My fry are 8 weeks old. They are in a 6 gallon tank half full. There is a sponge filter and an airstone in teh tank. I have 2 fry.

The problem is the ammonia level is always high. I do daily water changes (usually 30%) to keep the levels down and I use Prime. I jsut tested teh water and the ammonia is at 1.5. Nitrites are 0.

Now one of my fry is getting black on him, I'm assuming from ammonia burns.

Are they old enough now that I can fill the tank and start using the regular filter (perhaps covering the intake tube with something)?

Perhaps I could move them to a 10 gallon, fill it half full and put them in there. Then get some BioSpira to cycle the 6 gallon?

I jsut feel I need to do something more than water changes as it is not enough to keep the ammonia down. (And daily water changes is getting old.)

Any suggestions are welcome!

Was your sponge filter full of yummy bacterial goodness from another tank? Sounds like it isn't coping so I suspect not and you can't cycle it with fry or doses of Prime.

Two 8 week old fry don't generate much ammonia... either you are overfeeding or the ammonia is already in your tap water.

Test your tap water if it is that, start topping the tank up with bottled water with aquarium salts added, at 8 weeks fry can stand deeper water.

If you are feeding them too much then you'll have to cut back or keep up the rigorous water changes. Water quality is always more important than food.

If your regular filter is full of yummy bacterial goodness (ie. in use in another tank) it may be better to get that going inside a bit of pantyhose.

When I'm expecting goldfish fry or even betta fry, I always throw my sponge filter in the tank with the heaviest load for a few weeks, even wrap it in a bit of old filter wool for a while.

The sponge filter was new. When I added the sponge filter I didn't have a cycled tank in the house (long story).

I must be overfeeding because my tap water always tests 0 for ammonia. I also contacted teh city water dept at one point and my water is disinfected with chlorine, not chloramines.

My other filter is not in use. Perhaps I will get some BioSpira and cycle their tank while they reside in a different tank.


Oh, and I wasn't expecting fry at all!! Mom and dad fish were a month or two into being treated for parasites. We came upstairs to find eggs in the tank. Talk about unprepared--I didn't even know I had a male and a female. So on top of ammonia, they have parasites to deal with. It took 2 weeks at 0.8% salt to rid the parents of the parasites. Two month old fry cannot take that. I'll ahve to see what I can come up with for the fry. Can't find info anywhere on treating fry for parasites.

Thanks for your reply, yabbie. It was very helpful!

The sponge filter is effectively doing nothing. Could you throw it in with Mum and Dad fish for a couple of weeks to cycle it and keep up the water changes and prime with the fry until it is working?

Or you could move the fry into a cycled tank... if you now have one... in a breeding net to keep them safe? Two fry don't need much room. Maybe you could cycle their tank with one adult fish?

I can't throw them in with mom and dad as mom and dad are now parasite free *knocks on wood* after 3 LOOOOOONG months of trying to rid them of chilodonella.

When I scope the fry tank, there is still chilo present. I treated them with methylene blue as it is safe for fry and is supposed to help with chilo. It may have helped while it was in there but now the chilo is back in full force!

I need 2 things: a cycled tank for them and a solution to their chilo problem. The cycled tank I can do. I was thinking of transferring them to a 10 gallon tank, maybe half full. In the meantime, I could get some BioSpira and cycle their tank (a 6 gallon Eclipse).

I am currently working on gradually adding water to the tank to see how they handle it. I had them at 3 gallons. Today I changed out 2 gallons and added another for a total of 4 gallons. Tomorrow I will add another gallon. Once the tank is full (6 gallons) I will add the filter to see how they handle the current--just observe them for a few hours, perhaps. If they do OK with the current, I will then cycle the tank for them using BioSpira while they reside in another tank. The BioSpira will take a couple of weeks to cycle the tank. I've used it before and it works well. While it's cycling I will continue with daily water changes to keep the ammonia down.

So next I need to find out if their is anything I can use to treat fry for chilo. I have searched the internet and come up with nothing. Any treatments I've found for chilo are not safe for fry. Except salt. I needed to salt to 0.8% for about 10 days to treat the parents. I don't think fry can handle that amount of salt.

If you have any ideas as far as the chilo is concerned--DO tell!!

Does my plan for cycling their tank sound reasonable? (I will cover the intake tube with a sponge or filter floss.)

I was just reading through the breeding posts and wanted to say what a great job you are doing with your fish and your out-of-the-blue fry! You are a great fish mama. Sorry I have no advice on ridding your fry of the chilo.

Have you thought of names for the fry yet, or are you superstitious about such things?