Problem with infertile male

[patrick richard]

:) Hi everyone, first time posting.

I have a Brilliant blue female and a Red turquoise male breeding pair. They have produced about 10 spawns together, but with no wigglers. I have tested there water over and over and all seems fine. Ph is 6.3 temp is 86 and tds around 80ppm. I have noticed that the male appears to have a tape worm. I saw this about 5 months ago. If a fish has a tape worm will this make him infertile??? If anyone can help me with this I will be grateful.

thanks, Patrick

[LizStreithorst]

If you saw that your male had tapes 5 months ago you should have treated him 5 months ago. When I put a pair in a breeding tank I make sure that they are free of parasites, internal and external. Your temp is a bit high. I'd lower it to 82. You may need to lower your conductivity a bit more. The number itself is important but which minerals are in the water matters, too.

[patrick richard]

Hi,

I treated the male with prazi when I saw the tape worm. If I remember right, he passed 4 tapeworms. I scooped them up with a net and got rid of them. I have not seen anything since. Will you ever be able to get rid of the worms completely? Is this male never going to be able to breed. If need be he will be put in a display tank. What conductivity range should I be looking for?

Thanks for your help, Patrick

[LizStreithorst]

Sorry Patrick, I misunderstood. If you wormed him the worms are gone. That's not the problem. Like I said the temp is a bit high but you should be seeing at least some wigglers. Have you seen the male fertilize? Do the eggs darken up after a day or two? I was wrong about lowering your conductivity. I was thinking in microsiemens. 80 TDS is fine.

[Discus-Hans]

Are you sure your male is a male????

We have our pairs in 82-84F, Ph just under 7 and a microsiemens of 300.
Fry every were.

The water conditions have not so much to do with the fact or they spawn and fertilize, it's more important for the hatching rate.

Do they eat the eggs before they get the change to hatch??? (48-60 hours)

If you really had a good male, in what ever water, after 10 spawns you must had seen at least a few wigglers.
I would change the male out for an other one,

Hans

[CliffsDiscus]

Not all males are fertile, lowering the temp to 82 will help.

Cliff

[patrick richard]

Thank you for everyones advice,

I am not positive that he is a male. Everytime I seperate them, and put them back in my display tank they get back togther and start cleaning a spot. I watch him passing over the eggs when they spawn, so I get excited, but nothing. they never eat their eggs. Half the eggs turn white after 24 hours, but the last ones turn white after 48 hours. I am thinking about putting her back with the original male she was with. They did have six wigglers once. I was just trying to use the other male because he has beautiful colors.

Thank you, Patrick