Fry Dying

[lindanne]

hi all
ive got quite a few fry in a aqua mode 600 65 ltr tank
i set the tank up a few weeks ago for my fry which are now about a month old
i put sand in bottom and used a filter from pet shop with media taken from their established tank
plants on the wood and weeds in
last few days ive been losing quite a few fry
i do regular water checks
anyway heres my reading today
n03 25
n02 0
gh 7d
dt 7d
th 7d kh 6d
ph 7.2
is the water quality the reason why im losing the fry
any input much appreciated
many thanks
linda

 

[lindanne]

sorry i forgot to add
i do daily water changes and clean bottom because i feed the fry about 4-6 times daily
it seems the ones im losing are small compared to others
and maybe a coincident but deaths normally happen after feeding them the frozen brine shrimp
which i mix in water from tank to melt the cube i dont give them all of it but divide the rest between my other tanks
i also feed liquifry

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Whats your ammonia reading do you know?

Are any of the fry showing symptoms like clamped fins or flicking/rubbing themselves on stuff in the tank? When you do water changes how much do you take out?

 

[lindanne]

hi
thanks for the quick reply
ive just retested with the tetra water test as previous was done with test strips
my readings are as follows
ph 7.5
test no2 nitrite 0.3
nh test
nh 3/4 total amonia test 0mg/1
ive been doing about 15 to 20 percent water change daily is that to much ?
i have seen a small sign of flicking on airline tubes

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

hi
thanks for the quick reply
ive just retested with the tetra water test as previous was done with test strips
my readings are as follows
ph 7.5
test no2 0.3
nh test
nh3 nh4 omg/1
ive been doing about 15 to 20 percent water change daily is that to much ?
i have seen a small sign of flicking on airline tubes

You have a small amount of nitrite and almost no nitrates which would indicate the daily water changes are too much for the tank. Fry are very sensitive to water quality and this may simply be placing too much stress on them. The smaller & younger the fry, the more sensitive it is. The flicking behaviour could be due to small nitrite spikes in the water (as nitrites are an irritant) which may happen and subside too quickly to be picked up by chance on water quality tests (feeding the fish would put a temporary stress on the water quality which is why the brine shrimp feeding sessions might be connected to the deaths as feeding brine shrimp can be a messy business).
Another common cause of flicking is external parasites, but i would expect to see more symptoms on the fry if they had parasites (like clamped fins).

My advice would be to keep up with the regular feeding sessions for the fry (regular small meals is good for them) but feed them less during each session and instead of doing water changes everyday, test the water quality every day for ammonia, nitrites & nitrates and do a 30% water change with dechlorinator at the end of each week .
Investing in some small peaceful shrimp like a few Amano shrimp can be good for fry tanks as they are very good at keeping the tank clear of uneaten food (though you will still need to give the shrimp a bit of their own food). The shrimp don't require anything else apart from clean water quality & a cave to molt in occasionally.

 

[lindanne]

thanks so much for your advise
i will leave the daily water changes and keep check on water with daily tests
seemed strange but just had magnify glass and definately no clamped fins on the fry
i had to put in the filter as in inbuilt wet and dry trickle was blowing the fry all over the tank poor things
thanks once again youve truly been very helpfull

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

No worries glad i could help !