Alot of fungus on Eggs

[kpotter2]

hello and hope you can help me out! I have a pair of PB and they are young,about 9 months and have spawned 4 times. The last spawn they had wigglers and before that none hatched before they ate them. Anyway alot of the eggs fungus over and I was wondering if its spores in the water or more the eggs are not getting past over by male real well! Pair still seems a little spooked sense I didn't raise them myself and have picked them up from a Chicago breeder. They are much better, because they are happy and spawning,but just wondered about the fungus part. I use R/O water with R/O right added to put back in what R/o takes out. My well water is very bad,but I am going to start filtering it with a better filter to take out Am/Nitrates. Anyway any help would be great. My water is ph 7.1 and TDS 160 to 180PPM and I do water changes twice a week on them,but suck out alot junk off bottom every day twice a day. I do about 30% at a time and just about 50% when I think they are going to spawn. Should I keep up water changes after spawn? Any help would be great. I was breeding Discus in high school about 15 years ago and don't remember having so much fungus!White hairy fungus is what it is and white eggs, like they have not been passed over by male.

Thanks

Kyle

[j_li8]

Considering the age of the fish, it is possible that the male may not be fully mature yet. Give them some time and eventually he should come around and you will see a greater percentage of fertilized eggs.

[kpotter2]

Ok great that is what I was thinking and that is what I am doing giving them time. I really just want someones 2 cents to see if I am thinking right. I had about 15 Good eggs out of about 40 eggs last spawn and only 5 hatched. As of about 4 days ago they eat the last of the 5 and I think it was because they may have been wanting to spawn again!


Thanks

Kyle

[kpotter2]

Well it looked like most where Fertile,but only 5 are hatched. The rest are fungus covered. Anything I can do! Like I said they all looked the same after about 24 hours and then the fungus takes over. Any suggestions


Thanks

Kyle

[AADiscus]

I agree that the male is not fully mature. You also may try getting your water softer. under 100ppms.

[MostlyDiscus]

I agree with Angela on the lower tds. Right now I am getting close to 95 hatch rate with 8 diff pair. Some of the pairs have young males too. My ph is around 5.5 tds 125 or so. I do use a peat stocking in the sump now too. My hatches were bad or non exsitent with ph 6.5, tds 240 and no peat. Do you have a BB tank? Ed

[ShinShin]

Spores are in all fish tanks. One needs to understand that the fungus will only attack dead eggs, so, in this case, it is probabally the male isn't mature enough.

The hyphae grows out over the good eggs, giving the impression that the good eggs are fungused when they are not. The hyphae will also grow out over wigglers, but they usually are able to fight their way through when they become free swimming.

Mat

[kpotter2]

Ok my info was wrong at first, the pair is about 13 months old. I looked back at some of my emails with the breeder. Does this change any thing with you all. I can surely get my tds down I just don't want to lose my good Bactira on my sponges. If I got it to low this will happen. I will try to get it to around 100. I have notice that my angels are having some of the same problems,but not all of them. I do know taht spores are in all water,just wondered if adding maybe some fungal medication would help or look at water. I will try some differant things. Discus are breeding ragularly. Any other info


Thanks

Kyle

[kpotter2]

Oh and thanks so much for all the help so far. I realy think talking about things like this help us salve problems that we all may fight for a long time on our owen.


Thanks

Kyle

[ShinShin]

Over the years I've tried Methylene blue, acriflavin, malachite green, formalin, malachite green/formalin together, and found that I was getting no better results than my usual 40% daily water changes and good old parental care.

Mat

[kpotter2]

Ok so I do my water changes even know they are looking after eggs? I don't do this,because I don't want to disturbed the pair. Maybe that would help!



THank

Kyle

[AADiscus]

Don't worry about disturbing the pair. Do your wc's and keep the tank clean.;)

[MostlyDiscus]

Parents will be fine. If they are good parents then they wont eat the eggs. A long time ago I used Maraycn for egg hatch. I kind of questioned the need for that as well. Now I do a major cleaning followed by PP light solution for 4 hrs then big water change. Seems to work.

[kpotter2]

Well I think that the pair is a little skiddish yet and is not used to my movement round them all the time. I will keep at it and keep up my water changes wile they have eggs. They have just finish loseing there 5th spawn and should be spawning next week sometime again. I will keep you all posted

Thanks

Kyle

[hexed]

Kyle,
Patience is the key, let them be and one day they will get it right. It can take a lot of tries or it could be the next one, they are young and still learning. They will learn more with each try. Keep doing your water changes but do not let the water go below the egg line. You will notice that they will slowly get use to you in the tank and one day will actually attack you for being in there LOL. Best of Luck!!