watershed experts here at our school were ichthiologists too!!!

Pavlov's Trout

2008-12-18T06:36:00.000-08:00

We have decided to test the intelligence of our trout as a side experiment. Before we feed them we will gently tap on top of the tank 3 times. This experiment is modeled after Pavlov and his conditioned dog. Our hypothosis is that after a period of time when we tap the top of the tank they will be conditioned to swim to the surface to eat their food. Hopefully this will reduce excess food falling to the bottom of the tank.

Major Clean Out!!!

2008-12-17T11:17:00.000-08:00

Today Mrs. Agner used a syphon (a water vaccum) to take the debri out of the water. We use the syphon daily. She removed 4 dead trout and 2 with spine deformations. We did a water change today of 15 gallons, usually we change 5 gallons per day. We also cleaned the filter and replaced the nylon on the filter. We did this because we felt they have proven their hardiness and are ready to handle a major distruption like this. We began this process in preporation for winter break.

Graduation from the net!

2008-12-17T07:52:00.000-08:00

All of our little trout have swam out of the net and all of them have officially become swim up fry! 6 trout with deformed spines were left; we fed them to our stream table lab (home to our black nose dace and crayfish). This is may seem sad, but we wanted to make sure that their life wasn't in vain so they became part of our steam table food chain (survival of the fittest!!)

YUM!

Meet Nyckle

2008-12-15T07:10:00.000-08:00

Nyckle is the smallest swim up fry who is going to be the star of a book we are working on, check back periodically for excerts and updates.

12/15/08 Test results

Temp- 51.2

pH- 7.2-7.4

Ammonia- 0 ppm

Nitrate- 1 ppm

Nitrite- 0 ppm

Mortality- 5 fry dead over the weekend

Food- .6 grams at 9 AM

Behavior- The majority are swiming up to the top to feed. They are growing by the minute!

(Nyckle was named by Sam P!!)

OVER TWO HOURS OF LIGHT!!!!!!

2008-12-12T11:30:00.000-08:00

December 12, 2008:

Food:
.6g at 9:40
.3g at 1:00
.6g at 2:00

Behavior:
Morning- 3 swimming to top, and the ones in the net aren't swimming up they are just squirming.
Afternoon- Most in net are squirming and none are swiming to the top outside the net.
P.S. They were exposed to over 2 hours of light

Chemical Tests:
Temp.:
Morning-49.9
Afternoon-51

pH:
Morning-7.2-7.4
Afternoon-7.4-7.6

Ammonia: .15ppm

Nitrate: 0ppm

Nitrite: 0ppm

Crazy Trout Hat

2008-12-12T07:50:00.000-08:00

We continue taking tests of the water in our tank, and wearing crazy hats...

The trout are continuing to forage for food, and some are deformed and haven't swam out of the net yet, but we love them all the same!

Our work has Just BEGUN!!!

2008-12-12T07:19:00.001-08:00

Written BY: Katherine Mary B. Conner K. Tatyana S. Ben S. Leigh N. and Gabby M.
With Support from the entire Research and Development Team and Mrs. Agner

PART 1: WHAT’S THE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE?

Our group TEAM TROUT have planned to restore the Pennsylvania State fish, the Brook Trout to our local Darby Creek Watershed. Since our 7th grade integrated learning program monitors water quality and participates in several community action restoration projects, we have realized the importance of restoring wildlife, and recently the native Brook Trout to our waterways. Brook trout are extremely important to the eco-system in our Watershed. They are an indicator species who have been declining in population numbers due to habitat loss and destruction. Non-native trout species have been taking over the Brook trout’s waterways and the Brook trout population is suffering. We will raise our young trout in the classroom to the crucial fingerling stage of life – this will ensure a better chance of survival. As part of our release plan, we will work to restore local creeks and streams including the Darby Creek, a major waterway in our Watershed. Focusing our restoration efforts on the riparian zone and channel characteristics will help us to provide a clean and healthy habitat to release our trout in. By releasing the Brook Trout into a safe environment, we hope to kick-start the eco-system in our very own Watershed. As always it will be important to us to share what we are doing with the community.
We chose the Trout in the Classroom project after hearing a presentation by a second grade teacher in our district. He had attended a Trout in the Classroom teacher’s workshop and he asked our class if we would be interested in the project. We maintain a stream table and a creek lab in our classroom. The idea of receiving 300 trout eggs from PA Fish and Wildlife to raise and release appealed to our group because we value clean water and work to restore habitat and improve the riparian corridor in our own Darby Creek Watershed.

