Alight
03-24-2019, 11:52 AM
This note is for breeders who have had success in the past, but now find that few if any eggs hatch. I tried several other methods that did work. Including potassium permanganate, and acriflavine that worked well, and methylene blue that did not work well, but found that all of these were very messy and stained tanks, surfaces, and me. Hydrogen peroxide leaves no mess at all.
Using hydrogen peroxide (HP) for hatching discus eggs.
I started using this when eggs were laid and looked like they might hatch, but very few and mostly none hatchet. I attribute this to a very aggressive egg fungus that is ubiquitous in my tanks and very difficult to remove, and almost impossible to get rid of entirely. The hatching problem has cleared up in the past when I quit keeping discus for a while, and then went back to it. The problem always re-accured after several successful hatchings, and was maintained for as long as I had Discus.
To overcome this I now use hydrogen peroxide. I use a 10 gallon tank for hatching the eggs. To do this I start by filling the 10 gallon tank with RO water straight from my RO holding tank. I have also used water from my RO conditioning tank that I use to mineralize to the proper level for the different ages of discus I have. This also works, but not quite as well as the straight RO water.
I have used RO water that I mineralized to 35 tds, and to 28 tds and to 7 tds. All of these worked, but for some of the parents, the 7 tds (which is what comes directly out of my RO unit) worked best.
https://www.blubonic.com/product-page/35-food-grade-hydrogen-peroxide
The link above is where I got the hydrogen peroxide. You will only need 8 fluid ounces of this as it will last a long time. I strongly suggest you get your hydrogen peroxide from this vender as cheaper brands may have additives, or not be the real thing. 35 % HP is very caustic and will burn you badly if it gets on your skin. It can also cause blindness if it gets your eyes, so be careful. It is not hard to handle if you use a pipette. I like pipettes that have markings on them that let you know how many mL you have in the pipette. I use the pipette to suck up the HP and put the proper amount in the 10 gallon tank I use for hatching.
For a 10 gallon tank, I use 1 mL hydrogen peroxide just before or just after I put the cone with the eggs on it into the tank. I also use another mL of the HP 24 hours later. If the tank the eggs came from is highly infested, you could use another 1 mL 12 hours after the 24 hour treatment. Too much HP on the day of hatching will cause the eggs to fall off the cone.
I try to take the eggs away from the parents as soon as the pair has quit making runs, and are fanning the eggs. However, hatching still seems good if the eggs are collected hours later.
You can take the cone with eggs on it straight out of the tank and put it into the 10 gallon tank. Turn off the aerator in the 10 gallon tank when you put the cone with the eggs in the tank to keep the eggs from falling off the cone.
In the ten gallon tank, I have a heater on the bottom of the tank, and a single aerator made from tubing that has a diffuser on it to make small bubbles.
I keep the tubing in place using a heater clamp. I adjust the bubbles so they are very close to, but to not touch the eggs.
When the eggs hatch, you can put the cone with the eggs on it into a screen that keeps parents from eating the eggs. I make the screening using gutter guard. I put the cone inside the screening right into the 10 gallon tank using water from the 10 gallon tank. It takes some practice to do this without losing some hatched fry that are on the cone. You must keep the cone submerged at all times or it is possible that the hatched fry will float away. Taking the cone out of the 10 gallon tank and putting in into a small container is also difficult, because you must put the container into the 10 gallon tank, and get the cone into the container all under water. Once in the container, because the cone already has the screen on it, the whole container can be lowered into the parent’s tank.
Now you can just worry about the parents taking care of the fry. It will be 3 days after they hatch before they swim out from the screened cone. When they do swim out, the patents ether try to spit them back onto the cone, or try to move them into a group on to a filter or other object in the tank. Very often, the fry will be very hard to see, and you may think they are gone, but they are just well hidden.
The hatch rate is very high using this method, usually at least 90%.
You can also raise the fry in the tank with the parents. However, there are problems with this as well. The HP will kill your bio-filter. You can prevent this my removing the filter until the eggs hatch and then you can change all of the water and put the filter back in, but this will lead to ammonia buildup that can cause problems with the fry. You will have to use much more HP, because the parents’ tank will be much more contaminated with the fungus. This may cause the fry to fall off the cone, if too much HP is used. Also, the hatch rate is usually less because of the fungus and or the ammonia.
