Lost a lot of fry

[Tom Kvitnes]

I have lost about 20-30 fry the last days, and i cant find any reason

It started when i found one young zebra about 3 cm dead. When i checked the tank i found several more dead , and several young that where in trouble. They all seemed to have lost their swimming capability, just tumbling around on the bottom and shaking their bodies. A few of them altso running around in the tank like crazy.

I am totally lost, all the adults where fine,
actually one pair was spawning at the time.
I checked the water values and found that my No3 was a bit high, but the NO2 and Ph where all fine. I did some ekstra water changes the two following days and things looked allright, until today.

Today i found several more dead and some in big trouble. Checked the values again today, but everything seems ok, the no3 was now at about 25mg/L and that should not be deadly at all.
The dead ones range from newborn to eight monts old.
I carried out a 50% water change tonight, and can only prey that the few i have left will survive.

I have had some sleepless nights trying to figure this out, the only thing i can think of is that one of my pumps has been running for quite some time now. Is it possible that it might have been running to long without being cleaned, and that it is starting to produce some kind a poison ?

I am going to clean this pump tonight, just to be sure.

But if there is anyone that have experienced this or have any help to offer
i would be very happy, this is killing me

Regards

Tom

[Jenny]

Oh, Tom, how awful - I can't really give you any advice it needs somebody with experience of this to help. Have you tried a 'search' as there are quite a few posts giving suggestions as to what might be happening.

I hope you manage to sort it out quickly.

[husky_jim]

They all seemed to have lost their swimming capability, just tumbling around on the bottom and shaking their bodies. A few of them altso running around in the tank like crazy.

Sorry to hear Tom.

From your description it seems that your zebras have/had internal bacterial along with parasitical infection.
I suggets you immidiate treatment cause i have expirience in the past this situation with discus and it is an awfull thing.

I don't know what brands are you using there but i would start a treatment with Aquarium's Pharmaceutical's General Cure and Furan-2 capsules.But less than the proposed dose.
How are doing the rest of the zebras?Did you add any new fish in the colony?

Hope the others be fine.....Good luck man...

[Tom Kvitnes]

Thanks for your answers.

All fish in the tank has been there for at least one year and there are only zebras.

If they had any bacterial infection and/or parasites, shouldnt there be some kind of sign on the fish ?, and shouldnt altso the adults be affected ?
These fish look perfectly healty even after they are dead.

Regards

Tom

[Plastic Mac]

Thanks for your answers.

All fish in the tank has been there for at least one year and there are only zebras.

If they had any bacterial infection and/or parasites, shouldnt there be some kind of sign on the fish ?, and shouldnt altso the adults be affected ?
These fish look perfectly healty even after they are dead.

Regards

Tom

That sounds terrible, hopefully you'll have it sorted soon. In my experience (which is limited when it comes to infections) bacterial problems can be very hard to diagnose. I tend to assume it's a bacterial infection when i can see no signs of any other disease and all water parameters are fine...obviously this is not a perfect way to diagnose bacterial problems but then again I'm not sure there is an easy way.

As for the adults being affected...maybe/maybe not. The fry will no doubt not be as able to defend themselves against bacterial infections as well as the adults so it makes sense (to me at least) that the first to be infected would be the young.

Hope you manage to sort the problem out soon!

[Barbie]

Have you recently changed what you're feeding them? That might also be caused by them choking. I lost 10 that way and I'd be happy to never repeat the experience. You have my deepest sympathies .

Barbie

[KenW]

Hi Tom,

I'm so sorry to hear about your losses.

If it were bacteria I would think that the adults would show some signs at least. I'm with barbie on this one. I have had several losses where I can only attribute it to feeding them bloodworms. Even with me filing the frozen bloodworms before feeding I would still have a few fry die sporadically. Once I stop feeding the bloodworms the deaths stopped.



Hope this helps.

Ken

[Jenny]

Tom, just a thought, no sprays/painting/smoking etc going on around the tank?

[Tom Kvitnes]

Tom, just a thought, no sprays/painting/smoking etc going on around the tank?

