This document discusses improving the quality of raw water used in hatcheries for culturing Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings. It outlines the methodology used which included three water treatment options - untreated raw water (TA), biologically sand filtered water (TB), and polypropylene cartridge filtered water (TC). Results showed TB had the highest survival rate (93.89%) and growth performance compared to the other treatments. Water quality parameters like temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen were within acceptable ranges for tilapia culture across all treatments. Bacterial levels were lowest in TC. The study demonstrates that biological sand filtration is the best method for improving raw water quality in hatcheries.

1. IMPROVING RAW WATER QUALITY FOR
PRODUCTION OF OREOCHROMIS NILOTICUS
FINGERLINGS IN HATCHERIES
SAMUEL OWUSU DONKOR
SUPERVISORS: DR. RUBY ASMAH
PROF. JOSEPH AMPOFO

2. OUTLINE
▪ INTRODUCTION
- Background to the study
- Statement of the Problem and Justification
- Objectives of study
- Significance of the study
▪ METHODOLOGY
▪ RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
▪ CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
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10/12/2021 Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations

3. INTRODUCTION
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• Importance of Fish.
• Ghana’s annual per capita fish consumption.
• Ghana food fish production.
• Gap between demand and supply of fish.
Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations

4. • Fish seed supply in Ghana is inadequate. Among the challenges is poor
water quality, which results in low quantity due to high mortality (Padi &
Attipoe, 2006), (Alma et al., 2015) and (Addo & Tettey, 2018)
• According to Sarfo (2007), water quality in fish seed production is very
important because the harvest size of the fish is affected by the quality of
the water used in culturing.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
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10/12/2021 Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations

5. OBJECTIVES
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• The main objective is to assess the best method of improving the quality of
raw water for the culturing of O. niloticus fingerlings.
Specific objectives were to:
• Determine growth performance of O. niloticus in relation to water quality.
• Determine best treatment options necessary to bring raw water source to a
state suitable for hatchery production.
• To assess mortality of O. niloticus fry from three water treatment options.
Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations

6. 6
METHODOLOGY
10/12/2021 Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations
Figure 1: Map of Ghana showing location of Aquaculture
Demonstration Centre, Ashaiman
ASHAIMAN
DAM
The study was carried out at
Aquaculture Demonstration
Centre (A.D.C) Ashaiman, a
government fish hatchery
located in the Greater Accra
Region of Ghana.

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FRY PRODUCTION CHARACTERISTICS
• Broodstock selection.
• Conditioning of brooders
• Pairing of brooders
• Eggs collection
• Disinfection of eggs.
• Incubation
• Conditioning of hatchlings.
Fig. 2: Fry characteristics
McDonald incubation jar

8. 8
Figure 3: The experiential set-up.
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EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
Conditioning of fry
• Set up is designated as;
• Treatment A (TA) (control)
• Treatment B (TB)
• Treatment C (TC)
• Each treatment tank contains
triplicate hapas

9. 9
Figure 4: Filling of treatment ponds
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POND FILLING
• Raw water flow by gravity to fill ponds.
• TA = Raw unfiltered water.
• TB =Biological sand filtered water.
• The filtering materials in the system include;
large stones, galvanize wire mesh, linen
cloth, pebbles, active charcoal, smooth
sand, cushion foam and quarry gravel.
• TC =Polypropylene cartridge yarn filtered
water.

10. FEED AND FEEDING
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10/12/2021 Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations
• Feeding
• Sex reversal
• Ingredients include;
• 0.02-0.04mm powdered feed of 64% crude protein from Aller Aqua
company (Denmark)
• Hormone (17α-methyltestosterone)
• Alcohol of 70%

11. 11
WATER QUALITY MEASUREMENT
10/12/2021 Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations
• Water quality parameters such as dissolved oxygen (DO), temperature
(To) and potential hydrogen (pH) for each hapa was determined (in
situ) with a Multi-parameter probe, Aquaread Water Quality meter;
AQUAPROBE AP – 700 and AQUAMETER – AM 200. U.K. and
YSI multi-parameter probe– USA every day for 7 weeks (fig 23).
• Water samples for ammonia, nitrate and nitrite concentrations were
sent for laboratory analyses on weekly basis.

12. 12
GROWTH MONITORING
• Absolute Growth Rate
• Specific Growth Rate
• Feed Conversion Ratio
•Condition Factor (K)
• Survival Rate
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13
DATA PROCESSING AND STATISTICALANALYSIS
• The collected data were validated, coded, entered and stored in
Microsoft Excel 2016 and exported onto Microsoft Excel Stats 2014
for analysis.

