Near the end of February, it was time to move the charr fry into the larger tank. The move went very smooth and the fry seemed to enjoy their larger tank. BUT, after only one hour in their new home they all settled on the tank drain which went to the pump. The entire drain became covered with small fish, which created a vacuum, and sucked out the insides of the baby fry. When we noticed the problem, we tried our best to save the fry which weren't killed. We rescued about 100 fish.

About two weeks after the disaster, the remaining 100 fry seemed to get very sick and began to die a few at a time until they were all gone.

All of us were very disappointed about the loss of or fish. We bought some new equipment to avoid disasters in future years. We are still hopeful that the 15 000 eggs in the stream incubator will hatch and survive in the wild.

The students worked in groups to brainstorm why the remaining 100 fish died, here is what they think:

The pump was too fast.
Some of the fish were hurt during the disaster.
Some of the surviving fish were deformed since hatching.
The plastic bag lining the new tray was strong smelling.
Some other kids put things in the tray. (We found staples one morning)
Maybe the temperature changed too much.
The water was too dirty from when the other fish died.
Maybe we moved the fish too many times.
Maybe we bothered the fish too often.