Losing Platy Fry~

**simplykayla76** · 09-09-2012, 04:44 AM

I have a 10 gallon fry tank that has been set up for almost 3 months and I started it with seeded media from another tank. There is was about 20-25 platy fry and {3 molly fry (which i added this past Thursday)} in the tank. Ages ranging from 1 month to 3 months. I do partial water changes every other day. I feed them 3 times a day with Hikari First Bites. The heater is set at 78 degrees but stays between 78-80 degrees. The tank is bare bottom and has a few fake plants and 2 live moss balls. The filter is a AC20. I leave the lights on for about 8 hrs a day. Recently tested and 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrites, 5ppm nitrates, 8.0 pH.

I performed a pwc yesterday. Today I was watching them making sure everything is going okay and notice a dead fry....then another one! So I remove everything except the fry and perform another pwc removing the total of 11 dead fry :O This has never happened to me before! Sure every now and then there might be 1 dead fry during a pwc, but I thought that was normal. I read somewhere that they all don't make it so 1 or 2 doesn't worry me~~~but 11 in less than 24hrs worries me... :'(

Any thoughts?

**f1shg33kz** · 09-09-2012, 05:05 AM

It is normal for some to die, like you said. Do you know if you have copper pipes? I know for shrimp it isn't good to use water that has been sitting in the copper pipes. You run the water for a bit to get fresher water.

Fry are sensitive and this could be a possible cause. All that I can think of.

What are you feeding them?

On a side note, a great plant for fry is guppy grass. I use it in my Endler tanks. I've seen a good increase in fry survival since adding guppy grass. It is also extremely easy to grow.

**simplykayla76** · 09-09-2012, 05:11 AM

I usually fill my jugs up from outside i turn on the water and let it run a few minutes then rinse out the jug then fill and treat.

I am feeding them Hikari First Bites. I can't find any baby brine shrimp at my LFS's.

**f1shg33kz** · 09-09-2012, 05:29 AM

Is there any possibility that something got contaminated? Everything sounds pretty good in your tank. Firstbites is fine, I've never fed my livebearer fry BBS. You can also feed crushed flakes.

**simplykayla76** · 09-09-2012, 09:05 PM

The only thing that changed was adding the 3 molly fry Thursday. And all three of them were very energetic, perky, eating great.

**homemadepopcorn** · 09-09-2012, 10:11 PM

A three month old platy fry has got some substantial size to it... its weird that 11 of them just died. Seems like something went seriously wrong in the last WC.