PART 2: WHAT’S YOUR PLAN?

GOALS
Our goals are simple and clear – In order to accomplish our primary goal of replenishing the local water ways with our native Brook trout, we must focus on the aquatic habitats in our area. We hope to release our young trout into the best possible habitat – and this means monitoring the four major needs of a trout – food, water, shelter, and space. Educating the community is an equally important part of our plan.

Immediate:
· Raise a clutch of local Brook Trout eggs for release into a local waterway we have helped to restore.
· Understand connections between trout, healthy watershed, eco-systems and people
· Recognize trout as an important indicator species
· Cultivate an appreciation of trout and the need for coldwater conservation!!
Long Term:
Foster environmental stewardship and community involvement
Enable students to make informed decisions and create action plans about rescuing our aquatic resources

Step-By-Step

Research
Acquire and set up Trout in the Classroom Tank
Daily Tank Maintenance
Daily Water Quality Testing
Weekly Field Studies to determine need for restoration
Grow native plant species in classroom for future planting
Monthly Field trips for progressive restoration project focusing on the 4 elements trout need to be successful:
1. Food Source
2. Shelter
3. Clean Water
4. Adequate Space

Support needs of Trout in classroom including daily feeding and behavior monitoring
Educate Community about Coldwater Conservation and the Native Brook Trout
Prepare final release site
Release Trout in Spring
Continue to Monitor Stream Quality in the following years

Team Members
· Katherine-Mary – Education Director: Creates and executes lesson plans on Trout Life Cycles, Health and Behavior Monitoring, and Field Studies to share with parents, community members and classmates. Creates and distributes press releases to spread the word on our action plan.
· Ben, Nina – Goalie: Helps to determine the goals and purpose of our projects. Works with research and development team to stay focused on the daily tasks. Creates schedule and timeline for goals.
· Connor – IT Director: Organizes and develops resources in the form of an interactive BLOG: http://watershedtrout.blogspot.com/. Maintains daily online records and updates development posts. Creates power point presentations to share with the community. (Assisted by Leigh N.)
· Mitchell/Tom – Chemist: In charge of daily monitoring of water quality and tank maintenance.
· Will – Picture Sifter: Takes pictures of students in action and sifts through pictures to determine which ones should be used in presentations to the community. Works with all team members on research and development.
· Gabby – Ichthyology Curator: Studies behavior and health of trout through out various stages of their life cycles.
· Aubrey/Kyle/Tatyana – Stream Stewards : Go on weekly Stream Surveys to determine a future location for trout release.
· Tyler – Fern Maniac: In charge of the growth and care of vegetation in preparation for future alteration of stream bank repair.

Measuring Success/Quantifiable Results

Because this is an involved and ongoing project, the measurable impact of our efforts will not be fully recognizable until we are able to complete our plan. (Please see the Extra Credit graphs charts.) Along with the obvious impact of helping to increase the population of an important native fish – we will be permanently altering the eco-system with in our watershed. We know the importance of a clean and healthy watershed - restoring and cleaning up our local waterways impacts not only our immediate area but the entire Watershed. Understanding the connection between people, wildlife and water is more important than ever because we now know we have the power to make a measurable change in the world. Sharing this realization with our peers and community is empowering and allows us to continue in our journey of making a difference.

PART 3: YOUR PLAN IN ACTION: HOW DID YOU IMPLEMENT YOUR IDEAS?

On November 4, 2008 over 300 eggs of Pennsylvania Brook Trout arrived at our classroom. We are looking forward to a spring release date in a very clean section of Darby Creek which we have helped to restore. We are working with the community under the direction of Kevin Fryberger, Brandywine Conservancy Preserve Manager at Waterloo Mills, and we plan to release the trout in the spring in an area that we will be continuing to restore and plant with native plants. We have been diligent in our daily monitoring of the health of our trout and tank systems. We have been conducting weekly stream surveys and graphing the results of our restoration. As our trout grow and flourish we have been focusing our efforts on spreading awareness of the need for Watershed restoration. We have been holding open house for parents and community leaders and hosting elementary school children here in our classroom. During these events we talk about our research, show field studies results, conduct lesson plans and songs on trout life cycles and what role they play in the eco-system. We have distributed press releases under the direction of Katherine Mary and conducted power point presentations created by our Goalies. The blog has been a crucial part in generating interest in our projects.

