Methyl Blue for eggs?

[TeamSherman]

Hi guys,

I've read a few posts here and there about treating eggs for fungus with Methyl Blue and yesterday I got given some from a friend at a Sydney aquarium in case I need it. I was told a dosing ratio but I'd like to hear what you guys do and how you do it?

Do you just dose the complete tank water that the eggs are in or do you treat them in a separate container away from the main tank?

The eggs are in a Ziss65 tumbler in a 20L grow out tank in my main lounge room so I can keep eyes on them constantly.

If I'm to do it in a separate container how do I know the correct dose and if I am using enough of it to be effective?

I have a few eggs in my clump that have started to go bad and I don't want them affecting the others that look to be developing well.

Cheers,

TS.

 

[TeamSherman]

I've been reading a bit about Alder cones and their use so I've ordered some from an Australian seller and will drop one or two in the tank for a day and see how that goes before I try the chemical approach.

I may even just weight them down on the filter foam on top of the Ziss tumbler so as they leech their extract it will go into the tumbler and back out into the tank with the flow of water. I'm hoping it works but if not I'm sure I'll have many more spawns to play with anyway, but hopefully the eggs stay in the cave where they can be looked after by the best natural way.

 

[TeamSherman]

Bump!

Sorry I'm a little desperate as I can see movement in a lot of the eggs but there are a few that have fungus on them and I don't want to lose more than those already affected!!

I just want to know the Methylene Blue dosage advice so I can save the good ones!

 

[Nat's Fish]

There was definitely topics on here that can be searched. Maybe a couple of drops to a bucket? I don't remember exactly sorry

 

[Monarodan]

When my 397 kicks out eggs I put them in 500ml of tank water and 4 drops of meth blue leave for five mins and then put in tumbler back in the tank with a couple of cheery shrimp you still need to remove bad egg cause will kill the rest even when they start to hatch good luck

 

[Brengun]

I found trying to separate fungus eggs to be almost impossible without damaging the other eggs stuck to them. Now I just pop the bad ones, have a good current and pipette blow the rubbish off. Couple of cherry shrimp to do the clean up.

I have used meth blue but never knew the dose rate and it was a bit of a hit and miss affair with some being ok and some eggs turning blue.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Now I just pop the bad ones, have a good current and pipette blow the rubbish off. Couple of cherry shrimp to do the clean up.

Perfect. If you use methylene blue, just aim for a blue tint. I haven't used it for a long time, but about 5 drops of 2% methylene blue solution in 10 litres of water should be about right.

As well as adding Alder cones, I like Cherry shrimp as "egg janitors" as well. MTS also work (Ingo Seidel mentions them in the "Back to Nature guide to L numbers")

You almost certainly have some Australian plants that will do exactly the same job as Alder (Alnus) cones.

As well as Indian Almond (Terminalia catappa), Tea tree (Leptospermum or Melaleuca), Camellia (Camellia), Guava (Psidium guajava) and Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) leaves would be worth trying.

cheers Darrel

 

[TeamSherman]

So I treated them last night by removing the base of the ziss tumbler from the tank and adding enough blue to make the water a nice medium blue colour. I then let that sit for about 5 minutes and just put the tumbler back in the tank.

This morning when I woke up the fungus had spread to eggs that last night had a few little tails poking out and has obviously killed them. There are still quite a few good eggs that I can clearly see movement inside so I treated them again with a stronger solution in the same way as last night. One egg has separated and hatched so I atleast have one that looks like it may just survive. A lot of eggs are still good and are wiggling inside so I'm hoping that they can hatch before the end of the day as I fear the fungus may just keep spreading.

I'd love to be able to do some minor surgery to get rid of the fungus and dead eggs but from all accounts I've read they are just too delicate to do that with.

I have a pack of alder cones on their way so I'll add a few to the main breeding tank for future use and add a few to the tumbler as well. I'll try and find some shrimp today to add to the tumbler but I think at this stage I might be barking up the wrong tree.

I'll see what they are like at the end of the day and make a decision to either keep trying to save them or just let them be as is and hope the current interventions will come good.

How many alder cones is too many? Is there a ratio of cones per litre of water or is it just a matter of chucking in a handful? I mean, is there a point where the cones release too much and become toxic to the water or are they completely safe at any amount?

 

[TeamSherman]

Update:

I tried the Methyl Blue and Black Alder Cones and lost the majority of eggs apart from three little ones that are happily wiggling away in the tumbler.

I've found that once the fungus has started the only way to stop it is to remove the bad eggs from the good by doing minor surgery which I did or to get some shrimp/snails in to get rid of it.

I think I'll try hard to go by prevention rather than cure next time.

 

[Bigjohnnofish]

i use 7-8 drops in a 2 litre icecream container for first few days incubating eggs and tone it down day by day till they are nearly ready to hatch then no meth blue and they hatch fine... found a lot of fry dont like meth blue once they hatch....

or i use tap water for first few days - and it keeps eggs clean then add a few drops of prime close to hatching...

all depends on how fresh your eggs are... they should hatch within 7 days normally...

 

[TeamSherman]

I tried a few things with not much luck. But, I've now got three little babies just starting to get pigment through them now! I'll post a pic when I get home!

 

[TeamSherman]

Rain, water changes and heating?

Hey folks,

Here is a picture of the 3 little ones that I was able to save out of the recent egg saga. I'm happy to have got 3 over getting none and these little guys will live the rest of their time (until too big) in my little display tank in my lounge room! (which is the tank the tumbler is currently in)

It's super cute that they can already suck and hold onto the surface of the tumbler!