Improving farm pond aquaculture water quality using zooplankton and long-term monitoring

Abstract

Eutrophication and degradation of water quality place a strain on freshwater resources and call for best management strategies. In freshwater farm pond aquaculture, water quality and health of fish are important players. Due to excess waste and feed recirculating in these systems, eutrophic conditions are common and long-lasting. This thesis examined a three year data set to determine both trends of water quality and the use of zooplankton to improve water quality in west Alabama farm pond aquaculture. Chapter 1 examined planktonic community interactions, where high zooplankton ponds were found to effectively graze upon and decrease phytoplankton and cyanobacteria biovolume compared to low zooplankton ponds. Chapter 2 looked at long term water quality trends, with chlorophyll, phycocyanin, and microcystin as response variables to pick the models that best fit the data. These studies will help to improve and predict water quality conditions in hypereutrophic freshwater aquaculture systems.