[dobedobedooo]

I had my Bettas spawn on 17 of September. Two months later I moved the fry in a bigger tank. There were 60 of them. They began to develop and grow wonderfully, but in the past week something is wrong and I began to loose them one by one. What puzzles me is that the pack leaders are dying every two or three days. At least it's them I notice.
There are no spots on them. They just begin by searching shadowed places, in the corners or under plants or they stay on top of the leaves. They do rush for food, but their swimming is strange, somehow tilted. I also noticed the back bone getting more curved in a female. After 2-3 days in the shadows they begin floating, yet still swimming after food, at which point I already know they have one more day to live.
Tank: size - 22 gallons, heated (28C or 82F), small filter, planted.
Water changes every other day 30%, now I change about 50%, but it seems worse than when I skipped changing it. I also add 1 tablespoon of pure marine salt/ 5 gallons of water.
Food: pellets, frozen bloodworms and frozen nauplii, alternating frozen food with pellets twice a day.
I tried methylene blue, 3 days ago, but one just died this morning.
I have no idea what else to do. Can someone please explain me what's happening?

 

[Bikeridinguckgirl14]

This is SBD onset caused by over feeding (I think)
This can cause spinal deformities, and I bet what's happening is the pack leaders are eating themselves sick. I THINK
Also depending on their size it might be time to jar them, if they're big enough then being with their siblings would be pretty stressful

 

[logisticsguy]

I would stop using the marine salt for sure. Try using aquarium salt at 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons. I think the marine salt has thrown your parameters out of whack. Marine salt is some dozen salts and fortified with about 70 elements in the relative concentrations you'd find them in the ocean.

 

[Bikeridinguckgirl14]

^+1, I didn't know what marine salt was, just kind of assumed that it was a brand of aquarium salt, so I wasn't going to comment, but if it isn't the same as aquarium salt and did not use it

 

[dobedobedooo]

What does SBD stand for? Maybe that's it as I also noticed a tiny one having an S shaped spinal cord seen from above. I keep an eye on her two weeks now. It's amazing that she's still growing and except for the deformity she's quite active and adapted her swimming and she's curious and alert.

 

[dobedobedooo]

Actually it's marine salt not aquarium salt, without iodine. Thanks for pointing this out for me!

 

[dobedobedooo]

Guys, here's what I did. A week ago I decided not to make any water changes. In fact they started getting sick and dying after I began making water changes every other day to dilute the stunning growth hormone I had just found out about. (this is my first accidental spawn and I did best I could as they developed. Mostly they did it on their own, I only fed them egg yolk and artemias when the time came. Water changes were impossible because the tank was planted with sand on the bottom, so I was afraid I'd suck them out too.) At two months old I moved them in a much bigger tank. I counted 60, so I guess I did good up to that point. Only after I started making regular water changes things got worse.
Now, almost a week later they seem OK. None of them got sick. I don't think I'm out of the woods yet, so I'm waiting to see what happens when the bigger ones reach the size of those that died.
Please feel free to comment as I have much to learn.

 

[logisticsguy]

What does SBD stand for? Maybe that's it as I also noticed a tiny one having an S shaped spinal cord seen from above. I keep an eye on her two weeks now. It's amazing that she's still growing and except for the deformity she's quite active and adapted her swimming and she's curious and alert.

SBD is Swim bladder disease. It happens when the stomach expands to the point of pressure on the tiny bladder organ located behind the stomach. Feeding too much new hatch bbs is a common reason. I would cut way down on that. At this point they should mostly be on a small pellet food like NLS Grow. This will give the fry more balanced nutrition. I would also not ever use the marine salt again its way too high in many minerals so your gH/KH could be off the chart. For the next couple water changes use no salt at all imho. and do 2 back to back 50% water changes to reduce the levels. SBD fry can lead a semi normal life with the handicap, it seldom goes away, sorry.

 

[logisticsguy]

Guys, here's what I did. A week ago I decided not to make any water changes. In fact they started getting sick and dying after I began making water changes every other day to dilute the stunning growth hormone I had just found out about. (this is my first accidental spawn and I did best I could as they developed. Mostly they did it on their own, I only fed them egg yolk and artemias when the time came. Water changes were impossible because the tank was planted with sand on the bottom, so I was afraid I'd suck them out too.) At two months old I moved them in a much bigger tank. I counted 60, so I guess I did good up to that point. Only after I started making regular water changes things got worse.
Now, almost a week later they seem OK. None of them got sick. I don't think I'm out of the woods yet, so I'm waiting to see what happens when the bigger ones reach the size of those that died.
Please feel free to comment as I have much to learn.

A bare bottom tank is ideal for fry because its easier to clean without sucking up fry. You do need to do 50% water changes at least 2x per week minimum to get proper growth and keep parameters in check. 60 fry produce a lot of waste as well as hormone.

 

[dobedobedooo]

Thank you logisticguy. I was caught off guard, but now I've learned my lesson.

 

[logisticsguy]

Thank you logisticguy. I was caught off guard, but now I've learned my lesson.

No problem. The first few spawns are a real learning experience. If you ever need advise just shoot me a pm, Im happy to help. Good luck!

 

[dobedobedooo]

Hi there!
A strange thing happened yesterday as I released the female for spawning. I want to try the leaving-father-with-fry method. So, I had her in a transparent plastic pet suspended in the male's tank and I was going to let her out after one more day, but as I walked by, I saw her releasing eggs alone, just by herself. So, I immediately let her out. During the mating ritual the male just couldn't grab her, but in his attempt, he remained curved, like in an embrace without the female, during which she released eggs and she rushed to collect them while he was stunned in his position. She took the eggs into the nest and continued asking for embraces. It's like things got reversed. Is it possible that the eggs are still fertilized? I'm so curious if someone else had noticed such behavior.

 

[hrutan]

No, he just stunned himself. They do need to be properly wrapped for the eggs to get fertilized.