PART 4: EVALUATE YOUR PLAN: WHAT ARE THE RESULTS?

We feel successful because of the tremendous effort we collectively have put forth. We have worked together to overcome challenges and our trout survival rate is significantly higher then the average. Some of the challenges we faced were learning about how to take the chemical tests, setting up the tank, if there was an unusual result in the chemical tests to find the problem and fix it, and finding a stream suitable to release the trout in. The positive outcomes are that we have raised awareness in the community, educated a 2nd grade class, parents, and community leaders at open house forums. We have paved the way for a brighter future for the watershed curriculum, for 2nd graders to get involved, and for community leaders to take action. We learned to take responsibility for aquatic ecosystems, water testing (chemistry), animal care (zoology), Brook Trout life cycles, and patience waiting for them to grow, to appreciate the need for replenishing native species, and how to carry out an environmental plan.
We continue to learn so much from this project. We have discovered within ourselves patience, responsibility, cooperation, understanding, and a new found faith in the future of our natural world. We have found ways in which we can truly make a difference. We want to thank our resident Marine Biologist Mrs. Agner, our tireless dedicated teachers Mrs. Ackerman, Mr. Savitch, and Trout Unlimited, our fabulous sponsor.

We love them all....

2008-12-11T19:49:00.000-08:00

Some of our little friends aren't quite developing correctly. Hopefully they'll catch up soon!

SBTTSHYAC:

Connor has founded SBTTSHYAC (special Brook Trout that still have yolksacs affection commity). He makes sure that they are okay and no one treats them wrongly.

Trout exposed to light

2008-12-11T11:24:00.000-08:00

Behavior: Some of the fish swim up a few inches and then slowly drift back down. But a little less than half of them have not exited the net. A few still have their yolk sacks. They are swimming like real fish now and moving around the rocky bottom!

Today we flipped the tank covering over for a little bit to get them used to more and more light.

Temperature- 49.2
pH- 7.4-7.2
Ammonia- .25 ppm
Nitrate- 3.0 ppm
Nitrite- 0 ppm

Amount of food fed:
.6g at 9 am
.6g at 1:10

Trout Starting To Feed

2008-12-10T09:21:00.000-08:00

Wednesday December 10 2008
12/10/08

Today we satrted to feed them and they are starting to get used to the light. We made a new FRY FEEDING chart to help us monitor their growth and behavior

About 25 trout have swam over the net and more are swiming over every minute! This means they are ready to begin foraging for food.

We'll start feeding them the size 0 food 1.5grams per day (broken up into 3-5 feedings)

2 trout have died - on average about 1-2 a day (still a much higher survival rate than they would have in the wild)

Today's test results:

Tempature- 50.1

pH- 7.2-7.4 (just right!)

Ammonia- .10 ppm (lower than 2 weeks ago)

Nitrate- 1 ppm

Nitrite- 0 ppm

Mitchell feeding .3 grams to start:

WATER IS THE DRIVER OF NATURE

2008-12-09T13:00:00.000-08:00

As part of our ongoing ACTION PLAN we created - we participate in field studies to help determine the water quality of the stream around us. We will need to determine a healthy stream with specific qualities as a home for our trout when they are released in to the wild.

Today 8 of us traveled to a creek in WaterLoo Mills - a site we hope to help become the perfect new home for our Fingerlings to be.

We braved the chilly water and winds to determine the "HABI-TROUT" of this local waterway.

Once we determine the condition of these streams we will choose methods of improving the strea for the trout.

New This Week!

2008-12-08T19:37:00.000-08:00

FEED US!

A day in the Life..............