No nothing has been changed around, or in the tank for a year or so.

Have given eSHa 2000 since yesterday, and just prey.

Regards

Tom

[McEve]

As I understand it, a couple of the adults are now experiencing cramps, or spasms.

If I understand th issues right there has been no deaths since day two of the treatment, and only one since the start of the treatment, which might suggest that it is a bacterial infection, and the medication at least has some effect.

I have since learning about the symptoms tried figuring out what kind of infection this is, but has so far had no luck. In short, as described to me, the fish swim erratically, it's shaking, (aslmost vibrating?), it shows reddening of the gills. After a short while og spasms and apparent disorientation the fish darts to the top, turns on it's back, and.... that's it.

Where's Des? Des, we need your expertise in diseases! and of course anybody else that can shed some light on this.

It must be absolutely devastating to sit and watch this happening, luckily the situation has calmed down, but I have a feeling it won't be over yet.. sorry Tom

A far fetched idea occured to me, because of the spasms. Could it be an electric appliance that's faulty, giving the fish electrical shocks bordering to what they can take...? But that doesn't fit with the fact that you moved some of them to another tank, and also lost some there?

It's the spasms that throws me.....

[Adam]

Hi Tom,

I am very sad to hear of the loss of so many fry and I hope that you have managed to get the situation under control.

I vaguely remeber something similar happening to Des, here is the thread: http://www.zebrapleco.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=568

If the Esha 2000 treatment is helping matters then I would suggest that you continue. The symptoms you describe, erratic swimming and loss of balance, appear to be consistent with damage to the central nervous system. As far as I know such damage is usually the result of some chemical poisoning or a virulent gram-positive bacterial infection from the genus of bacteria known as Streptococcus. In addition to the meds you are using I would suggest that you increase your maintenance regime.

I don't know if you have cleaned out the blocked filter already but if you have did you notice any blackening on any parts of the media or the inside of the filter?

Good luck.

Adam

[Tom Kvitnes]

I hope that i have managed to get the situation under control, but i am not quite sure yet.
I got excellent help from McEve, she took a 100 km drive to the airport to send me medisin, so thanks again McEve.

I have now medicated for 5 days with the eSHa 2000, and it looks like things are getting better. I Just prey that it is over, and that i never will experice this nightmare again.
But for now i just prey

Thanks for all help

Des: if you read this, it would be nice if you could describe the symptoms your fry had before they died.

Regards

Tom

[Adam]

Hi Tom,

I'm glad to hear that things are improving, as you say I hope that you do not have to go through such a nightmare again. Lets hope that none of us have to.

I was wondering, are the adult zebras still unaffected?

That was great what McEve did for you.

It looks like you can't get the Esha treatments in Norway, surprising really considering that they are made in Maastricht in the Netherlands.

There doesn't appear to be an Esha distributor in Norway perhaps you guys can have a word with one of the Dutch guys so that some can be sent over. It does appear to be a very good product and it is well worth having some at hand in case of emergencies.

Regards.

Adam

[McEve]

It looks like you can't get the Esha treatments in Norway, surprising really considering that they are made in Maastricht in the Netherlands.

There doesn't appear to be an Esha distributor in Norway perhaps you guys can have a word with one of the Dutch guys so that some can be sent over. It does appear to be a very good product and it is well worth having some at hand in case of emergencies.

Already done that There is a company that sits on the sole rights for imports of eSha's products to Norway, but they say it doesn't sell, so they aren't too interested in importing it either. It's a matter of educating people, they buy what they always have bought, and unless they can see for themselves that one product is better they stick to what they know.

For me, it works fine to order it on the Internet, and I think all catfish owners probably will too from now on. It sure seemed to have done the trick this time too.....

Now you see what it entitles to have an auntie (it isn't 100km to the airport, only 60 - no big deal, and you're very welcome Tom Just glad it worked)

[Adam]

Hey McEve,

It's good to see that as usual you are ahead of the game.

I think that the company that owns the distribution rights to Esha meds in Norway need to have a rethink. What would happen to progress if everyone had that attitude?