H.Redi sick

[ong]

Lost almost 95% of my 5 weeks old H.Redi babies last two days due to their body develop some whitish slime or fungus on them. They stop eating after 3rd week and one by one die off. Now left only 1-2 for my batch 1 flies. Trying formalin treatment currently and hope to save these 1-2 flies. Any other soln ???

Hope my Batch 2 & 3 are OK. Should I add formalin into their tank too ?

For the past 5 weeks, my wife & me work so hard for it......now....

[FuEl]

Hmmm..sorry to hear that. Maybe for next batch you could try to move them between 2 culture vessels every few days? Wash out the used vessel with chlorine and let it dry completely before the next usage. That might help prevent fungus from gaining a foothold.

[ong]

Hi Bro, thanks for your advise. I think of that too but problem is, this menthod require many tanks which lead to another space issues. Anyway, I have setup another 2 ft tank and selective move the 'good' one over with a few drop formalin every 2 days. Hope this will work.

[Chris Low]

Hi Ong, mine was totally wiped out, no cure at all. Just a few questions.

a. How many fries were there in the standalone tank?

b. Have you enrich your BBS and fed enough to your fries?

c. Have you thoroughly fresh water dipped your BBS prior to feeding?

d. In your opinion, is your filtration enough to cope. Have you check NH3 and replace water frequently?

e. Maintain sg at about 1.020?

Sorry, this are the few things I am careful about.

Presently I am keeping 20 fries each 2 feet standalone tank, with big air sponge filter, with control sg at 1.020, with turf algae on 2'' sand bed, + infestation with amphipods and change 50% water weekly. Not forgetting to feed plenty of enriched-(after fresh water dip and wash) BBS. Young horses after 4 weeks may eat up to 1000 bbs/day.

Prevention is the key....

[chinmo]

Yeah bro ong.... we all experience it before..... have not found a way to cure yet..... but formalin shld kill e slime.... u can try..... cos i do not have any fomalin.

[ong]

Hi Ong, mine was totally wiped out, no cure at all. Just a few questions.

a. How many fries were there in the standalone tank?

b. Have you enrich your BBS and fed enough to your fries?

c. Have you thoroughly fresh water dipped your BBS prior to feeding?

d. In your opinion, is your filtration enough to cope. Have you check NH3 and replace water frequently?

e. Maintain sg at about 1.020?

Sorry, this are the few things I am careful about.

Presently I am keeping 20 fries each 2 feet standalone tank, with big air sponge filter, with control sg at 1.020, with turf algae on 2'' sand bed, + infestation with amphipods and change 50% water weekly. Not forgetting to feed plenty of enriched-(after fresh water dip and wash) BBS. Young horses after 4 weeks may eat up to 1000 bbs/day.

Prevention is the key....

Hi Chris,

This is not the 1st time happened to me, just try too many method and still not use. Below are my ans:

a. How many fries were there in the standalone tank?

- 35 to 40 in each 1x0.5x1ft tank with just a spong filter in the centre. When reach 2-3week, will transfer to 2x1.5x1.7 ft tank with a big spong filter in the centre.

b. Have you enrich your BBS and fed enough to your fries?

- For week 1-3 files, no.

c. Have you thoroughly fresh water dipped your BBS prior to feeding?

- Try this method before but failed, for my currently batches. I did not do it.

d. In your opinion, is your filtration enough to cope. Have you check NH3 and replace water frequently?

- All my water conditions are OK, I perform 10% water change twice a day (learn from US website). Dun think is the water condition issues.

e. Maintain sg at about 1.020?

- My at 1.020 - 1.021 with temp 29oC at all time. Temp is still a key issues for me. I still believe temp < 28oC is the best.

Anyway, I think problem is from the food source. BBS is not a good choice. Thinking of purchasing live Copepod from US but is way too ex!! Any bro have 'excess' copepod to let go? I'm willing to pay for it.

As for number of BBS feeding. At all time, my wife will make sure all the tank are filled with BBS. There's no way, they are out of food. We have 5-6 BBS hatching stations running every day.

