Well it's been a bad week..

[C8lyn]

Hi all.

Many of you may have been following my progress with my first bn spawn and until recently everything was going fine.
I removed the cave with dad and the bubs were doing great. Munching on cucumbers, butternut pumpkin, peas and algae wafers so there was no skinnies in the tank that's for sure.
I was doing 25% - 50% water changes every couple of days to help them grow and the water temp was at around 26 - 27. Ph was fine, filtration was strong, plenty of oxygen supplied.
Then I added a little piece of driftwood for them.
About a week ago, I found a couple of dead fry, and I wasn't too worried because I wasn't expecting to have a 100% survival rate being my first time.
But every day I found more and more dead fry and it started to bother me. I tested the water, temperature, cleaned the filter (not entirely for bacterial purposes) water change, removed all dead fry as I found them, but it kept happening.
I took the driftwood out as I thought it may be causing the problem, but they just kept dropping.
I then moved them into a fry trap in my main tank because I know that the water in there is good. I counted 53 at that point. By the following day, I had 12. As of last night I was left with about 5 or 6 so I just let them go into the main tank because they're not in any serious danger at the size they are now. They were still kicking this morning so that's a good sign..

The only thing I can think of is the driftwood. It was a new piece I hadn't used before. I had soaked it for days in clean and boiling water before adding it to the tank.
The only conclusion I can come to is that there was something wrong with the driftwood, all the fry had been all over it and ingested something and was killing them. I keep kicking myself and thinking what would have happened if I didn't put the wood in there. I just don't know, and I guess I never will.

I feel like it's all my fault, and it probably is. I was hesitant to write anything on here about it because I assume that everyone will think I shouldn't be keeping fish.

So it's been a bad run.. and I hope it doesn't happen again.
If anyone has any other opinions, do tell. Please.

Caitlyn

 

[macvsog23]

Firstly don’t feel bad in nature none would survive it is a fact that around 5 in 6 spawns in nature don’t survive.

I suspect that one of two things has caused this.
The bog wood may have altered the water or and I would be more incline to favour this, you have had a build up of bacteria in the tank.
I do daily water changes on my grow on tanks.

Regards Bob

 

[JoePlec]

Sorry to hear of your losses. But dont go blaming yourself these things try us and its only by learning from mistakes or the way things pan out that you may be able to maybe do something different next time. Bob is right in the wild there may have been no survivers.

Only thing i would say is never use anything "NEW" for a fry tank. Take an ornament or something out your main tank. That way its full of "goodness" and the littleuns will feed off it also.

Dont blame yourself. My first lot of bn fry cooked when a heater stuck on . Learnt bought a new heater and carried on. 2nd spawn was 100% successful survival rate.

 

[zeebo]

oh man, so sorry to hear, but please don't put the blame on yourself, you were doing everything you could with good intentions. Many of us have had a bad run and understand .We become better fishkeepers by discussing with more experienced people on the forums, greatful they are here and willing to help us.

Hang in there... Georgie

 

[macvsog23]

oh man, so sorry to hear, but please don't put the blame on yourself, you were doing everything you could with good intentions. Many of us have had a bad run and understand .We become better fishkeepers by discussing with more experienced people on the forums, greatful they are here and willing to help us.

Hang in there... Georgie

Fantastic advice :clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap::clap:
if you get better then its worth it because your save the next lot and help spreed a fantastic hobby

 

[C8lyn]

Thanks for the great advice and comments guys. I really appreciate it.
It looks like the few bubs I was left with are still alive and kicking in the main tank so I'm happy about that.
As for the driftwood? It's now a home for my bf's scorpion.

 

[Big-B]

:imsorry: for your losses. Dont be so hard on yourself though, these things happen to all of us from time to time. Your a great fishkeeper and a great person too. You care for the well-being of your fish and it shows in your posts.
Do you know what kind of wood that was? :dk: Some evergreens can release toxins into your water.
I hope everything goes well with the fry you have left and Good Luck with them. :thumbup:

 

[bigbird]

sorry to read this bad news mate. heads up and it will be better next time. I always put my driftwood in a water bath for 3-4months before use. maybe that helps...cheers jk

 

[macvsog23]

sorry to read this bad news mate. heads up and it will be better next time. I always put my driftwood in a water bath for 3-4months before use. maybe that helps...cheers jk

The Obersturmbannführer stopped me putting my bog wood in the bath sadly

 

[zeebo]

just a thought

I always boil my wood till water is clear, I recently found some don't ,it's personal prefrence, however, boiling on stove takes adding water every few hours. When the water is near to clear , I drop some prime in there, let it set and turn stove off. The wood still too hot to put in tank but I add the Prime just cuz I want to get rid of whatever my town puts in the water, cholorine and chlorimides ,I know for sure, don't know if the chlormides are absorbed into the wood while boiling but I always do it cuz that wood is goin in the tank as soon as it's cool enough, I can't wait!! Who knows, could be a waste of prime , but only put it in when boiling is finished , a few drops while the wood cools in the pot. :dk: Georgie

 

[Brengun]

The Obersturmbannführer stopped me putting my bog wood in the bath sadly

Too funny. :lol:

First spawn is always a little touchy C8, and I am inclined to think it may have been the wood or it was just because they were a weak first batch.

I get the same sort of thing with first spawns of L's and in the rarer ones you're sorta on your own as to raise them so its trial and error till you figure it out and get success.

I reckon next spawn you will have a really good success rate. Hang in there.

As a side note, if you get that sort of thing a second time, I would hit the tank with Sykes BigL wormer as I had massive losses on angelfish until I dosed with that. Didnt even lose newborn fry with dosing and they were much stronger.
Dose is 1ml per 7ltrs and you can just leave it in the water as it disapates by itself.

 

[C8lyn]

Thanks for all the tips. The remaining fry are living in the main tank now until they're big enough to go to my sister who recently got some new fish in her tank. She's had a pair of congo tetras in there alone for a couple of years now and finally got around to cleanj g it up and getting some angels and blue rams.

Aa for the parents, they have spawned since and I had made a thread about it. The male kicked the eggs out and I had them in a mesh fry trap with an airstone. They hatched fine, they're wasnt a lot of them but I had to leave that day as we were going to the Coast for Christmas. I ended up with one out of that lot because I think my yoyo loach was picking them through the mesh. It was disappointing that I was away because I couldn't do anything.

So yeah.. Ill never use new driftwood again. I know what I need to be doing, lets hope that I'm around to do it next time.

 

[Mooo]

:cry: Sorry to hear of the losses, As the others have said, it happens to us all at some point.. Don't blame yourself..We would never say to you "You shouldnt be keeping fish", thats mean, We would hope to be able to offer advice & enhance your knowledge. We all have learnt our lessons & more often than not, they are learnt the hard way...:wb:
Better luck with the next batch..