Platy Fry Question

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mrsaltmiller

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It appears my platy gave birth last night. I don't see any live fry unless they are doing a really good job hiding in the floating plants.  What I do see is what appears to be dead fry and circular egg looking things that have an eyeball on it.  All of these are at the bottom of the tank in the rocks.  I took pictures of a couple of them.  Is it possible that these are just aborted fry, or were they eaten by the other fish (platys and danios) and spit out the eyeballs or???  I checked my levels and all are good and the temperature is fine.
 

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They do look like aborted fry, yes.
 
Could you please post the actual numbers from your tests? How big is the tank, how many fish are in there and how long has it been set up?
 
Sorry for all the questions, but the more info we have, the sooner we can help you solve any problems :)
 
I'm kind of new to all this.  I have a 20 gallon tank, 5 platy, 3 zebra danios, a frog and a snail.  It's been setup for about 9 months now.  I don't know the actual numbers - I use the test strips that show everything is ok...sorry, I'm still new to this!

Ok according to the strips I use:  the first nitrate reading is 20 which says safe, the second nitrate reading says .5, hardness shows 75, alkalinity shows 120 and pH shows 7.2
 
The danios may have eaten the living fry already, how many of the underdeveloped fry do you see? This happens every once in a while to my fish, but only one or two out of 35. 
 
I see about 10 of them, all over the bottom of the tank in the rocks.  I bought the floating plants in hopes that some of the fry would be saved.  I don't see any live in there but haven't really poked around either.
 
UPDATE: I found a live one!  They are way smaller than I thought they would be.  So I'm not sure if any other survived.  Will the fry eat the food I put in the tank or do I need to do something special for him, assuming he survives?
 
Yay!! I hope he is lucky and does make it. You need to crush the food into a fine powder and swirl it around a bit so it starts to sink. You probably wont see him eat for the first day, they can still be living off of their yolk/egg sack thing. The fry will also eat small bits of food and organisms in your tank so if you don't see him eat the food don't be too worried. Feed the crushed flakes 4-5 times a day and very small amounts. 
I would remove all of the dead fry so they don't rot in your tank. 
 
I found another live fry - he was also hiding in the rocks.  I'm afraid to remove the dead ones for fear of vacuuming up some of the live ones hiding in the rocks or plants (assuming that there are more).
 
mrsaltmiller said:
I'm kind of new to all this.  I have a 20 gallon tank, 5 platy, 3 zebra danios, a frog and a snail.  It's been setup for about 9 months now.  I don't know the actual numbers - I use the test strips that show everything is ok...sorry, I'm still new to this!

Ok according to the strips I use:  the first nitrate reading is 20 which says safe, the second nitrate reading says .5, hardness shows 75, alkalinity shows 120 and pH shows 7.2
Okay, let me just add Zebra Danios need a 4 foot tank at least, because they are highly active and prefer lots of swimming space. Also they should have groups of 6+ ideally. 
Just thought I might say that :)
 
I have an idea, but not sure how well it would work, if you put your syphon in the gravel to suck out the dead fry (Probably should do that ASAP as dead fish will leave ammonia, which is toxic) into a bucket, and from there use a flashlight or something bright and see if there are any live fry in there, and from there possibly net out the fry into something like a small tank or a breeding net. Note, if a small tank might want to include a cycled filter and a heater. 
 
Test strips are mostly inaccurate. When you say "First nitrate reading" and "second nitrate reading" do you mean NitrIte? I would assume the second reading is nitrite. And a cycled tank should have 0 nitrite. A nitrite reading would mean you also have ammonia, which is toxic for the fish. I would advise you to do a waterchange asap, and also invest in a liquid test kit, especially since it sound's like your tanks in a cycle.
 
Hope some of this helps.
 
Just an additional note. When a Platy fish gives birth it results a nitrite spike.....do a water change ASAP, just be very careful, even if it means using a well cleaned jug to take water from top water level and add dechlorinator water back into the tank, slowly. Congrats on your new fry. I keep an old pot of food, put fresh food into it and I use a small whisk to turn it into a fine powder. Have had many fry grow this way. Don't fall for the livebearer fry food, it's rubbish xx good luck
 
AshleyNZ said:
 
I'm kind of new to all this.  I have a 20 gallon tank, 5 platy, 3 zebra danios, a frog and a snail.  It's been setup for about 9 months now.  I don't know the actual numbers - I use the test strips that show everything is ok...sorry, I'm still new to this!

Ok according to the strips I use:  the first nitrate reading is 20 which says safe, the second nitrate reading says .5, hardness shows 75, alkalinity shows 120 and pH shows 7.2
Okay, let me just add Zebra Danios need a 4 foot tank at least, because they are highly active and prefer lots of swimming space. Also they should have groups of 6+ ideally. 
Just thought I might say that
smile.png

 
I have an idea, but not sure how well it would work, if you put your syphon in the gravel to suck out the dead fry (Probably should do that ASAP as dead fish will leave ammonia, which is toxic) into a bucket, and from there use a flashlight or something bright and see if there are any live fry in there, and from there possibly net out the fry into something like a small tank or a breeding net. Note, if a small tank might want to include a cycled filter and a heater. 
 
Test strips are mostly inaccurate. When you say "First nitrate reading" and "second nitrate reading" do you mean NitrIte? I would assume the second reading is nitrite. And a cycled tank should have 0 nitrite. A nitrite reading would mean you also have ammonia, which is toxic for the fish. I would advise you to do a waterchange asap, and also invest in a liquid test kit, especially since it sound's like your tanks in a cycle.
 
Hope some of this helps.
 
I have done this before just with a water change, I looked to make sure and saved a few fry when I did this.
I would try this. After you are done siphoning let the water rest for 30 seconds so it stand still and any fish can get their bearings. 
 

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