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Faust
I suppose I blame myself. In my a small tank, they were doing so well. I moved them inot a larger tank, and now they are all dying. I think it has to do with bacteria, even though I added something in the water to try and kill the bacteria. Maybe I can add more salt. But before, I had 3 larger goldfish each die a week apart in the same tank. They were all together. I know there is something in the water, but prior to the fry entering the tank, I changed out the water. So I wonder if it is possible harmful bacteria can be on a filter cartridge or pad, and if so, could someone let me know. Because I now have under 30 fry as each day 1-3 die. This is really upsetting me as I know I am capable of few deaths. Or is it this age at around 3-4 weeks old do most of them begin to die off? I would imagine this would happen when they were smaller. ARGH! I was doing so well too. I guess there is always next time.

:-(
nick11380
I'm not sure you should be adding things to a fry tank. Fry are pretty fragile. What makes you think you have a bacteria problem? In a fry tank the only safe filter is a sponge filter.

What your feeding them also makes a huge differents in the fries survival. You will have the best survival rate by feeding your fry newly hatched brine shrimp. Also 50% water changes every day helps the fries health and growth.
Faust
QUOTE(nick11380 @ Jan 13 2008, 05:20 PM) *
I'm not sure you should be adding things to a fry tank. Fry are pretty fragile. What makes you think you have a bacteria problem? In a fry tank the only safe filter is a sponge filter.

What your feeding them also makes a huge differents in the fries survival. You will have the best survival rate by feeding your fry newly hatched brine shrimp. Also 50% water changes every day helps the fries health and growth.



Brine shrimp I do, but 50% water change I haven't been doing. I think it is something in the water because 3 goldfish each a week apart that were in this tank before all died.
Chickey
I have been doing water changes daily and I am losing fry too. The ones I am losing are kinda small, and some are deformed. There are tiny little dixie cup funerals daily. Sometimes I think they are eating too much and other times not enough. I can't be home to feed them several times so I leave some food in the tank that they can nibble on all day.
I will never be sure, some of these fry are very healthy and strong, others, very wimpy though they have the same water and food. Not all of them are meant to survive I think. sad.gif

OldHag
There are die-off periods, and one is about 3-4 weeks age.
Once I found a lonely survivor fry, I was so happy, he grew nicely.
But after a month I found him dead.
It's hard when you only have one fry.
daryl
There are DEFINATELY "die-off periods". As the fry grow, some of them seem to almost outgrow their bodies. What is thought happens is that the fry are somehow made "wrong" - genetically mismade. When they are very small, their bodies can process enough food, or eliminate enough or their gills can process enough oxygen. But as they begin the grow, their bodies are not capable of keeping up with the demands put on the various organs and they die. Many fry deaths can be explained in this fashion.

If you had a disease in the tank before, then it may still be there, unless you did a complete sterilization. For parasites as well as bacteria and virus's, all you need is one drop of water to transfer. IF you did not sterilize or replace all your filter cartridges, then the tank is, for all intents andpurposes, the same as it was when thefish died.

You can treat baby fry with many types of medications, but they are VERY sensitive. If you damage little gills and bodies, they will die. Most healthy fry can withstand 0.1ppm salt, Prazi, and SOME antibiotics. I read somewhere that the gram-negative ones are a bit easier than the gram-positive, and, since the majority of bacteria that bother goldfish is gram-negative, that actually works better.

I suggest that you remove the fry from the tank and put them in 100% fresh water with a sterile filter, etc. Sterilize that tank. REset the cycle with a CLEAN seed and monitor the parameters VERY carefully - fry are not tolerant of ammonia. IF you do not have a clean cycle to seed from, you may need to run the fry tank on Zeolite until such time you can create a clean cycle.
Faust
QUOTE(daryl @ Jan 14 2008, 06:10 AM) *
There are DEFINATELY "die-off periods". As the fry grow, some of them seem to almost outgrow their bodies. What is thought happens is that the fry are somehow made "wrong" - genetically mismade. When they are very small, their bodies can process enough food, or eliminate enough or their gills can process enough oxygen. But as they begin the grow, their bodies are not capable of keeping up with the demands put on the various organs and they die. Many fry deaths can be explained in this fashion.

