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Table of Contents
- What’s really going on with the salmon in Lake Michigan?
- Cool Video of Salmon Egg Take @ the Little Manistee River Weir
- IMPORTANT: Salmon in the Classroom Policies and Procedures
- Thank You!
- Water Quality Issues
- New Salmon in the Classroom Teacher Workshops
- What to Expect When You’re Expecting Salmon
- Caring For Your Salmon During the Holidays
- Fish Loss
- Salmon Feeding Tips and Tricks
- Coho in the Classroom?
- Spring into Preparation for Spring Release
- Contact a SIC Coordinator
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What’s really going on with the salmon in Lake Michigan?
This year’s fall salmon run was again, different than what we’re used to. Chinook salmon eggs were taken over a time period stretching from October 4 - 20, 2016 at two locations: Little Manistee River Weir in Manistee and the Swan River Weir near Rogers City. The DNR was able to meet its egg quota for Michigan and meet all out-of-state requests too. However, amidst the uncertainty and as a precaution, eggs were brought in from Wisconsin to the Thompson State Fish Hatchery in Escanaba.
The salmon spawning run was generally later and sporadic. This may be due to reduced stocking rates, a decline in salmon in the Great Lakes because of the historically low alewife biomass and the unseasonably mild weather in September and October. We saw a similar story unfold last year.
For more detailed information about the changing salmon population in Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes, here are some resources:
This year emphasized again the importance of ALWAYS checking the SIC Egg Pick Up details online, checking your email regularly and calling ahead to your desired egg pick up location before travelling to pick up your eggs.
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Cool Video of Salmon Egg Take @ the Little Manistee River Weir - check it out!
Thank you to Kathryn Kenny and the Manistee County Visitors Bureau for putting together this great video of the egg take this fall at the Little Manistee River Weir!!
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IMPORTANT: Salmon in the Classroom Policies and Procedures
Just a friendly reminder that in order to remain active in the SIC program, you are required to follow all SIC Program Policies and Procedures. Failure to adhere to these may result in being removed from the program for a period of one year and being required to attend an additional SIC Teacher Workshop.
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Scientific Collector’s Permit (SCP): You are required, by law, to have your SCP with you at all times when you are in possession of your salmon. They are considered an undersized gamefish. Please be sure to bring your SCP with you when you pick up your eggs.
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Stocking Reports: You are required, by law, to submit your Stocking Report within 14 days to the DNR after you release your salmon. Submission of this report will automatically reenroll you into the program for the following school year. This report is only a few questions and will take you only a few moments to complete.
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Thank You!
We would like to extend a big thank you to a few of the folks that have gone above and beyond to help make Salmon in the Classroom a success:
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Kristin Thomas and Michigan Trout Unlimited: Kristin diligently organizes six full days of volunteer shifts at Wolf Lake to assist with the salmon egg pick up at that location. For more information on Michigan Trout Unlimited go to www.michigantu.org
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Jon Gray and Waldon Middle School in Lake Orion: Upon the closing of our former Southeast Michigan Egg Pick-Up location, we were in a pinch to find another spot to use. Jon, a veteran of the SIC program, immediately stepped up to allowed us to use Waldon Middle School. We had an unseasonably warm and beautiful November afternoon for teachers to come to Lake Orion to pick up their eggs. Overall, it was a huge success—thanks Jon!
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Andrea Miehls with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Hammond Bay Biological Station: Our favorite Lamprey Lady, as we affectionately refer to her, presented on sea lamprey at our Platte River Teacher Workshop and works with several DNR Visitor Centers on their sea lamprey displays. She’s a great contact for lamprey materials and depending on where you’re located; she might come do a program for you and your students! Amiehls@glfc.org
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Steve Oberg and Preuss Pets of Lansing: Steve has proved to be an invaluable resource to us as Coordinators of the program and to you as participants. He helps out at the Wolf Lake Teacher Workshop and assists us to resolve teacher tank issues throughout the year. If you haven’t used them yet, give them a try—they’re a great resource of information and equipment needs to help you be successfulI in the program. Visit the Preuss Pets website.
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Water Quality Issues
Nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, oh my! All of these nitrogen compounds can harm your salmon when found in unacceptable levels in your tank.
As you feed your fish, they consume the food and begin to produce waste. This waste, along with uneaten food, has high levels of ammonia in it. A healthy tank with healthy levels of bacteria, called nitrosomonas, will effectively break down ammonia into nitrite (NO2). From there, another bacterium, called nitrobacter, will begin to convert the nitrite (NO2) into nitrate (NO3).
Siphoning fish waste from your tank, as well as performing water changes regularly can prevent nitrate levels from skyrocketing and harming your fish. However, this delicate balance can be easily disrupted. If your water quality tests come back with unacceptable levels of any of these compounds it could mean that your tank bacteria are out of balance. Performing water changes (never greater than 50% of your tank) frequently may help bring these levels back to normal. Having a sponge filter may also help to regulate the amounts of good bacteria in your tank.
If you notice a spike in any of these compounds consult the “Nitrogen Cycle PPTX”, or the “The Nitrogen Cycle: Achieving a Balanced Aquarium for Salmon Success”.
