Laid again with fry just feeding on parents. Good or bad?

[iro11a]

You got a fantastic looking pair mate, i found the pp treatment did more harm to the fry then prazi on a little test i done but everyone has different methods that they think work better but i have had better results with prazi for flukes.I might be chasing either another pair or some females as i have too many males

[Hooked]

Hi Jon,
I didn't realise that about PP on fry. I'll definitely look into it. Do you recall what strength solution you used of the PP? Perhaps also the brand of meds. Also would you know Jon what is the minimum age/size fry we can use Prazi on?
I appreciate the info mate.

Hah, I've got to many females! : ) I've got a really nice Albino Red Spotted Green female. Bought some more ARSG's to hopefully pair it up but I think still all females...
Oh well, all in good time,

Cheers, Nigel

[Wendy]

Hooked you can usually get frozen BBS from Aquotix but they are out of stock atm....they do have some on order. Also I got some BBS eggs from them last week and the hatch rate is excellent. The previous ones I had (from another supplier) were pretty much useless.

[iro11a]

I did the treatment of prazi around 6 weeks old i wouldt treat before then.When i did the prazi treatment i lost a few but not as many as i did with the 2mg/l dose of the PP but i suppose different results for different people.

Jon

[Hooked]

Hi Wendy,

Thanks. They told me they were out also. Vebas were also out, but they had a good supply of eggs. Hatch rate has been very good also thankfully. The fry are loving them,

Cheers

Hi Jon,

Thanks mate, food for thought. Fingers crossed I don't get a batch of Flukes go through the fry,

Cheers

[Hooked]

Hi gang,
I've not been around much lately. Relocated etc and just getting back into breeding. I thought I'd just add to this thread something that I realise now I was doing wrong.
I was using canister filters on the set up in this thread and to stop the fry being sucked up I had the pick up pipes covered with large rectangular sponges, about 100mm x 100mm x 300mm. I thought I was doing the right thing by reducing the suction. This worked great to stop sucking up the fry but I created a very large surface area for good and bad bacteria to grow on. They were possibly not squeezed in a bucket as much as they should have been to clean them. I had the fry every now and then showing signs of distress, inactivity etc and thought it was the dreaded fluke. I used Potasium Permangenate to treat them but in the end found it could be harsh on them.
I put it down now to bacterial infection from the large sponges as using another anti bacterial agent was what seemed to bring them right until the bacteria present in the filters took hold of them again.
The tried and true method of a smallish sponge filter with large water changes and a squeeze of the sponge to remove bacteria, crud etc, vac after each feed, is obviously the way to go.
I have wrigglers again now and I'd be keen to hear from anyone if they have had any luck using cannister filtration with raising fry. My main reason or train of thought for using them is that I'm busy most days till late afternoon/evening. I have someone feed my fish three times a day, but they aren't able to vac up after the feed and top up the water. I'm trying to ensure the water is kept as clean as possible with the filtration. Then I'm hoping to be doing regular vacs in the evening with a large water change and frequent cleans of the filter media as I realise this is an area harmful bacteria can grow...... Thoughts?
Also, is anyone using zeolite or any other form of nitrate remover with any success when unable to do the frequently required water changes due to work/time constraints? I ask this as I'm sure I saw a post a while back where someone put up a pic of there set up and it was like a large round plastic open container a bit like a sump and I'm sure it had some form of volcanic rock in it? I think it was a grow out set up? I'll have to search for it again.
All thoughts and experiences appreciated,

Cheers

[sdiscus]

Frequent water changes are also not for me.... I am currently breeding a Blue Diamond pair. I have put a few plants to keep nitrite low. Last time I changed water around 5% a month ago, which will be be probably discourage by most breeders. I flush the breeding tank with PP and this is where I do water changes, but not too much. I also pump water through a 1 or 5 micron filter a fortnight or so just to get rid of any free swimming bugs, but only when there is no fry in the tank.

The practice of not changing water too much I learned from a breeder in Central Cost. He had four breeding pairs and claimed that he did not change water very often... probably a bucket a week which equals 1%. I bought some nice fish off him.

[Hooked]

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to post your experiences. I'm not breeding at the moment. I'm to busy. Ive put in a large rain water tank recently and will go back to breeding with regular changes in the future. The cost of electricity is putting me off a bit also at the moment. We're looking at fitting solar panels which will make me feel a lot better about running all the equipement involved in the hobby re extra tanks, heaters etc. My display is approx 1000lts and gets a 75% wc once a week with aged/heated water. The fish are happy and always exhibiting breeding behaviour, especially after the change. I find the more I'm in the hobby the easier it becomes of course as you develop quicker and easier ways of water changing, holding/aging water, pumping etc. I get a lot of satisfaction out of keeping Discus.
I wish you well with your breeding pair mate. It's very satisfyng watching them grow.

Cheers

Frequent water changes are also not for me.... I am currently breeding a Blue Diamond pair. I have put a few plants to keep nitrite low. Last time I changed water around 5% a month ago, which will be be probably discourage by most breeders. I flush the breeding tank with PP and this is where I do water changes, but not too much. I also pump water through a 1 or 5 micron filter a fortnight or so just to get rid of any free swimming bugs, but only when there is no fry in the tank.

The practice of not changing water too much I learned from a breeder in Central Cost. He had four breeding pairs and claimed that he did not change water very often... probably a bucket a week which equals 1%. I bought some nice fish off him.

[sdiscus]

My setup is similar to yours... my display tank is around 800+ liters. The full tank volume might be around 900-1000L with the sump...My adult discus keep breeding in the display tank which I am not fond about as they become too aggressive and territorial. In addition, there is no chance of fry growing up in a community tank... I laugh at this when I hear stories about that. That is why I have removed my blue diamond pair. The other ones are still keep trying to raise fry...

I concur with you re electricity cost.. That is why I have installed solar panels. Also, I have insulated the back side of the display tank and the sump. This helps a lot in savings since the amber temperature could be around 14C sometimes.

Be careful with rain water as it might /will have parasites if not properly filtered. I have found it from my own experience.
...
At the moment, I am still fighting fluke...The fry keeps dying ... which is really frustrating..this bug can survive anything..
I can only knock it back a little bit with PP or fluke tabs..but it comes back...
I do not believe that gentle thing like Prazi or Kusuri Wormer Plus (Flubendazole) do anything to the fluke.. It is waste of time and money in my opinion. I have tried all that.

Discus are fascinating fish...But happy Discus are even more fascinating...

[Hollowman]

Happy discus like clean water, anything else is like russian roulette. Advocating NOT changing water is bad for new keepers to read. I will never promote bad practice. It just doesn't work and breeds unhealthy stunted fish.