Losing Fry any Tips

[chris]

Hi everyone at the moment Im losing fry a couple every few days.
They are starving to death.
So they are not eating hide in corners or dark spots in tank.
Ive noticed long white feces trailing. I hope its not Hex.
Buts its looking like that.
Ive been treating with prazi because I noticed a bit of gill rubbing.
This sould help if its a worm problem.
All readings Zero.
I sort of blame myself for them getting sick.
I wasnt doing water changes that often.
I was only doing two week, since they were born.
But water conditions still good?

Any Ideas :roll:

[Merrilyn]

Sorry to hear that Chris. I'll bet you find you have got an ammonia reading, and that will be enough to weaken the fry. They can't tolerate any ammonia in the grow out tank.

I feed fry heavily, very heavily to make sure everyone gets enough to eat, but then that makes for a lot of mess, so I do water changes twice a day.

Now I know this isn't possible for folk who are working, but daily water changes are the only way to successfully raise fry.

At this stage, I'd be looking at treating them with Metro, which you'll have to get from the vet. See if you can divide off the tank to keep them all in a school together. They seem to do better that way.

Try to feed at least 4 times a day, and perferably 6 times a day. Use a variety of foods, including baby brine shrimp, beefheart, chopped froz bloodworms and crushed dry food. The tank must be kept absolutely clean, that's why I raise fry in a bare bottom tank, and excess food taken out before the next feeding.

Use Metro at the rate of 250mg per 40 lts water every 12 hours for the next 5 days. You should see an improvement in their appetite, and the general overall health.

HTH.

[Ben]

Hi Chris,
water chanes, water changes and more water changes mate!

When young i water change my babies 3 times per day!!
It is the only way!

Ben

[chris]

At this stage, I'd be looking at treating them with Metro, which you'll have to get from the vet. See if you can divide off the tank to keep them all in a school together. They seem to do better that way.
Ladyred not sure what you mean dividing tank.

Thanks Ben aswell yer water changes and water changes. Your right merrilyn slight traces of amonia.
Ive got half a tablet left not sure what mg it is getting more on Monday.
I should loose about 4 more by then.
I probably could get some tommorrow if everthing goes well.

[nicholas76]

Merris

same issue i had remember??


Flukes is my bet.

parents are older and show no sign of it ,

the fry dont stand a chance. are they hiding in corners or gasping upwards to the sky??

[chris]

Yer Ive seen a bit of hiding gasping Ive also seen long white poos mainly plenty of hiding and gasping.
First treatment of metro just gone in. :arrow:

[nicholas76]

damm

you have a multitude of issues.

treat as you are and hopefully it all goes well

pics if possible would be a great help

[Merrilyn]

Chris, the white poos is a sign of internal problems, and metro is the drug to use to treat that. Continue with the dose of metro for the full treatment. You should see an improvement in 48 hours or so.

At this stage, don't treat for gill flukes. I know you've already treated them not long ago for that.

Are the fry hanging at the surface of the tank, gasping for air, or do they just appear to be breathing heavily, but still swimming in the middle of the tank.

The symptoms of gill fluke and velvet can look very similar in discus. Metro will improve the situation with velvet, but not cure it. But the first problem to attack is that internal disorder. That would prove fatal long before velvet.

Keep us posted Chris. Good luck.

[chris]

The sick ones tend to be in groups darker than the rest not all of them breathe hard, and yes I have seen them breathing hard whilst swimming.

There is still plenty of heathly fish in there are they in any danger of getting sick to...

[chris]

Hi Im still treating with Metro every 24 hours, I dont have the time to do it every 12 hours, Ive noticed ive still got about 3-5 fry with long poos, about 6-10 that are dark hidding in corners not eating some stay high in the tank some low.
Not sure what im dealing with here, advice from LFS if metro show no improvement, use Tetracylne.
I know this is very potent antibiotic.
Any Ideas :!:

[Merrilyn]

It's almost impossible to know what we're dealing with here. If you do decide to use tetracycline, then I would certainly isolate the sick fish and treat them in a hospital tank on their own. Tetracycline will wipe out your bio filter, along with any other bacteria in the tank.