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New Salmon in the Classroom Teacher Workshops
A big, warm, welcome to all new SIC teachers! This fall we hosted three Teacher Training Workshops around the state at: Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery in Mattawan, Platte River State Hatchery in Beulah and at the Marquette State Fish Hatchery in Marquette. Power Point presentations and associated materials are located under the “Curriculum Connections and Workshop Materials” section on the SIC website.
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What to Expect When You’re Expecting Salmon
- After hatching, your salmon will feed on their yolk sac for approximately one month before they “button-up”. Buttoning up is the process by which the salmon absorb their yolk sac. It’s time to start feeding you fish when approximately 80% of your salmon are up and swimming in the water column.
- As the salmon begin to grow and develop dark vertical barring on their sides they are now referred to as parr.
- They will grow to approximately 2 – 4” and then start to lose their vertical barring and become more silver in appearance. This is when the salmon are smolting.
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Smolting is the physiological process that, in their native environment, would trigger a desire to make their way to the saltwater of the ocean from the freshwater stream in which they were hatched. In Michigan, it is when they will migrate from their natal river out to the Great Lakes.
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Caring For Your Salmon During the Holidays
No matter what stage of development your salmon are at, you will need to check in on them over the holidays.
How do you know if your salmon are ready to feed? When approximately 80% of your salmon fry have absorbed their yolk sac and are actively swimming in the water column then they are ready to begin feeding. Some may still have what looks like a slit or opening on their underside after absorbing their yolk sac. When you see this it means that they have not necessarily completed the buttoning up process but if the yolk sac has been absorbed, then they are ready to feed. See “Salmon Feeding Tips and Tricks” article below for more details.
“My salmon are not ready to feed when I leave for break.” Check in on your salmon at least 1-2x week. You will want to check on their development to see if they are ready to begin feeding and you want to make sure that all equipment is working properly.
“My salmon will be feeding over the break.” You have two choices: automatic feeders or manual feeding.
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Automatic Feeder: Set the feeder per manufacturer’s instructions to feed based on the information provided in the SIC Fish Feeding Guide. The guide was given to you with your fish food and is also available in the SIC Curriculum Manual online at www.michigan.gov/sic
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Preuss Pets of Lansing recommends the following automatic feeders:
- Eheim Everyday Fish Feeder
- Fish Mate F14 Aquarium Fish Feeder
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Manual Feeding: This will need to be done daily. As with the school year, you can probably take a weekend (or any two consecutive days over the course of a week) off from feeding your salmon but remember to feed late on the last day of feeding and first thing on the day you resume feeding.
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Fish Loss
Unfortunately, fish loss is a part of raising fish. It’s going to happen. In some cases, it’s unavoidable such as with a thiamine deficiency or low fertility. In other cases, it’s just bad luck, such as with a power outage. Either way, it’s important to prepare yourself and your students. It will happen at some point during your participation it the program, it’s just a matter of when. If you experience a major fish loss, greater than 75%, it’s possible that you may be eligible to receive replacement fish. However, replacement fish will not be considered unless the following action is taken:
Replacement fish will be considered on a case by case basis. It is important that you send the required information so that we can assess what happened and try to learn from it to prevent future losses like it in the future. If you are approved to receive replacement fish, you will be responsible to make arrangements to pick up the fish from the appropriate hatchery.
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Salmon Feeding Tips and Tricks
After hatching, young fry will feed off their yolk sac for approximately 1 month. Once they have absorbed most of their sac they will swim up in the water column and begin searching for food. Don’t be alarmed if all don’t swim up at the same time—some will take longer than others. Once approximately 2/3 of your fish are off the bottom and swimming, you should begin feeding.
Remember:
- It’s always better to under feed than to over feed.
- Once your fish have begun feeding, adjust water temperature to 52 degrees Fahrenheit.
- The warmer water will promote feeding, encourage growth and increase chances of survival!
- Distribute fish food pellets prescribed daily amount over several feedings, 5 – 6 times per day.
- It is not uncommon that early in rearing, fish may not eat their entire ration but once fish are feeding well they should. If fish are not eating their entire ration you may need to increase the number of feedings and decrease the ration amount to accommodate what the fish need.
Feed last thing on a Friday afternoon and first thing on a Monday morning.
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Coho in the Classroom?
We have asked three teachers to pilot Coho salmon in their classroom aquariums this year. This is being done in an effort to learn about any differences that may exist in raising one species over the other in an aquarium setting. Does this mean that SIC teachers won’t raise Chinook in the future? Not at this time. However, we want to be prepared in case we do need to make some tough decisions based on future salmon populations in Lake Michigan.
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Spring into Preparation for Spring Release
It’s never too early to begin planning your spring salmon release! Based on research, the last week in April and first week in May are the best times to release your salmon. This is when they have the greatest chance of imprinting on the river where you release them and therefore a greater chance to return to that river to spawn.
To choose your release location:
Allowing yourself more time to organize the culmination of a school year of hard work by you and your students is well worth it!
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Questions, comments or concerns? Contact a SIC Coordinator:
Natalie Elkins
Program or admittance questions.
elkinsn@michigan.gov
517-284-6041
Shana Ramsey
Fish, tank or release questions - Southern Michigan
ramseys2@michigan.gov
Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery
269-668-2876
Craig Kasmer
Fish, tank or release questions - Northern Michigan
kasmerc@michigan.gov
Hartwick Pines State Park
989-348-6178
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