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hi all,
you might remember a couple of month's ago i swawned my barbatus , well the first and second batch of egg's hached with no problem, i ended up with about 20% fry up 2 date, which are growing well. The problem is every batch since then has just turned in to fungus after 2-3 day's the last batch even managed to hatch 2 fry that where doomed from the start, if i remember right someone said use some anti-fungus with the egg's, which product do i use and how much should i use???. Thank's in advance for any help.

Kev.

One antifungal solution is Methylene Blue. That's probably available at your local pharmacy, and/or your local fish shop.

I'm not sure the strength you should use. I know my book at home has the strength/dosage. If you buy it at the LFS, it should come with instructions on how to use it.

--
Mats

Kev,
I'm sorry for the egg fungus. I'm by no means an expert!! The "product sheet" that came with the methylene blue I purchased said "1 teaspoon per 10 gallons" to prevent egg fungus. I thought this was a lot for Cories. I cut it to a few drops per 10 gallons. It worked. But, I don't know if that's too little.

Congrats on the spawn! Can you please update us with some pics?

Kev,

This is a natural alternative to methylene blue, As you are in the UK, you should be able to get these, they are Alnus glutinosa (Alder) cones. I am not sure of the exact properties but they work as an anti fungal agent. Two or three cones placed in the hatching container will protect the eggs from fungus. There are other natural methods of protecting Cory eggs, The Malayan live-bearing snail and Acelius shrimp (Not sure about the spelling) that are often found with Daphnia, are both good, they actually graze on the surface of the eggs removing fungal spores.

If you cannot get any cones pm your address and I will send you a few.

Ian

thank's for the help guy's. Ian i'll ask Neil at Pier about the Alnus, they are breeding so much i think i'll try both the alnus and the meth blue and see wot work's best for me . I'll post some pic's soon Bronzefry

Kev.

I think we still have not answer why later batch starts to fungus easily.

One maybe past Food accumulation in the tank already kickstart the fungus growth ? So subsequent batch facing an uphill task of survival.

Notice any Water chemistry change like pH ?

the tank is as stable as its ever been and as for food i only feed them live bloodworm and dafnia. It's a puzzle . Im gona feed them up this week and spawn them again next weekend, and try both method's.

Kev.

I'm fairly sure that quite a while ago I read that someone suggested that Myxazin helps prevent fungus on eggs - I think I read it on a Discus forum.

A couple of questions: -
1. do you move the eggs or the adults after spawning?
2. If you move the eggs, when do you do this?
3. When does the fungus start to show?

I'm not sure that Neil will be able to help with the Alder cones.

If you are getting your own Daphnia, have a look amongst it and see if there are any shrimp like creatures, they have a peculiar sideways swimming motion and are easy to spot.

A low pH (5.5-6.0) and hardness (6-8º dGH) would also help.

Ian

Hi Ian,
I move the egg's after spawning with a raizor blade like the "sticky" say's so, and put them in to a tub floating on the surface with an airstone in it. The fungus start's after a minimum of 2 day's and then it's only a few egg's but really quickly after the fist egg's get the lot do. I know they are fertile because the last batch of egg's i got a couple of babies but they where still born . The P.H. do you want me to lower the tank or the tub the egg's are in? I move the egg's after a couple of hour's, they seem to spawn first thing in the morning. It's got to be something im doing because i left a batch in the tank and they only got a tiny bit of fungus over 4 day's but then the other's went on a feeding frenzy and ate them .

Kev.

well then let's try again . they spawned this morning so i left them for a couple of hour's while i went and got some Meth Blue, they are in the floating tub with a airstone and some Meth Blue. I'll keep you all posted

Kev.

I'm by no means an expert, but I've had decent success at raising several broods of paleatus fry. In my research I came across a discussion about low light levels being a major benefit to hatching fry.

My 20gal grow-out tank (which also houses a mesh basket that the eggs hatch in) is situated in a windowless basement room with light from a 60watt "natural light" (more blue spectrum) desk lamp for about 10 hours a day. The overall lighting is very dim by comparison to standard aquarium flourescents. I still lose a percentage of my eggs to fungus, but it is a fairly small portion of the total spawn. If you don't have such a dark location, try wrapping the outside of the tank in black construction paper.

One other suggestion I might throw out there... I didn't specifically see anything about removing the affected eggs in previous posts. Doing so at the first sign of fungal growth will drastically reduce your infestation rate. If you have several eggs clumped together and only some of them appear white, I recommend segregating these clumps from the healthy group rather than risk damaging the viable eggs by separating them.

just want to thank you all for the tip's with the egg's they all hatched this mornin , No fungus at all and no dead baby's .

Kev.

just another update on the baby's . Ihad a good look at them today and from what i can count there is about 60-70 . There is another batch of egg's due to hatch tomorrow so im looking at about 100+ in fry .

Kev

Hi Kev, can you give more detail input as what has change that improve the situation ?

I know you add methylene blue. How much, how often and in how big tank ?
Lightning ?
Also any other condition you have changed ?

Like to grab the perfect formula for myself as well ;)

thanks

hi Corydorus,
bit more detail for you, the lighting is still the same as it's allway's been, just a standard tube 6" above the water. The egg's are put in a floating tub which hold's about 3 lts, to which i put 3 drop's (out of a pipet) and a airstone. Each day i change about 1 litre of water and replace it with water out of the aquarium. God bless Methylene Blue .

Kev