# What am I doing wrong? Baby Fry dying



## FishyMama79 (Aug 14, 2008)

As of yesterday I had multiple batches of healthy fry. They are/were all over two weeks old. Today I was doing my daily water change and decided to rinse off some of the fake plants and the little cave I have in my 10 gallon fry tank and I noticed that there were not many fry swimming away from me. I took out the hornwort plants and found that over 50% of my fry were dead ( They are housed in a cycled 10 gallon tank with a filter, hornwort plants, fake plants and a constant temp of 80 degrees. I have been performing daily water changes (about 20%) with treated water and have been alternately feeding them baby brine shrimp, first foods and crushed flake food about four times a day. What went wrong?!! Is there anything I can do to save the rest of my babies?


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

what type of filter? that could be your main issue.

I recommend getting a sponge filter. often times on power filters and canister filters they get sucked into the intake. Take out your filter media and look at it. I'm almost positive that's where you'll find your fry.


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## FishyMama79 (Aug 14, 2008)

It is a power filter (Aquatech 5-15g), but I bought a net to go over the intake that is supposed to prevent them from being sucked into it. However it may be powerful enough that they are getting sucked in and stuck to the net so I am going to buy a sponge filter tonight. For the time being I have removed them from the tank and put them back in the breeder net in my big tank. I can't believe how attached I am to these tiny fish!


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## Guest (Sep 3, 2008)

Well, what species of fish are you losing?


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

DAILY water changes are normally fine, but when hurricanes are coming, it's not a good idea. The water companies have an annoying habit of pumping extra junk into the the water in the hope of keeping it safe & stable if things get bad, and this can sock it to you if you aren't expecting it.
Swish the plants around in a bucket of water to clean them off, and change about 1/3 of the water with bottled water or RO water. 
You could swish the filter media too while you're at it, in distilled water, but don't change it. Then put everything back together and it should be okay.

One common cause of sudden fry failure is growth. The tiny fry are fine, but as they grow they make a bigger mess. It doesn't seem like they could be really having that much of an effect, but they can.


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## FishyMama79 (Aug 14, 2008)

I have now lost all of my fry except three platys and one pineapple swordtail. I still have no idea what is killing them off. I hope these last four can make it.


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