Capacity building in best management practices that will prevent or reduce mortality is important. Some key issues to cover in training related to mortality of fish in small-scale aquaculture include:   

• If you find any dead fish floating in your pond, take them out right away. Change some of the water in your pond.  

• To change some of the water in the pond, open the inlet and let in some new clean water. The old water will drain out of the pond at the overflow. Do this for 2 or 3 hours each day for several days until you see that your fish are well.  

• If the weather is too hot, feeding your fish too much or using too much fertiliser, may result in too little oxygen in the water for your fish to breathe. 

• If you see your fish coming to the surface gasping for air, give them less food and do not use any fertiliser for several weeks.  

• Put more oxygen into the water of your pond by changing some of the water for several days.   

• When you let new water into the pond, let it in quickly so that it will come with a splash and bring more air into the water.