Help!!! My Fry are dying!!!

[n00dl3]

Hi Everyone,

I need your guys help here... About 3 weeks ago my zebra pair finally spawned for me. They produced 5 wigglers but 2 died after 1.5 weeks. Then the 3rd died a couple days later. So I still have two fry left from the batch. One week go by… the two wigglers left were doing fine, then today as I was vacuuming the left over food, I found another wiggler was dead. So I still have one wiggler left from the spawn.

I have an automated water changing system that I have setup. It does 20% water changes every time at 4 times per week. My temperature is keep at 85 degree F. I have a power filter, sponge filter, and power head in my tank. So I think the tank it is pretty clean and has plenty of oxygen.

I have been feeding them 2x per day since the wiggler were kicked out of the cave by the dad. At first I was feeding them Hikari Carnivore pellets and NLS grow but I didn't vacuum left over food from the feeding and I think a hairy fungus grow on the food. That is when I found two of my wigglers dead. So I changed their diet to TetraMin Pro Crisp and they have been on that since for about 1.5 weeks now. I tried to vacuum the leftover every morning or once a day. They seem to be doing fine.

Yesterday, I didn’t vacuum their leftover food and this morning I saw the hairy fungus developed on the very little leftover food. That is when I found one more wiggler dead. Could the wiggler be dying because of the fungus?

Of course, I checked up on them every morning before work for accountability.

I am just very puzzled by this as I never had any problems raising other catfish fry except for zebra plecos.

So what am I doing wrong for my wigglers to keep dying? Any advice would be appreciated.

[Jo's Zebs]

Hi
This is your first spawn it will take time for the parents to get it right. The dad kicked out the fry right? that may suggest that they had a defect from the start and it was a case of natural instinct on his part maybe they would never survive either way.
Distressing as it is that this first batch of fry has died the fact is that your zebs have now started to breed, your tank conditions must be just right for them and they will spawn more and more maybe next time the results will be fantastic and you will loose very few fry.
I am assuming that your water quality is going to be really good with the auto 20% changes 4 times a week so it is unlikely this is the issue.
I tend to feed my fry frozen lobster eggs, frozen baby brine shrimp and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs also a little crushed flake this works for me although eveyrone has there own diffrent feeding menu and ideas.
Just hang in there and try not to get to distressed over thr lost fry as awful as it is it I think it is just natural loss.

[TwoTankAmin]

I have lost a few fry in a similar manner. My tank is set up to produce a dead spot at one end where most of the debris will collect. It is in this food debris that I have had a few fry die. I am guessing but would say the fry get into this stuff looking for a meal and somehow manage to clog their gils from the fungus.

My feeling is most of us tend to overfeed tanks with fry in that what we see as a small pinch of food is really too much. I too occasionally feed NLS Growth. I often find some uneaten and molding on top of the wood or even on anubias leaves.

What I would suggest is you investigate feeding them frozen cyclop-eeze and also look into a fry food sold by kensfish:

KENS PREMIUM GROWTH MEAL: (#00 SIZE) NEW!

THIS IS A HIGH PROTEIN FOOD THAT COMES IN 3 SIZES TO PROMOTE GROWTH IN YOUR FRY. THIS IS A SLOW SINKING #00 OR .25 MM SIZE VERY FINE FOR SMALL FISH.

When I feed both these foods I almost never see any left behind. When I feed the cyclops I usually mix in a cube of frozen bbs and/or of frozen daphnia.

[n00dl3]

Hi
This is your first spawn it will take time for the parents to get it right. The dad kicked out the fry right? that may suggest that they had a defect from the start and it was a case of natural instinct on his part maybe they would never survive either way.
Distressing as it is that this first batch of fry has died the fact is that your zebs have now started to breed, your tank conditions must be just right for them and they will spawn more and more maybe next time the results will be fantastic and you will loose very few fry.
I am assuming that your water quality is going to be really good with the auto 20% changes 4 times a week so it is unlikely this is the issue.
I tend to feed my fry frozen lobster eggs, frozen baby brine shrimp and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs also a little crushed flake this works for me although eveyrone has there own diffrent feeding menu and ideas.
Just hang in there and try not to get to distressed over thr lost fry as awful as it is it I think it is just natural loss.

I think the 1st two fry were kicked out early but seem fully developed. They survived for a couple days before they died. And the other 3 fry were let go by the dad. I guess you might be right about the "natural loss". But it still suck to lose them.

[n00dl3]

I have lost a few fry in a similar manner. My tank is set up to produce a dead spot at one end where most of the debris will collect. It is in this food debris that I have had a few fry die. I am guessing but would say the fry get into this stuff looking for a meal and somehow manage to clog their gils from the fungus.

My feeling is most of us tend to overfeed tanks with fry in that what we see as a small pinch of food is really too much. I too occasionally feed NLS Growth. I often find some uneaten and molding on top of the wood or even on anubias leaves.

What I would suggest is you investigate feeding them frozen cyclop-eeze and also look into a fry food sold by kensfish:

KENS PREMIUM GROWTH MEAL: (#00 SIZE) NEW!

THIS IS A HIGH PROTEIN FOOD THAT COMES IN 3 SIZES TO PROMOTE GROWTH IN YOUR FRY. THIS IS A SLOW SINKING #00 OR .25 MM SIZE VERY FINE FOR SMALL FISH.

When I feed both these foods I almost never see any left behind. When I feed the cyclops I usually mix in a cube of frozen bbs and/or of frozen daphnia.

TTA- My tank is setup similar way as to have a dead spot where all the food can pool up in a concentrated area. I've lost 3 fry in that manner. Or found their body in/around the pool of leftover food.

I will try to go buy some frozen cyclop-eeze today and look into Kensfish growth food.

BBS is Frozen blood worm right???

How often do you feed your fish? Or what is your feeding schedule like?

Thanks,

Hung

[TwoTankAmin]

BBS are Baby Brine Shrimp.

I basically feed once a day after my dinner time. I have fry both in my breeder tank and then in two growout tanks. I roatate through a number of foods, In addition to the three frozens, kens growth and the NLS, I also feed Hikari Sinking Wafers, kens earthworm sticks and sometimes his meat wafers, NutraFin flake, FD cyclops and brine. I will also admit to feeding frozen blood worms in the breeder tank even though it also holds fry. I only do this when I am also feeding the frozen cyclops so the little guys will be less tempted to try the bloods.

One final note. I feed all of my fish, adult or fry, including zebras, ken's spirulina w/garlic flake every Saturday. I have been doing this for about 2.5 years now and have noticed that in general I have fewer health issues than before I began this regimin.

I should have mentioned you can buy his foods etc here: http://www.kensfish.com/fishforsale.html

[n00dl3]

Thanks TTA for the help... I will look into it...

[n00dl3]

Update: It has been 10 days now and I have switched their diet to Tetramin and Kensfish baby formula that TTA recommended. The lone survivor seem to be doing fine. I just have to be more persistent at vacuumin up leftover food every morning, so no leftover food can develop mold. So far so good.

[Zebrapl3co]

You are feeding too much. There shouldn't be left over food the next morning.