Originally Posted by FishinRod
Originally Posted by esshup
When the fish are initially added to the holding raceway they are put in there with pond water, but they are held in the raceways for a minimum of 3 days to purge the fish so all the pond water is gone from the raceway.

Great information from all of the contributors in this thread!

esshup (and others), what specifically does the term "purge" mean in the quote above?

What are the most common/likely biological contaminants that we are trying NOT to spread throughout our facilities and ponds?

Purge means allowing their digestive tract to be emptied out so they aren't swimming in their own toilet during transportation.

Most common are algae and plants. The facilities/growing ponds have the fish in them tested annually for a broad range of viruses and other nasties. Then you have the hitchhikers - fish NOT of the same species that a person is buying. Those are typically sorted out at the hatchery, but sometimes ESPECIALLY when the fish are small it's impossible to sort out all of them. For instance regular BG mixed in with RES. Dang near impossible to sort out 100% when they are <2" or so.

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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).