134 fry dying

I,ve just had 4 fry die on me this morning. They were perfectly healthy with full stomachs and no sign of bloating. They are in a fry trap in the main tank. I have been doing 10% daily water changes and waterparameters are fine. What I have noticed is the dead ones seem to have convulsed with an arched back. I suspect I may have done a batch of food and not crushed it fine enough but thats just guessing that they may have choked. Wondered if anyone has come across this before?

I had my first lot of fry deaths with my L129 I had them in a breeding trap as normal after a month they started to drop off, I released the remaining fry back into the main tank they have been doing fine I have stopped using a trap with the L129 now and the lastest fry have not started to die this is the only thing I have done differently, although using a trap has not caused issues with other fry :dk:

oh dear,
I have had something like that with Gold stripe young, never knew what it was, but I do try and keep fry with parents as much as I can because of it.
doubt if its the food, my choc zeb fry get all sizes of food and eat what they choose, what temp are they at? sometimes fry like it a little cooler than adults breeding temps as cooler water holds more oxygen. I assume you have airstone or similar in the fry trap.

Hi and thanks for that Jo/Irene there was loads of air going everywhere. I have released them into the main tank mainly because its doing my head in watching them die after getting this far but thats plecs for you! Stress may also have played a part even though they had cover in the fry trap. They have a lot more cover now so I think it will only help matters

Hope they are ok for you

Fingers crossed Steve. You have probably done the right thing by releasing them into the main tank. I know what you mean about not bearing to watch them die, I have been there a few times before:cry:.

Is it their 1st hatched spawn?.

Cheers

thegeeman

yes first spawn they are in the main tank now so fingers crossed

I have had my time with fry dying and found food can be an issue.
I find it better to feed a small amount, two or three times a day, grinding it up finely, or buy ZM 100 and feed small amounts of that two or three times a day.
Even with adults in the tank, i still only feed ground up food, and they are still breeding.
I also think some fry can overfeed, which was why i changed feeding to small amounts two to three times a day, i read about whiptail fry dying and the guy altered the feeding to a small amount a few times a day, rather than one main feeding, and he found nearly all his fry deaths stopped.

I also feed a little; microworms, walter worms and some freshly hatched baby brine shrimp with each feeding, just incase the fry don't recognise the dry food as food, and i think it is these small live foods that gets my fry eating in the beginning.

I sent some fry for Autopsy at Stirling University, and the reply was that they looked healthy under the microscope, no abnormalities, no signs of parasites or disease, so it was something i was doing wrong.

Jo also mentioned adding one almond leave per square foot of tank, as they have an anti-bacterial property to them (i change them weekly).

They are the two changes i made with my fry that helped a lot, and now i only have two or three random deaths per brood, which is a lot better than losing 90% of each brood.

Fry food

Great advice Andrew! Should be part of a fry feeding sticky.

Just to add to include a veggie component (boiled and crushed peas, beans etc -not just spirulina) to fry feeding and possibly small pieces of wood or other substrate to give fry the option to graze on 'naturally' occurring microorganisms in the rearing tank/trap.

I would also agree that moving back to the adult tank as soon as possible, gives the fry chance to graze more naturally on the debris-associated microorganisms found in even the cleanest tanks. Assuming the main tank filtration doesn't suck them up of course!

Good luck Steve,
Mark.

yes always add a few micro worms, the cories love them too.

Forgot about the almond leaves good point Andrew! the time i lost my L129 fry was the time I ran out waiting for the new supply I am certain pleco graze on them also

Thanks for that everyone the fry deaths appear to have stopped and they are thriving in the main tanks:clap:

Good news Steve, Glad they are all doing well:clap:

Cheers

thegeeman

Good to hear that Sreve

Glad you have sorted the problem nothing worse then fry dying