Cichlid Fry Dieing Mysteriously

[Helyanwe]

I have some cichlid fry that are dieing off and I dont know why, we bought the mother from petsmart, she was holding when we got her. She is a bumblebee, the father is unknown. Half of the babies are the normal yellow bumblebee look, the others half are a powder blue with dark black stripes. ALL of the blue babies are dieing off one by one. Today we had 6 die which is the most we have had in one day, its usually one or two.
Water parameters are all good, no spikes or changes in water or temperature. We have changed them to a different tank, wondering if it was something in the fry tank they were in, even tho theres never been issues before. We gave them a half dose of fungus/parasite medicine, that didnt help. Ive put salt in the tank, that didnt help.
A couple of them that have died have had this weird... goo? bump on their head or body, i examined it and its just that, like a slime bump. No idea if thats anything or not.
Its really strange that its only the blue colored babies that are dieing, we havent lost a single yellow.

Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks.

 

[Helyanwe]

11 more baby deaths over the past 2 days.
Ive posted this on 2 aquarium forums and havent gotten a single reply... it seems no one has any idea. Im starting to wonder if theres something wrong with them genetically since its only the blues who are dieing.

 

[jlk]

I am honestly not sure what is going on here. The fact that only the blues are affected makes me question if there is a genetic component to this, even if its something as simple as they have a weaker immunity or are more predisposed to what is happening. Any kind of goo/slime substance indicates to me that there may be some sort of parasite/protozoa issue occurring but why only the blues are affected, I do not know.

I am going to venture a guess on trying a treatment here. I would work on gradually increasing the salinity to .3% (11.4grams/gallon) over 2-3 days and treat with a combo of metro and prazi. A product such as API's General Cure contains both. Metro has the added benefit of having antibiotic properties as well. Expect to treat for atleast 7-10 days, possibly as long as 14 days. I would do big wcs daily and redose meds/salt daily to the tank size. Make sure the salt is predissolved in treated water first before adding and you are only adding back the salt you remove.

I am going to stress, NO guarentees on anything here and I may be totally off base. This is just a guess based on what you have described. Hopefully, a larger breeder will have seen this before and will have a better answer or may be able to specifically ID what this is! Good luck!!