Still have 2 batches left, 1 at 3weeks & the other 1 week. Will try again.

Hi Chinmo, believe you can purchase fomalin from WC or If you have freinds working in hospital pathology lab, they should able to get it for you.

Cheers

[Chris Low]

Hi ong,

a. How can water be 29Deg C if only air operated filtration is use? Are you using pump with sponge suction type? I use everything air operated just to maintain about 27Deg C. Bacteria multiply best in higher temp.

b. Think decap should be used. Personally I think adding haft cap of bleaching solution and soak BBS in FW for 1 hours before hatch them in salt water - Not the full decap method - at least kill some unwanted bacteria.

c. I also use anti fungus potion that I brought from LFS. Dose only once and let it run about few days prior to puting in new fries.

d. I feed enriched BBS from day 2 on. Using Zeocon from Kent. Guess better food from the start mean better immunity.

e. If by chance your standalone tank is infested with small and big pods, just put 5 fries in it. They may survive by feeding on pod larvae. Of course don't forget to feed your pod. Either flake food or detrius.

I sincerely wish you success. If I have more successful methods I will share all...

[chinmo]

Bro ong, ur tank other than sponge filter.... ant other stuff? like Lrs?

From my experience.... i did raise a batch of 20 plus fries to 2.5 mths.... they were doing okie.... while the other batch next to the 2.5 mths were 2 mths old was completely wipe out by "fungus" but then they were sharing the same system also.....

[FuEl]

Decapsulation might actually decrease hatching rate although most literature claims it increases it. So you might actually end up with a wastage of eggs. Also decapsulation can pose problems if you do not rinse the decapsulated eggs thoroughly before use. Conventional hatching techniques seem good enough..just be careful not to drain out the empty cysts or unhatched eggs. As mentioned, rinsing artemia in freshwater will get rid of most bacteria and fungi.

As for the Artemia, different artemia from different areas have different nutritional values. Those from great salt lake seem the best so far and should be available during Aquarama. If I'm not wrong canned decapsulated artemia eggs may be available and this might save you some trouble in performing the decapsulation yourself.

Enriching with microalgae like T-ISO and pavlova can also be considered. These algae do not need to be live. It would be best to have a microscope to determine which enrichment formulation is ingested best by the artemia. I have no experience with Zeocon but it may be in a particle size too small for efficient ingestion (negative energy balance) or maybe its composed of too much water instead of suspended solids. This might have affected the overall "gutloading". If you feed newly hatched brine shrimp there's no need for enrichment as they have not developed a functional gut and feeding apparatus. If you do decide to enrich, it's best done overnight after the brine shrimps are 12 hrs post hatch as they can feed by then.

Once the fry get bigger, copepods would be good as suggested..but can be painstakingly hard to maintain in significant numbers. Shrimp larvae would be a better choice. It would be good to farm a separate colony of shrimp like ###### shrimp or cleaner shrimps that reproduce at a regular basis. Think of it this way..if you have 50 ###### shrimps..you'll probably get a constant suppy of shrimp larvae at least once every few days to feed your seahorse babies. Cleaner shrimps can be considered but these take a longer time to mature. Think of it this way..bulk ordering 100-300 ###### shrimp might only set u back about $2-$3 (or maybe even less?) per shrimp. Small price to pay to have constant reliable supply of nutritious food don't you think? If I were to ever consider breeding seahorses on scale with high survival, I'll probably stock up on at least 500 ###### shrimp and not worry about food issues. Crazy of me?

Temperature might be a factor too. I believe 26-27 degrees might help to prevent excessive bacterial blooms and to increase dissolved oxygen content. In an enclosed system with high food load, bacteria and fungi will grow as long as there is accumulated waste on tank walls, etc. It's a good preventive move if culture tanks could be switched every few days or best every day. I believe that would help significantly as that is the practice for most commercial fish hatcheries.

