Fry help!!!!

[Brown Water]

Ok. Over the last few days I have lost some fry here and there. Cacatouides and aggies mixed together. This morning I woke up to about 15-20 dead fry. They are about 1/8th to 1/2 inch. I have noticed that the top of the water is bubbly and almost all of the fish I have pulled out have bulged eyes. I have also lost almost everyone of my females in other tanks, Cacs and aggies. also I lost a big bnp and my male caca.

Doing about 20% water changes m,w,f and most of the water parameters check out fine. Ph is a little high (7.1) for wilds IMO but ok for TR fish (which mine are). And gh is slightly hard on my test. Nitrite/nitrate/amonia are 0 and temp is 77.0 F. Tanks are 10 gallons w/ overflows to a sump totaling about 90 gallons total.

Also just was told while typing this that all snails in the same fry tank are dead.

Also starting to lose fish in my 65gallon tank also.

This is the worst day in fish keeping yet as I am throwing netfulls of fish out

Help please ASAP!

 

[DBlauj]

Sorry to hear that man I just had a few dead fishes sweep through also. Yesterday morning I woke up to two dead Caca juvies and ended up loosing seven total through out the day. Don't know what it was other than they started to keep to themselves, turn really dark in color, breathe heavily and then die. I hope someone can help you out with what's happening to your fishes. I have four fry left that looks like the might sneak by. I'm only assuming it's something in the water if multiple tanks you have are having die offs. Again that's just my guess.

 

[Brown Water]

Thank you db, I would assume that it's the water also. Only thing that is making me scratch my head is both tanks come up with the same test results. Only difference is +.4 F

Sorry to hear you have list some too.

 

[DBlauj]

Just lost another fry. I now noticed that his eyes are bulging also as he struggles to breathe.

 

[Brown Water]

Where might you be located?

 

[DBlauj]

Where might you be located?

I'm in Wisconsin

 

[gerald]

Eyes bulging while fish is still alive suggests osmoregulatory failure (kidney cant excrete water fast enough) - could be due to many things: bacterial infection, WQ parameters, metals or other toxins (e.g. spoiled food) damaging the kidney, liver or gills, etc. If eye bulging occurs after death, that's just bacterial growth in the dead body and doesn't tell you anything useful.

No clue whats going on in Sudbury, but maybe running the water into a barrel and filtering or aerating it for a couple days before using it in fish tanks might help. I do that as an extra precaution anyway, and I find it makes water changes easier. I've got a constant supply of aged room-temp water ready to go, and I dont need to fuss with adjusting temp and dechlorinating tank-by-tank the way I would if I were filling each tank directly from the faucet.

 

[LuckyPaul]

I agree with gerald, sounds like a bacterial infection. Did you notice any swelling of the abdomen? Feces pale and stringy? Loss of diet? Fish been lethargic? Heavy breathing? Hanging near the surface?

I'd start with a bit of salt (1 tea spoon per 5g)
More water changes
Raise the temp to 79-81
And if you answer yes to most of my questions then an Antibiotic like (Maracyn-Two/Metronidazole/Kanacyn) may need to be used.

I am new to Apisto's so you might want to check with other people on the forums whether these methods can be used with them or not!

Hope this helps, sorry about the loss :-( Act fast though.

 

[Brown Water]

Unfortunately at this time I have lost almost all of my fish. Only things that seem to be hanging on are some ancistrus, angels, 2 pairs of apistos, and some corys. Now it has infected most of my fish, ottos, angels, swordtails, tetras, all dead with no signs of disease. The guy at the lfs gave me a grim forecast of not much will end up making it out alive even with treatment... Here's hoping.

 

[DBlauj]

Sorry to hear that man. I actually ended up loosing all my fry as well as three other Apistos. Sucks but it happens. I'm still trying to pin point what caused everything.

 

[Brown Water]

I am thinking it was smart start plus for me... Only thing that has changed. And found out that if bacterial additives to bad they reek havoc on tanks... The only two that are having problems are the tanks that I put it in. And that's the only thing that changed in my regimen. I was still doing my 25-50% water changes every other day and using novaqua w/ acid buffer and flourish fertilizer. Nothing else had changed besides that smart start stuff... Maybe I got a bad bottle or something idk.

Sorry to hear you lost all your fry and your apistos. Really does suck some days.

 

[Brown Water]

Still fish dying daily here...

How are yours doing db? Any updates?

 

[DBlauj]

I lost all that I was trying to treat in a quarantine tank. Other than that my other tanks are ok. Sorry to hear you're still loosing fry. I turned up the temp to about 87 degrees and added some aquarium salt but it may have been too late. I kept the lights off so it wouldn't stress them out but in the end I was not able to save any. If you have any sick fishes left try some antibiotics. I was going to try some Maracyn 2 but they all died so I choose not too.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Sorry to hear of your bad luck, if you use tap water, it may have started with additional chloramine treatment of the water supply. We had this a lot a couple of winters ago in the UK, where we had a cold weather (for us) and lots of burst water mains. Once the fish start dieing ammonia levels quickly rise and kill of your filkter bacteria, then you enter a vicious circle of high ammonia levels causing fish death and fish death causing higher ammonia levels, causing fish death etc.

You need to change water with a non-tap supply (this is one of the reasons I use rain-water, that and the fact that most days here it rains).and add extrsa aeration. If you have plants these help, but once the ammonia level rises high enough plant death also occurs and they then add to the problem rather than helping.

Have a look through this as well "Aeration and dissolved oxygen in the aquarium": <http://plecoplanet.com/?page_id=829>, I wrote after the freeze and fish deaths (particulalry severe amongst Plec keepers), but it is relevant to nearly all fish keeping (well maybe not Betta spp.)

cheers Darrel

 

[Brown Water]

That sucks db. Think I went from 70 or so fry/juvies down to last count of 14 when they where put in a qt tank for treatment.
Are your other tanks having problems too or was it just one?

 

[DBlauj]

Just that one. My two other tanks are fine with my other Apistos. DW a buddy of mine suggested the same thing about the amount of chloramine going up during the winter. I'm not sure if it is or isn't I just know that after my usual water change I began loosing fry. Like BW's case the only difference this time around was that I ran out of Prime and used some Tetra Aquasafe Plus in place of it. Then my die offs began.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Like BW's case the only difference this time around was that I ran out of Prime and used some Tetra Aquasafe Plus in place of it. Then my die offs began.

I don't know anything about "Tetra Aquasafe Plus", but that may be at least some of the answer. The only reference I can find suggests that it should deal with chloramine fairly effectively <http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/rev-cond.htm>.

cheers Darrel