If you had a disease in the tank before, then it may still be there, unless you did a complete sterilization. For parasites as well as bacteria and virus's, all you need is one drop of water to transfer. IF you did not sterilize or replace all your filter cartridges, then the tank is, for all intents andpurposes, the same as it was when thefish died.

You can treat baby fry with many types of medications, but they are VERY sensitive. If you damage little gills and bodies, they will die. Most healthy fry can withstand 0.1ppm salt, Prazi, and SOME antibiotics. I read somewhere that the gram-negative ones are a bit easier than the gram-positive, and, since the majority of bacteria that bother goldfish is gram-negative, that actually works better.

I suggest that you remove the fry from the tank and put them in 100% fresh water with a sterile filter, etc. Sterilize that tank. REset the cycle with a CLEAN seed and monitor the parameters VERY carefully - fry are not tolerant of ammonia. IF you do not have a clean cycle to seed from, you may need to run the fry tank on Zeolite until such time you can create a clean cycle.



See, that is exactly what I was thinking. Just to start over clean. By the way, the majority of my fry deaths are the larger fish for some reason. The tiny tiny ones appear to be just fine, but for some reason it is the larger ones that have died.
Faust
Yes! I did a water change and I guess things are steady. No deaths for the past 3 days! Going strong! The super ecto-morphs may have grown too big for their bodies too fast. Maybe there was something in the water. All I know is they are fine now. Still leaves me with 20+ Mostly colored from the black moor. Because my fish came from a petstore chain, I can't wait to see what I end up with. I have noticed one doesn't have a dorsal fin. Whoa! Can't wait to see what they end up like. If you have black goldfish, at what point do the fry turn black? Oh nevermind. I am getting way ahead of myself.
Faust
After a nice little break we are a little over a month. I still need a much larger tank, but these little guys have grown so much since I ran into my little troubles. Luckily taxes will be coming in soon and I can get them a HUGE tank. At any rate, I wanted to just post some more updated photos. a few more deaths here and there, but the photos have all but 2 that have just passed away. Even with that said, things are going steady and well, I think. LOL





















Sorry, I know.... A lot of photos.
OldHag
So cute!
So many little fishies!
Doing good!
daryl
Hey - those little guys are looking good and strong! Very pretty fishes! You should be proud of yourself. It is not always easy to raise fry - it takes loads of time and patience. And when you inevitably lose some, it is heartrending.

It looks like yours are past the "dangerous" age. Now you just get to enjoy guessing at what they will become! smile.gif
Nickie
I agree, Faust! Is this your first time raising fry? They look very nice!!!
Anic
They're so cute!! I can't wait to see how they turn out!
koko
wow they really grew up heartpump.gif so cute biggrin.gif
Faust
QUOTE(Nickie @ Feb 5 2008, 03:29 PM) *
I agree, Faust! Is this your first time raising fry? They look very nice!!!




Hey thanks everyone! Yeah, this is my first time raising goldfish fry. Even though they can die pretty easy, they really are so much easier than betta fry. For some reason, it upsets me when they die, but not that bad. Only upsetting because I am like "Dang! That could have been a really cool fish!". I name them, but ever since I have lot many betta fry in the past, I am used to it. I have no problem euthanizing or dealing with deaths. It just can be frustraiting with all the time put into them. But yeah, goldfish totally rock and just much easier. I would have no problem with doing this again and again. So far, I cannot tell what kind I am going to end up with. More than likely just black moor with a high hump. I did manage to keep my only 4 calicos alive so far. Since I was having a money issue and a smaller tank I was not willing to buy a top for, I used a heat lamp to act as the sun, hoping to give the color of black as dark as possible. So far it is looking really good and it really stands out.
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