[ong]

Hi ong,

a. How can water be 29Deg C if only air operated filtration is use? Are you using pump with sponge suction type? I use everything air operated just to maintain about 27Deg C. Bacteria multiply best in higher temp.

b. Think decap should be used. Personally I think adding haft cap of bleaching solution and soak BBS in FW for 1 hours before hatch them in salt water - Not the full decap method - at least kill some unwanted bacteria.

c. I also use anti fungus potion that I brought from LFS. Dose only once and let it run about few days prior to puting in new fries.

d. I feed enriched BBS from day 2 on. Using Zeocon from Kent. Guess better food from the start mean better immunity.

e. If by chance your standalone tank is infested with small and big pods, just put 5 fries in it. They may survive by feeding on pod larvae. Of course don't forget to feed your pod. Either flake food or detrius.

I sincerely wish you success. If I have more successful methods I will share all...

Hi Chris,

a. A lot of ppl dun believe, my area are dam hot. Room temp can be 32-33oC for during seasons. Yesterday, 32oC. Water temp is always a issues for me.

b. decap as what FuEl bro mentioned is true. What I do is once the bs hatched, I will suck up the bbs to another container. A lot of work but no choice.

c. I'm using Formalin, dose evey 3 days currently.

d. enriched BBS only can be done on the 2 days above bbs. Feed 2-3 files with older bbs is not advisable.

e. pods, this is what I'm looking at now. If you have, do sell it me.

Hope everyone of us has a good successing rate.

Rgds

[ong]

Bro ong, ur tank other than sponge filter.... ant other stuff? like Lrs?

From my experience.... i did raise a batch of 20 plus fries to 2.5 mths.... they were doing okie.... while the other batch next to the 2.5 mths were 2 mths old was completely wipe out by "fungus" but then they were sharing the same system also.....

Hi Chinmo,

For my SH bb tanks set up. Just a sponge filter and that it and all are stand alone tank. No conection. As I change water every day, water condition is ok.

I think water temp is a key issues now for why the SH files get "fungus". I currently have 11 files with 4 weeks old seem ok. But this morning, I found one, my only one 6 weeks old flies get fungus. Try fresh water formalin tip this morning, see if can recover. As I already got 2 chiller running now, can not get another for my files tank set up. Monthly e-consumption is dam high!

Will keep you updated on my flies progress again

Cheers

[ong]

Decapsulation might actually decrease hatching rate although most literature claims it increases it. So you might actually end up with a wastage of eggs. Also decapsulation can pose problems if you do not rinse the decapsulated eggs thoroughly before use. Conventional hatching techniques seem good enough..just be careful not to drain out the empty cysts or unhatched eggs. As mentioned, rinsing artemia in freshwater will get rid of most bacteria and fungi.

As for the Artemia, different artemia from different areas have different nutritional values. Those from great salt lake seem the best so far and should be available during Aquarama. If I'm not wrong canned decapsulated artemia eggs may be available and this might save you some trouble in performing the decapsulation yourself.

Enriching with microalgae like T-ISO and pavlova can also be considered. These algae do not need to be live. It would be best to have a microscope to determine which enrichment formulation is ingested best by the artemia. I have no experience with Zeocon but it may be in a particle size too small for efficient ingestion (negative energy balance) or maybe its composed of too much water instead of suspended solids. This might have affected the overall "gutloading". If you feed newly hatched brine shrimp there's no need for enrichment as they have not developed a functional gut and feeding apparatus. If you do decide to enrich, it's best done overnight after the brine shrimps are 12 hrs post hatch as they can feed by then.

Once the fry get bigger, copepods would be good as suggested..but can be painstakingly hard to maintain in significant numbers. Shrimp larvae would be a better choice. It would be good to farm a separate colony of shrimp like ###### shrimp or cleaner shrimps that reproduce at a regular basis. Think of it this way..if you have 50 ###### shrimps..you'll probably get a constant suppy of shrimp larvae at least once every few days to feed your seahorse babies. Cleaner shrimps can be considered but these take a longer time to mature. Think of it this way..bulk ordering 100-300 ###### shrimp might only set u back about $2-$3 (or maybe even less?) per shrimp. Small price to pay to have constant reliable supply of nutritious food don't you think? If I were to ever consider breeding seahorses on scale with high survival, I'll probably stock up on at least 500 ###### shrimp and not worry about food issues. Crazy of me?

