Fungused Eggs - Male Infertile?

[animagusbc]

Hi there.

My friend purchased a pair of Pearl White Pigeon Bloods that apparently have spawned and got to the Wriggler stage but that's as far as it went.

The last two spawns, all the eggs fungused over. Could this mean that the male is infertile or will this happen a few times before anything will ever happen? Would you suggest trading males or just leaving the current male in the tank and just let nature take it's course.

Any help would be much appreciated. :)

[Robin764]

I was told when my proven pair had fungused eggs to just be patient. The move, etc reverts their parent-raising talents. I found this hard to believe, but have found it to be soooo true. Just moving my pairs from one 20 to another will revert them back to stage one. Fungused eggs....eat em...then next spawn good eggs...eat em....then next spawn, wrigglers....eat em....then next spawn....Good parents. Thank goodness they spawn every couple days:)

Robin

[animagusbc]

Thanks for the info Robin.

I kinda figured so as my pair bred 3X before they got it right. I'll have to let my friend know as they are getting really frustrated seeing so many eggs and then seeing them all fungus over. Seen it done with my pair so not all that new.

Jonathan


I was told when my proven pair had fungused eggs to just be patient. The move, etc reverts their parent-raising talents. I found this hard to believe, but have found it to be soooo true. Just moving my pairs from one 20 to another will revert them back to stage one. Fungused eggs....eat em...then next spawn good eggs...eat em....then next spawn, wrigglers....eat em....then next spawn....Good parents. Thank goodness they spawn every couple days:)

Robin

[kodiak]

Since they have had wigglers before the male should be fine. How quickly does the fungus develop? Your friend may want to check his water quality as this can be a contributing factor.

[mike J]

I have a proven pair that have spawned several times in their current tank. I do 50% w/c every day, the tds is 80 ppm, ph is 7.4 so I think the water quality is very good.

so far this pair has had only one succesful spawn and two spawns that looked great but the wigglers all got lost in the sponge filter. For all three of these spawns I used formalin and there was almost no fungus on the eggs. all other spawns I did not use formalin and fungus was a problem every time.

Also the three good spawns were not concurent and they were not the last three spawns. So if I use formalin no fungus, if I don't there is fungus for sure. The male must be fertile because of the three non-concurent good spawns.

There were as many as 5 fungused spawns between good spawns and I only used formalin on the good spawns becuase I wanted to see if the formalin makes a diferrence.

It seems that fungus can be a problem on eggs even if the male is known to be good and the water quality is excellent.

IMO :D

[ShinShin]

Fungus will not attack a viable egg. Fungus will grow on dead tissue. There was something different happening in these spawns, IMO. My guess is somehow the ionic composition was altered, affecting the eggs. Infertility in males is not common as a reality. Some just don't seem to care, but carry viable sperm. Did you see the male participate in the spawning ritual on the fungused batches? I've had males just watch some of the time while the female laid eggs, while other times they did their part. This would be my other thought.

[BanMeNot]

I had 3 pair of fish spawning for 3 months and all fungus. Finally I figureed it out the water quality is issue. I did wipe all tank surfance, clean all spongy, use PP treatment and I have a BIG spwan like 70 3-weeks frys now :-)

As you said your pair have wrigger before, I believe is water quality causing fungus. Also you can try feed BW to keep water clean all time. And have a large water change before their spawn. Hope that help.

Keith

[limige]

try not to use any BH in breeder tanks!!!!! this will fungus eggs every time! just a warning!

[mike J]

After the most recent spawn from my pair of SRT's I find that my opinion on fungus must be changed. I thought that the formalin was preventing fungus but the last spawn forced me to re-evaluate my opinion.

My pair spawned 3 days ago and I added formalin to the water. I also had a close look at the eggs and noticed that adout 60% of the eggs were darker than the others, I assume the darker eggs were the fertilized ones. after about 36 hours many of the lighter colored eggs were covered in fungus, the dark eggs had darkened even more and were untouched by the fungus.

I find that I must agree with ShinShin on this, the fungus did not seem to attack the viable eggs. For future spawns I think I will make sure the tank is spotless and I will just have to wait for the male to perform a little better.Also, I will stop using formalin because I do not like using carcinogenic substanses in my fish tanks.

It said that good things come to those who wait, I shall try the waiting game for awhile. :)

[ShinShin]

Good observation, Mike. Fungus is not the problem. The dead eggs are. The eggs are always dead before the fungus attacks. One needs to prevent the dead eggs. The fungus is only doing what it evolved to do - eat decaying matter.

Dead eggs are present because there are 2 females, water's ionic composition, infertile male (rare), unattentive male (more common than infertile males), parasites attacking eggs. There are others, but these are common.

Mat