I't a pretty potent drug, but unfortunately, due to misuse in the aquarium industry, a lot of the common bacteria are now resistant.

Any chance of a picture of the tank, and a closeup of the fish.

[nicholas76]

stuck between a rock and a hard place

medications and fry generally dont mix.

you cant let your fish die yet most medications will knock your fry for a six anyway.

good luck again!

[chris]

Cheers for the support guys and girls, Ill take some pictures soon.
:wink:

[chris]

Few Pictures of my setup

[chris]

Sorry one more

[Ben]

Chris,
Just a couple of suggestions:

1/I would get rid of the gravel and go bare bottom.

2/Raise the temp to 32.c

3if possible buy your self an internal UV sterilizer.
(a 9 watt can be bought from AOA for $65)

4/loads and loads of water changes using clean, aged water heated to 30-32.c.

5/increase the water flow, ie add an air stone into the tank.

I practice what i preach, and i do all the above and have great success!

Ben

[Andrew Soh]

Hi Chris,

The discus on the right is dying.....very hard to treat at this stage. To save the rest, my suggestion is to remove all those fry that have loss colour to another tank before they die.

Most likely is internal bacteria problem....that is my opinion. Should treat separately those 'healthy looking ones' and the discoloured ones with metronidazole in feed and in water....plus erythromycin in water.

Whether all of them eat is unimportant. The most important is that the 'healthy ones' eat.....to save their life.

Finally, feed as much and as frequent as possible and make numerous WC....to de-stress and break the epidemic pattern.

Take care mate,
Andrew :angel

[chris]

Thankyou Andrew and Ben, is erythromycin available in tablet form from my LFS :?: ive looked it up on the internet and its seems to be the stuff to help with internal bacteria.
Im probabably going to cull all my sick looking fry as I dont have another hospital tank.

[chris]

1 died yesterday, and I culled six of them.
Im going to continue to cull the sick ones theres still about 5 getting around with long white poos, metro treatment now complete.
See how they go.
Plenty of water changes to follow.Daily :!:
I might have to invest into a uv system, any one got any info.
Cheers Chris,

Ill post pics when all is well, there is some beautys in the tank aswell. :roll:

[Merrilyn]

We're all keeping our fingers crossed for you
Chris.

[chris]

Hi all its been a week since Ive treated with Metro, Ive culled all of the sick looking babies :cry: .
But Ive just noticed my biggest baby with a long white poo hanging out of him, and hes stopped eating.
Im doing daily water changes, Ive never had any success with Metro :!:
I obtain my Metro from my LFS, he wonted me to treat them 3 times
24hrs between each dose with a water change.
I used 1 and 1/2 tablets 200mg per dose. 80L tank.
Not sure what ive done wrong with this lot.
Most of the fish I culled symptons where pale colour, gasping rubbing on objects in tank, not eating hideing, some of them had white poos and they where a lot smaller, maybe the smaller ones couldnt cope aswell as the bigger ones.
Maybe the new sick ones ate contaminated droppings......
Any Ideas. :cry: :cry:

[DR.V]

Hi Chris, I also had problem with my fry and I also treated them with Metro.
But my method is slightly different from you.
First I treat them with 500mg metro every 40L, I turn off the light during treatment.
I maintain good water aeration so that the metro dissolve well in the water.
I repeat the dose after 8 hours, and do w/c after 12-15 hours.
I dont have the time to do more w/c, but if you got the time you should change the water every 8 hours.
So before the next dose, you should do about 15%-20% w/c.
I do that for 3 days. And during this treatment I loss 1 baby only.

Good luck
HTH

[chris]

Hi just an update with my fry.
Symptoms stopped eating
Long white feces trailing behinde,
Breathing hard?
I treated for Hex(metro) no joy :!:
I then used lemisole :?:
It worked.
Maybe the white feces was a worm :?:
I treated at a much higher dose 1ml to 3.25L water.
As recomended.