Urgent Angelfish Fry help needed.

[johney66]

Urgent help needed! I've looked around and couldn't find any info...
I was down to 6 or 8 little angelfish fry and 1 by 1 their dieing off! They all seemed fine, eating and swimming then one seemed to stop eating and laying around at the bottom of the container. When I would feed, it seemed he would be trying to eat but I don't know and would kind of dart around a bit or seem to try to swim pressing it's head against the bottom. When one would get so weak and die I would pull it out and a day or two later another would start doing it, I'm down to 4 now and it looks like I'm fixing to lose another. Water paramiters are fine, I do pwc of 50% twice a day and feed microworms, ground flakes and frozen baby brine shrimp 2x daily, 3x when possible. Please help!​

 

[WildForFish]

Hello,

You stated "at the bottom of the container" are they in a cycled tank?

When feeding, are you grinding the the food to very small particles? The food should be a powder.

I find BBS a good starter food but at this point, a powdered food especially for fry is better than ground flake.
Fry have different nutritional needs.

I also feed 6 times a day, removing any left overs with a turkey baster.

 

[johney66]

Hello,

You stated "at the bottom of the container" are they in a cycled tank?
They are in a bowl floating in a cycled, well established tank. I change the water from there.

When feeding, are you grinding the the food to very small particles? The food should be a powder.
Flake food ground as small as I can get it. Very small particles, almost a powder. I also feed microworms and occasionally frozen baby brine shrimp. Is that what you call "BBS"?

I find BBS a good starter food but at this point, a powdered food especially for fry is better than ground flake.
Fry have different nutritional needs.
I will try to find some powdered fry food.

I also feed 6 times a day, removing any left overs with a turkey baster.
Unfortunately I am unable to be available to feed that often. How long do you wait before removing the leftovers? I usually let thim pick at it until the next feeding and remove them then...

It's not a matter of them not eating to begin with, they were all eating and getting very fat at first. Then one by one they seem to stop eating or something because they get very thin. They look like they are eating but their bellies don't fill then they start acting funny after a few days and then slowly wither away. They are 3-4 week free swimmers at this point.
If it will help I can try to take some video, upload it to Youtube and send you the link...

BTW, that is a beautiful fish you have as your avatar!

 

[Navyscuba]

I doubt that this could be your problem, but I never do 50% in my angel fry tanks. I use decapsulated brine shrimp eggs mixed with egg flake and finely ground flakes as food. I do as WFF suggested with the removing of excess food. That could be where your problem lies. At MINIMUM they need at least 3 to 4 feedings a day to thrive, and if they sit in the excess food very long, since fry have a tendency to rest on bottom, food should be cleaned out soon after feeding. I shoot for 15 or 20 minutes to make sure they have their fill yet don't rest in the food. Sitting on a dirty bottom will lead to bacterial infection of most fry... Angels, catfish, most substrate spawners for sure. I hope you are able to salvage the last few! Good luck!

 

[johney66]

I doubt that this could be your problem, but I never do 50% in my angel fry tanks. I use decapsulated brine shrimp eggs mixed with egg flake and finely ground flakes as food. I do as WFF suggested with the removing of excess food. That could be where your problem lies. At MINIMUM they need at least 3 to 4 feedings a day to thrive, and if they sit in the excess food very long, since fry have a tendency to rest on bottom, food should be cleaned out soon after feeding. I shoot for 15 or 20 minutes to make sure they have their fill yet don't rest in the food. Sitting on a dirty bottom will lead to bacterial infection of most fry... Angels, catfish, most substrate spawners for sure. I hope you are able to salvage the last few! Good luck!

Thanks for the help!
I'm down to 3 now:irked: the one that was ailing finally went. I got some Hakira first bites food for fry today and I will start removing the leftovers and do smaller wc's... When I change their water I have been replacing with water from a cycled tank with good levels. I thought it may be bacterial or maybe a fungus so I tried a methylene blue dip but that was after the one that just died was already sick.
I'm trying to cut back on the microworms and increase the dry foods. We'll see what happens, this is my first experience with fry of any kind...
Thanks again!