What could kill newborn fry?

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Asbestos

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Oct 7, 2009
Messages
124
Location
AZ
I don’t know if this should be in the sick/unhealthy or here but they're dead already so I guess they are no longer sick. My platy gave birth within three weeks of her last “batch” of fry. I have them setup in a ten gallon tank; it has a heater and an airstone but no filter. Well only three fish from the first batch survived, silly me to think they were large enough to be with their mother, the massacre of half eaten fry was horrible but that’s not what I am here about, just explaining why only 3 survived so I guess they died of natural causes. The newest batch was about 13 the first was 21 so I don’t know if that’s a bad thing. But anyway the second batch died in the first night except for a few that died a little later. So I got my water tested and everything was fine except the ammonia and I do a 50% water change every morning. So I was wandering what could have caused them to die? Also the first batch of 3 that survived are fine, and the ones that did die got really cloudy and seemed like almost a white fungus was growing on them.

I want to know this because i don't want my next ones to die
 
Ammonia is most likely what caused the deaths. Is your tank completely cycled?
 
If you had ammonia present in the tank as you indicated that would most likely be the cause of the deaths. Try cycling a sponge filter in an established tank to use next time. Sorry for your losses.
 
No substrate no filter. 50% water changes every day. Ammonia was only a little high tho.
 
The fry that were cloudy and covered in fungus had been in the tank for at least a day or two. When you do a water change, be sure to clean uneaten food, poo, and dead fish from the tank :)
 
Alright, i guess the new ones died just because they were only a day old and the older ones about 3 weeks were a little bit hardier. and i do clean the bottom with my gravel vac.
 
A few other things. When you do the water change, make sure to treat the new water with dechlor for the size of the tank, not what you're replacing. As was advised earlier, get a filter, even a cheap sponge one. Also make sure when you are moving the fry that you acclimate them to the new tank. Doing a 50% change can also be a stress factor. Is the water the same temp? Same ph? Etc. Also as was said above, ammonia with fry is a problem. Remember they are babies and just like us as babies they are fragile.
 
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