Using hydrogen peroxide (HP) for hatching discus eggs.
I started using this when eggs were laid and looked like they might hatch, but very few and mostly none hatchet. I attribute this to a very aggressive egg fungus that is ubiquitous in my tanks and very difficult to remove, and almost impossible to get rid of entirely. The hatching problem has cleared up in the past when I quit keeping discus for a while, and then went back to it. The problem always re-accured after several successful hatchings, and was maintained for as long as I had Discus.
To overcome this I now use hydrogen peroxide. I use a 10 gallon tank for hatching the eggs. To do this I start by filling the 10 gallon tank with RO water straight from my RO holding tank. I have also used water from my RO conditioning tank that I use to mineralize to the proper level for the different ages of discus I have. This also works, but not quite as well as the straight RO water.
I have used RO water that I mineralized to 35 tds, and to 28 tds and to 7 tds. All of these worked, but for some of the parents, the 7 tds (which is what comes directly out of my RO unit) worked best.
https://www.blubonic.com/product-page/35-food-grade-hydrogen-peroxide
The link above is where I got the hydrogen peroxide. You will only need 8 fluid ounces of this as it will last a long time. I strongly suggest you get your hydrogen peroxide from this vender as cheaper brands may have additives, or not be the real thing. 35 % HP is very caustic and will burn you badly if it gets on your skin. It can also cause blindness if it gets your eyes, so be careful. It is not hard to handle if you use a pipette. I like pipettes that have markings on them that let you know how many mL you have in the pipette. I use the pipette to suck up the HP and put the proper amount in the 10 gallon tank I use for hatching.
For a 10 gallon tank, I use 1 mL hydrogen peroxide just before or just after I put the cone with the eggs on it into the tank. I also use another mL of the HP 24 hours later. If the tank the eggs came from is highly infested, you could use another 1 mL 12 hours after the 24 hour treatment. Too much HP on the day of hatching will cause the eggs to fall off the cone.
I try to take the eggs away from the parents as soon as the pair has quit making runs, and are fanning the eggs. However, hatching still seems good if the eggs are collected hours later.
You can take the cone with eggs on it straight out of the tank and put it into the 10 gallon tank. Turn off the aerator in the 10 gallon tank when you put the cone with the eggs in the tank to keep the eggs from falling off the cone.
In the ten gallon tank, I have a heater on the bottom of the tank, and a single aerator made from tubing that has a diffuser on it to make small bubbles.
I keep the tubing in place using a heater clamp. I adjust the bubbles so they are very close to, but to not touch the eggs.
When the eggs hatch, you can put the cone with the eggs on it into a screen that keeps parents from eating the eggs. I make the screening using gutter guard. I put the cone inside the screening right into the 10 gallon tank using water from the 10 gallon tank. It takes some practice to do this without losing some hatched fry that are on the cone. You must keep the cone submerged at all times or it is possible that the hatched fry will float away. Taking the cone out of the 10 gallon tank and putting in into a small container is also difficult, because you must put the container into the 10 gallon tank, and get the cone into the container all under water. Once in the container, because the cone already has the screen on it, the whole container can be lowered into the parent’s tank.
Now you can just worry about the parents taking care of the fry. It will be 3 days after they hatch before they swim out from the screened cone. When they do swim out, the patents ether try to spit them back onto the cone, or try to move them into a group on to a filter or other object in the tank. Very often, the fry will be very hard to see, and you may think they are gone, but they are just well hidden.
The hatch rate is very high using this method, usually at least 90%.
You can also raise the fry in the tank with the parents. However, there are problems with this as well. The HP will kill your bio-filter. You can prevent this my removing the filter until the eggs hatch and then you can change all of the water and put the filter back in, but this will lead to ammonia buildup that can cause problems with the fry. You will have to use much more HP, because the parents’ tank will be much more contaminated with the fungus. This may cause the fry to fall off the cone, if too much HP is used. Also, the hatch rate is usually less because of the fungus and or the ammonia.