14. VARIABLE
TREATMENTS
TA TB TC
Average initial (stocking) weight
of fish (g) 0.06 ± 00a 0.06 ± 00a 0.06 ± 00a
Stocking rate (m-2) 20 20 20
Average harvest weight (g) 8.53 ± 0.4a 9.78 ± 2.30a 7.99 ± 2.47a
Total number harvested 311 446 342
Condition factor (K) 3.84 ± 0.08a 3.48 ± 0.21a 3.50 ± 0.07a
Specific growth rate (SGR)
(%day-1) 11.48±0.28a 11.19±0.49a 10.67±0.73a
Feed conversion ratio (FCR) (g) 1.15±0.51a 1.14 ±0.44a 1.18±0.31a
Percent survival (%) 69.71±9.40b 93.89±2.25a 85.76±26.27ab
Final standing crop/pond (g) 2,652.83 4,361.88 2,732.58
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TABLE 2: CULTURE STATISTICS OF O. NILOTICUS
FRY/FINGERLINGS IN DIFFERENT WATER TREATMENTS
Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations
Values with the same superscript are not significantly different

15. 10/12/2021 16
Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
WEEK1 WEEK3 WEEK5 WEEK7
Mean
weight
of
fish
(g)
TA
TB
TC
GROWTH PARAMETERS.
Figure 5 : (A)Growth performance of O. niloticus fry
in different water treatments
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
TA TB TC
Absolute
growth
rate
(g/day)
(B)Absolute growth rate of O. niloticus
fry cultured for 7 weeks
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
WEEK1 WEEK3 WEEK5 WEEK7
Mean
weight
of
fish
(g)
TA
TB
TC

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Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations
9
9.5
10
10.5
11
11.5
12
TA TB TC
Specific
growth
rate
(%/day)
(Figure 5: (C) Specific growth rate of
O. niloticus cultured for 7 weeks
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
TA TB TC
Condition
factor
(%)
(D) Water treatment effect on Condition of
O. niloticus fry cultured for 7 weeks
CON’T.

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Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Rate
of
survival
of
fish
(%)
(F) Effect of different water treatment on
survival of O. niloticus fingerlings cultured
for seven (7) weeks
TA
TB
TC
CON’T.
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
1.8
TA TB TC
Feed
conversion
ratio
(kg)
Figure 5 : (E) Effect of different
water treatments on feed conversion

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TREATMENT
PARAMETERS TA TB TC
Temperature (oC) 29.54±0.07a 29.52±0.30a 29.72±0.30a
pH 7.12±0.05a 7.11±0.09a 7.15±0.05a
DO (mg/l) 6.49±0.09a 6.32±0.13a 6.72±0.45a
TABLE 3: MEAN OF TWO EXPERIMENTS ON
SELECTED WATER PARAMETERS FOR CULTURING
OF O. NILOTICUS FRY FOR SEVEN (7) WEEKS.
Values with the same superscript are not significantly different (P < 0.05).

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SELECTED WATER PARAMETERS
Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations
26.50
27.00
27.50
28.00
28.50
29.00
29.50
30.00
30.50
31.00
31.50
WEEK 1 WEEK 3 WEEK5 WEEK7
Water
Temp
(°C)
Figure 6: (A) Water surface
temperature in treatment ponds for
culturing O. niloticus for 7 weeks.
TA
TB
TC
6.4
6.6
6.8
7
7.2
7.4
7.6
WEEK1 WEEK3 WEEK5 WEEK7
Water
(pH)
(B) pH of different water treatments used to
culture fish for 7 weeks.
TA
TB
TC

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0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
WEEK 1 WEEK 3 WEEK5 WEEK7
Oxygen
level
in
water
(mg/L)
Figure 6: (C) Dissolved Oxygen in treatment ponds available for
fish
TA
TB
TC
CON’T.

21. 10/12/2021 Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations 22
Treatment
Pseudomonas
(cfu/100ml)
Salmonella
(cfu/100ml)
Clostridium
(cfu/100ml
Heterotrophic
(cfu/100ml
Total
Bacteria
TA 558(100%) 144(100%) 218(100%) 3,126(100%) 4,046
TB 73 (13%) 67(47%) 15(7%) 2,106(67%) 2415
TC 0(0%) 0(0%) 0(0%) 858(41%) 858
TABLE 4: SELECTED BACTERIAL ISOLATION AND
ANALYSIS FROM DIFFERENT WATER TREATMENTS

22. 10/12/2021 23
SELECTED BACTERIAL ANALYSIS RESULTS
Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Pseudomonas
Pseudomonas
(cfu/100ml
Figure 7: (A) Colony of pseudomonas in
different water treatments.
TA
TB
TC
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Salmonella
(cfu/100ml)
(B) Colony of salmonella in different
water treatments.
TA
TB
TC

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0
50
100
150
200
250
Clostridium
(cfu/100ml)
Figure 7: (C) Clostridium in different
Water treatments
TA
TB
TC
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
Heterotrophic
bacteria
(cfu/100ml)
(D) Heterotrophic bacteria in different
Water treatment options
TA
TB
TC
CON’T.