Temperature might be a factor too. I believe 26-27 degrees might help to prevent excessive bacterial blooms and to increase dissolved oxygen content. In an enclosed system with high food load, bacteria and fungi will grow as long as there is accumulated waste on tank walls, etc. It's a good preventive move if culture tanks could be switched every few days or best every day. I believe that would help significantly as that is the practice for most commercial fish hatcheries.

Bro FuEl,

Good info.! I'm now trying Cleaner shrimps method. Will go and purchase ###### shrimp this Sat........

Thks

[FuEl]

Can try mud crab also..go choose those with ripe eggs..once eggs hatch feed the larvae to your horses...then after that cook the crab to reward yourself!

[Chris Low]

Hi Ong,

If temp is the problem, try building a jacketed tank. A 1.5 feet within a 2 feet tank with chilled water running outside - no water contact into the fries tank. Got to drill 2 holes - one inlet 1/2'' and outlet 1'' overflow back to main tank sump. Inlet must be higher than outlet by 1'' distance. Insulate 3 walls using styrofoam.

This way, you just need to channel water by a small pump or t-off from existing chiller outlet using a valve - not another chiller. Provided that your chillers not running full load yet or water temp of main system is about 25 Deg C average.

Where you position your chillers is just as important. Don't allow the hot exhaust blow back into the main tanks ambient. Ideally channel the hot air out of the window.

Best of regards

[Chris Low]

Hi Chris,

a. A lot of ppl dun believe, my area are dam hot. Room temp can be 32-33oC for during seasons. Yesterday, 32oC. Water temp is always a issues for me.

b. decap as what FuEl bro mentioned is true. What I do is once the bs hatched, I will suck up the bbs to another container. A lot of work but no choice.

c. I'm using Formalin, dose evey 3 days currently.

d. enriched BBS only can be done on the 2 days above bbs. Feed 2-3 files with older bbs is not advisable.

e. pods, this is what I'm looking at now. If you have, do sell it me.

Hope everyone of us has a good successing rate.

Rgds

You should be able to get your pods if you have a sand bed. Siphon out some sand together with detrius into 1 feet tank about 1/2'' thick. Small bubbling and not forgetting to watch the SG and top up fresh water. Should be out in 2 weeks..

[ong]

Hi Ong,

If temp is the problem, try building a jacketed tank. A 1.5 feet within a 2 feet tank with chilled water running outside - no water contact into the fries tank. Got to drill 2 holes - one inlet 1/2'' and outlet 1'' overflow back to main tank sump. Inlet must be higher than outlet by 1'' distance. Insulate 3 walls using styrofoam.

This way, you just need to channel water by a small pump or t-off from existing chiller outlet using a valve - not another chiller. Provided that your chillers not running full load yet or water temp of main system is about 25 Deg C average.

Where you position your chillers is just as important. Don't allow the hot exhaust blow back into the main tanks ambient. Ideally channel the hot air out of the window.

Best of regards

Already got 2 chiller running. Can't affort to have another. Currently, my wife came out a method by hanging a ice pack in the center of the tank. This will maintain the temp at 28. Only problem is that, will reuqire freq. change of ice packs. Anyway, I may concidering giving up my 4 feet reef tank and cover to 3 ft SH tank. Questions is that is it worth it? Spend years on my mix reef tank and is not easy to give up.....

[chinmo]

Yo bro, hw's e fries?

[ong]

Still have around 20. How yours?

[chinmo]

Still have around 20. How yours?

mine ar.... almost all KIA liao... Sianz

[ong]

This morning lost total of 13, left less than 10 liao. Water temp too high. These few days, room temp is around 33oC! This is not a good seasons to raise SH bb leh.