Massive fry die off

[Bandi]

Well I successfully syphoned about two hundred fry out of my 110 gallon tank (to keep the parents from eating them) and I moved them into my 7.5 gallon fry tank. They did really good for about five days. There was a small mortality rate of about 5 per day but I expected that.

But this morning about 90 percent of the fry were dead and growing fuzzy on the bottom of the tank. Fry were free swimming and about 7 days hatched.

This is the second time this has happened from two different parents of two different species...so I must be doing something wrong.

This is what I have been doing...

Temp: 82 degrees

bubble filter in place

bare bottom tank

30% Water changes once sometime twice a day, with aged, temperature adjusted water, careful to remove all dead fry and debrie on bottom.

Feeding 3 times daily of finely crushed freeze dried baby brine shimp, finely crushed dehydrated blood worms, and finely crushed flakes. My attempt to raise my own baby brine shrimp didn't go well. Infusoria I have tried but it got too stinky and my husband told me to get rid of it.

So what am I doing wrong? Please advise.

Edited May 9, 2010 by guzookeeper

[Wingin' It]

Just curious, what kind of fry were they?

Also, just an observation over time...but when using small tanks...when things go wrong, they go wrong quickly and in a bad way. Maybe trying a larger tank? 15-20 gallons? Put in an internal corner filter for oxygen and filtration.

The Sanfransico Bay brand BBS hatchery works really well...though I use a small syringe to agitate the water some a couple times a day to keep oxygen in the water. Works well for me.

Maybe cut down the feedings to 2x per day, unless absolutely necessary?

Sorry to hear about all the fry loss...it definately sucks when it happens.

[Kronosdelsol]

You can try an anti-fungal drop (methanylene blue or acriflavine). I would also use a larger tank. Those frozen foods can pollute quite quickly. Or are you doing a 10% water change right after a feeding?

[Bandi]

Thanks for the advice. Can I buy methanylene blue at theLFS? I'll definately give that a try. That could explain why the dead fry are fuzzy. I never considerEd that the fungus caused the death of the fry but that just might be the problem.

[punman]

Were these fry from egg layers? Live bearers? If egg layers, were they mouth brooders?

I have had good success with hatching brine shrimp and use it with all my fry for at least two weeks.

Send me a personal message and we can discuss tips and tricks.

[Moutain Dew]

Is this tank cycled? running with some fish in it... a filter from another tank that is running moved to it??

[jvision]

Mountain Dew is probably on the right track. Your fry all die off when the tank begins to cycle and has a spike of ammonia and/or nitrite. Keep your fry tank filter running in the main tank - tuck it back behind everything so you don't see it if it's an eyesore. This way you'll have a mature filter ready to go for your fry.

[Vallisneria]

I agree with Jvision and MountainDew. Make sure your filter is mature and can handle the bioload. Any ammonia/nitrite at all can be deadly to fry.

You also say your water is aged, do you add water conditioner to it too? Do you have chlorine or chloramines where you live?

Your temp is a little high too. Try bringing it down a few degrees.

A tip for feeding fry fine powdery foods is to use a pipette and squirt the food right at the fry. That way you use less instead of just adding it to the whole tank and letting it float around. Put a few mls of water, mix in the food and suck it up with the pipette and then spot feed the fry.

[Just_Relaxin]

Yes a cycled filter would work as well use water from the tank that the parents are in as to not shock them when you first transfer them. If you are not having luck with brine shrimp you should try microworm culture. they are really east to maintain and keep a constant flow. I think someone on here was selling the cultures.

Edited May 9, 2010 by Just_Relaxin

[Bandi]

Your temp is a little high too. Try bringing it down a few degrees.

A tip for feeding fry fine powdery foods is to use a pipette and squirt the food right at the fry. That way you use less instead of just adding it to the whole tank and letting it float around. Put a few mls of water, mix in the food and suck it up with the pipette and then spot feed the fry.

The pipette trick is exactly what I have been doing, so I was on the right track there. At least I did something right. And out of lack of anything else to do, I did lower the temp in the tank a few days ago. So my instincts were good there also.

[Bandi]

Yes a cycled filter would work as well use water from the tank that the parents are in as to not shock them when you first transfer them.

Yes, I did the water transfer from the parents tanks at first. I always add conditioner to my fresh water and let if sit over night with a heater in it.

[Bandi]

The sponge for the bubble filter has been in use for several weeks before I added the fry, but perhaps the bio load was too great all of a sudden (there were a lot of fry), and an ammonia spike could have killed the fry. Good point. I sort of thought that frequent water changes would buffer any ammonia or nitrites spikes...so I never really considered the bio load capacity of the sponge. Thanks for throwing all this at me, it gives me lots to think about. Wow, there sure are a lots of things to watch out for. As discouraged as I am, I am trying to keep a stiff upper lip and perservere and not get defeated.

Thanks for all your help!

[SourceAquatics]

did you ammonia, nitrate and nitrite readings form the tank?

The results may help determine the problem as well.

[Ishkabod]

Well for some reason i think everyone has valid points but you will still get die offs. My red jewels would breed like crazy and the stupid fry would swim away from the parents and get eaten. as it was my first batch of babies ever i tried to save them. I tried a breeding net... DEAD I tried another tank with an establised filter and the parents water... DEAD. My conclusion was that for a period of time after the fry atch that they need the parents for some reason to keep them alive. Even though they were egg layers and not mouth broders the only way they would survive is if i didn`t touch them(i didn`t use a net either) Anyway long story short sometimes no matter what you do you might just have to resort to moveing the parents to their own tank to breed for a bit. I could be wrong but this is my experience and what i came up with from everything i went through. I thought I`d share to let you know that it might not be your fault.

Good luck

L

[fishclubgirl]

I've got another idea for you; can you take the other fish out and leave the fry in?? With wigglers, I really think live food is the way to go and have microworms on hand all the time. Fry seem to like catching their own dinner and the microworms stay alive longer too. Just a thought!!