2008-12-08T19:33:00.000-08:00

TROUT TIMELINE:

10/1/08- Spawned

10/30/08- Green "Eyed" eggs

11/4/08- Eggs arrive; out of the 456 eggs that arrived 152 were dead

11/12/08- Hatching begins

11/14/08- All eggs hatched; all yolk-fry

12/8/08- Almost swim up fry - we can feed them soon!

Predicted Dates:

12/08/08 - 12/12/08- Swim Up Fry - feeding begins

1/16/09 - 1/23/09- Fry to Fingerling

2/20/09- Fingerling

April or May- Release date!!

In the coming months we also plan on restoring Darby Creek so it is suitable for our trout.

Chemical Tests - What's it all about?!

2008-12-08T19:24:00.000-08:00

pH -

Ammonia -

D.O. -

Nitrate NO-3 -

Nitrite NO-2 -

Test Results week of 11/3/08

2008-12-08T11:28:00.000-08:00

Each week we keep a daily record of our Water Quality Test results. We created a worksheet to help us track the ups and downs of the various chemical data. We use this data to determine any adjustments we need to make to the tank - such as a water change, pH down drops added or a filter cleaning. The following is sample of our early data:

Tuesday 11/4

EGGS ARRIVE!

304 live
152 dead

Acceptable Ranges-
Temp: 50-52
pH: 6.5-7
Ammonia: <>

Thursday 11/06-
Temperature (PM): 50 Degrees Farenheit
pH: low 7.6 high 8
Ammonia: < .25 ppm Dead: 5 eggs Water Change: 1 gallon of spring water

Friday 11/07-

Temp: 49 degrees farenheit (AM) 50.7 degrees farenheit pH: 7.6 ppm Ammonia: < .25 ppm DO: 11 ppm Dead: 4 eggs Water Change: 2 Gallons of spring water

THIS JUST IN!!!

2008-12-08T08:48:00.000-08:00

FOR Immediate Release

Radnor Students Take Positive Action
to Improve the Environment
Effort Provides Chance to Win Part of $1 Million in Grants and Scholarships

RADNOR, Pa, December 9, 2008 – A team of 10 students at Radnor Middle School have entered the second annual Lexus Eco Challenge, a national contest that encourages middle and high school students to develop and implement environmental programs that positively impact their communities.
The Lexus Eco Challenge, created by Lexus, the luxury automaker, and Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, was designed to educate young people about the environment and to inspire them to create a better world. The students at Radnor Middle School have accepted the challenge by taking a stand and proving that a small group can bring about big changes. After carefully studying the local environment, the students have developed an Action Plan they feel will benefit their local community.
Our group has planned to restore the Pennsylvania native fish, the Brook Trout to our local streams. Since our 7th grade integrated learning program, Watershed, monitors water quality and is involved in many community action restoration projects we thought this would fit in perfectly with our studies. We have received 350 trout eggs from PA Fish and Wildlife to raise and release in habitat that we have restored in our own Darby Creek watershed. We are looking forward to a spring release date.
The community is invited to support the team’s Action Plan by donating gallons of natural spring water to help maintain a healthy habitat for our trout. Any stream clean up activities will be announced in the future.
Lexus and Scholastic will choose 16 winning teams nationwide. Each team will receive a total of $10,000 in grants and scholarships. All winning teams from this challenge and two other initial challenges will be invited to participate in the Final Challenge for a chance to win a grand prize of $50,000 in grants and scholarships.

For more information about this local environmental movement or to volunteer, contact:
Name: Jon Savitch and Banny Ackerman
School: Radnor Middle School
Address: 150 Louella Avenue Wayne, Pa 19087
Phone: 610-386-6300 x7210
E-mail: jon.savitch@rtsd.org banny.ackerman@rtsd.org

WHAT'S THE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE?

2008-12-08T08:32:00.000-08:00

Trout in the Classroom is a program designed for students to raise trout from eggs to fingerlings. Once at their fingerling stage we will release them into local streams. Why are we raising trout? We are raising trout to make us more aware about the connections between trout and healthy watersheds. Also, raising trout helps increase our declining brook trout population. Since the brook trout is our state fish we find it important to keep the population at the right increment. So how can we help the population of brook trout? Well, most brook trout die because of their predators, when they are young, but if we raise them while they are young, they have a greater chance of survival. By participating in Trout in the Classroom, we are helping save our watershed.