by Steve Byrns, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Six new phone apps are now available for aquaculture producers. The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service has six new iPhone apps available for pond aficionados.
Dr. Todd Sink, AgriLife Extension fisheries specialist at College Station, provided the leadership to develop the new tools geared toward pond owners and managers.
“Sink has already communicated with AgriLife Extension agents about the apps and we now want to let the public know of their availability,” said Dr. Jim Cathey, AgriLife Extension associate department head and program leader in the wildlife and fisheries sciences unit at Texas A&M University.
The six apps available in the iTunes store for iPhone, iPad, iPad Mini, iPad Touch, Apple Macintosh and Windows platforms include:
1. AquaCide – $2.99
- AquaCide is an aquatic herbicide selection, effectiveness and restriction guide for recreational pond managers and aquaculture professionals. It’s meant to help users select the most effective herbicides for all aquatic vegetation classes, including the most common North American algae and floating, submerged, and emergent aquatic vegetation. Only herbicides that provide good or excellent control are provided for each species. The app also provides the environmental restrictions of all aquatically labeled herbicides, including those for human use such as drinking, swimming and fish consumption, as well as livestock watering, irrigation of turf and crops and other general restrictions and differences in formulation.
- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/aquacide/id722031732?ls=1&mt=8
2. AmmoniaCalc – $1.99
- The un-ionized ammonia calculator app is a resource for everyone from aquaculture producers and managers to home aquarium hobbyists. Ammonia is the major end product in the breakdown of proteins in fish. Over time, the buildup of ammonia can kill fish. AmmoniaCalc allows the user to input simple, easily measured water chemistry measurements such as pH and temperature to instantly calculate ammonia concentration.
- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ammoniacalc/id722048864?ls=1&mt=8
3. AquaPlant – $5.99
- The AquaPlant app is designed to help pond owners and their advisors in the identification and management of aquatic vegetation. Aquatic vegetation management can be a perplexing problem. The first part of that problem is proper identification. Management of most aquatic plant species depends on properly identifying the desirable or nuisance plant. After identification of the aquatic plant is achieved with the visual index and description pages of AquaPlant, the user can then use the management section for each species to learn the correct treatment options including biological, mechanical and herbicide controls.
- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/aquaplant/id722310302?ls=1&mt=8
4. AquaRef – $0.99
- This aquaculture and pond manager quick reference guide features tables and conversion factors for aquaculture professionals. The app has useful information that includes pond filling time, pumping rate equivalents, discharge rates from standpipes, net mesh sizes for grading fish, length/weight relationships for fish, oxygen saturation points, pounds of fish that can be hauled at various temperatures, egg development stages, stocking guides and fertilization rates.
- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/aquaref/id704586063?ls=1&mt=8
5. PondCalc – $1.99
- PondCalc is another app for both recreational pond users and aquaculture producers. A common problem of overestimating pond size is addressed within this app, which allows the user to quickly and easily calculate the surface area of any shaped pond and then calculate the number of acre feet, all without having to do any math. These calculations allow the user to determine accurate pond area and volume for the application of chemical treatments and herbicides.
- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pondcalc/id709517896?ls=1&mt=8
6. Texas Farm Pond Management Calendar – $1.99
- The Texas Farm Pond Management Calendar is a virtual pocket guide/calendar to keep private pond managers up to date with the activities needed during each month of the year in order to manage their pond for the best fishing possible. The calendar may be accessed anytime, anywhere to determine the appropriate time to do activities such as stocking, liming, fertilizing, harvesting, weed control, drawdown, feeding and renovation if necessary. It also makes managers and anglers aware of how much they should harvest and the time of year that different species are spawning.
- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/texas-farm-pond-management/id754847884?ls=1&mt=8
Cathey said more apps are scheduled to come in the near future, including upcoming wildlife releases for Texas deer management, feral hogs, and a rangeland stocking rate calculator for grazing livestock.
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