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TABLE 5: SELECTED CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations
Mean chemical analysis from two experiments on different water treatments
Treatment Ammonia (mg/l) Nitrate (mg/l) Nitrite (mg/l)
TA 0.25±0.08a 0.08±0.02a 0.013±0.020a
TB 0.34±0.20a 0.03±0.01a 0.008±0.005a
TC 0.26±0.15a 0.03±0.01a 0.013±0.012a
Values with the same superscript are not significantly (P < 0.05) higher .

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SELECTED CHEMICALANALYSIS
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
Level
of
ammonia
in
water
(mg/l)
Fig. 8: Ammonia concentration in
different water treatments
TA
TB
TC
0.00
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.10
0.12
Nitrate
(mg/l)
(B) Volume of Nitrate in different
water treatment
TA
TB
TC

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0.000
0.005
0.010
0.015
0.020
0.025
0.030
0.035
Nitrite
(mg/l)
Fig. 8 (C) Volume of nitrite in different water treatments
TA
TB
TC
CON’T.

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DISCUSSION
Fry Production Characteristics.
• There was an increase in general fish body size and weight. The specific
growth rate (SGR) attained for fry during the hormonal treatment could be as
a result of the high level of protein (64%) in the feed fed to them.
• Ahmad et al., (2004) recommended a diet of not less than 45% protein in
order to increase growth in hormonal treated fry.

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• At the end of the culture periods the average standard length of fish in their
respective treatment ponds were 6.27±0.20cm, 6.47±0.39cm and 6.25±0.58
for TA, TB and TC respectively.
• Weight gain by fry in TA in the early weeks could be resulted from
availability of primary food (micro organisms) in the raw untreated water.
On the other hand, TB and TC (Table 2) had most of their primary food
filtered from the water, hence inadequate primary food to feed them. .
CON’T.

29. 10/12/2021 Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations 30
Fry growth and survival after nursery
• The final average weight after the two production cycles (Table 2) were TA
8.53g, TB 9.89g and TC 7.99g for 49 days.
• The two cycles of tilapia fingerlings production recorded an overall average
survival of TA 69.71%, TB 93.89% and TC 85.76% that is a high survival
rate. According to Popma and Lovshin (1996), the average survival rate of
tilapia fingerlings after nursery is between 60 to 80%. The higher percentage
accessed by TB could be as a result of efficiency of the filtration system
which might have removed a lot of the pollutants.
CON’T.

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• Water quality
• The average surface water temperatures of the treatment ponds were fairly
constant (≈ 29°C )(Table 1). According to Towers (2015), the ideal
growing temperature for tilapia ranges from 22oC and 29oC.
• DO for O. niloticus fry and fingerling production should be above 2 mgl-1
(Peterman 2011). Mean DO in all the treatment ponds were above 6mg/l
(Table 1)
• According to Makori et al. (2017) the pH values for optimal growth of O.
niloticus should be within the ranges of 6.1 and 8. for good reproduction
and O. niloticus survival. The mean pH values obtained in (Table 1) were
within this range.
CON’T.

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CON’T.
The favourable water quality observed could be attributed to the
biweekly discharge and replacement of 25% of water in the
experimental ponds.

32. • There was reduction in the colony of bacteria counts in the treatments
ponds.
• Pseudomonas was reduced to 13% and TC to 0.
• TB reduced salmonella to 47% and TC, 0
• For Clostridium TB was reduced to 7% and TC 0
• Total Heterotrophic bacteria was reduced in TA to 67% and TC 41%
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CON’T.
Bacteria presence

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• Generally, there seem to be no significant differences between the
treatments in relation to fish growth but it was significant in relation to
fish survival. TB was significantly higher than TA (control).
• A higher survival which was obtained in TB could be as a result of its
filtration efficiency which was able to reduce the levels of pollutants in
the raw water.
• The final mean weight of fish from all the three treatments were
tremendous, however, TB out-stood the rest.
• Materials for setting up the TB filtration system is readily available
and cheaper as compare to TC filtration system
CONCLUSION

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RECOMMENDATION
• Biological sand filtration system (TB) was efficient to treat raw water
to a state good enough for fry and fingerling production in hatchery
production compering to TC which filtered almost all primary food in
the treatment pond. Therefore, I recommend the use of Biological
Sand Filter as a treatment option for improving raw surface water
quality for hatchery operations.
• I also suggest Cartridge filtered water for nursery should be fertilized
to enable primary food production for hatchlings.

35. THANK YOU
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10/12/2021 Improving raw water quality for hatchery operations