Fry Still Dying...

[crazychick]

Hi all,

I posted many weeks ago that I was having major problems with my goldfish fry. Originally I hatched out about 50 and I'm down to about 20 now... At any given time, there's one or two that are dying in the tank. I have tried adding salt... to no avail. Melafix didn't work, neither did Kanamycin. So I thought it might have been a parasite and I've been treating the tank with "quick cure" (4 drops per 5 gallons) and it's not working. The disease doesn't appear to attack necessarily the weak fry as there are quite a few "runts" that have escaped death and many healthy, fat fry are dying. The only thing I've noticed is that they all seem to have red in their gills. I've done regular water changes and there is an active filter in the tank. I am supplementing oxygen with a bubbler-stone and I have checked water quality and all is good. No ammonia, no nitrites, v. low nitrates and pH is neutral. I have snails in the tank (about 15 small "pond" snails) to keep algae down, no gravel and no plants. This is a 5 gallon tank and the single largest fry is healthy and about 1.2 cm long. The rest are smaller. I have a 30 gallon tank that I could put them in but it is awkward to set up as I don't have anywhere to put it... They seem to have lots of room in this 5 gallon, but I'm open to suggestions.

Laura

 

[WILDER]

Are you sure stats are right as a 5gal tank is not very big for the amount of fry in it, red gill can be poor water quality or gill flukes, any laboureed breathing or flicking and rubbing.

 

[crazychick]

Maybe I'll get that 30 gallon set up in the basement somewhere and get the fry into that. Originally, I had someone that was going to take the fry from me, so I was hesistant to set up the big tank as they were going soon... but then they started to die and I didn't know if it was a disease, parasite or what it was. So I decided to keep these guys, at least until they are doing better. As I mentioned, the water quality tests fine, but there's always a chance that something isn't right in there. No rubbing or flicking and the only thing I've noticed about the fry is that they sink to the bottom about 4-10 days before they die... They don't ever float up to the top. They just sit on the bottom (still trying to eat and swim around). What drug would kill gill flukes?

Laura

 

[tttnjfttt]

gill fulkes are nasty little buggs to get rid of. I have treated them with coppersafe before and it worked pretty well. Be careful when giving fry meds, as they are more sensitive. Usually you want to use half the dose with fry.

 

[Trance2006]

Good Luck, make sure you fish out the dead fry. Also is this a more exotic species?

 

[crazychick]

Hi,

No, the fry are goldfish fry (bl. moor x fantail).... I have moved them into a 5 gallon bucket (for now- I'm still setting up the 30 gallon) with completely new water. I weighed the consequences of keeping them in "aged" water and giving them totally new stuff, but decided that they were dying regardless... So far, so good. But I know they'll keep dying...

I was reluctant at first to dose them with anything, but decided that they were all slowly dying anyway so I should try something. I still don't have the full dose of "quick cure" (the regular dose is 1 drop per gallon and I'm using 4 drops for the 5 gallons). Once I transfer them into the new tank, I hope they do better...

Laura

 

[Tolak]

Where are you located, and what are you using for dechlor? In some areas what municipal water companies do to the water in the winter as opposed to the summer can do a number on fry. They increase chlorine & chloramine, as well as adding more buffering agents. I'm double & triple dosing with Prime during the winter to get a decent growout with angels, in the summer I can get by with just sodium thiosulfate.

A buddy of mine, who also breeds angels, was having the same problem until he tried double dosing with Prime. A couple a day dieoff, for no apparent reason. Started using Prime, & it's just like summer water.

For some reason his panda corys love the winter water, breed like crazy, his tanks are packed.