Angelfish keep dying after I feed them

Hi!
I have a big problem for about 2 years so far. I tried almost everything with little or no success. The only thing I did not try, is to feed them with something else, not with brine shrimps.
I'm breading angel fishes (for fun, non commercial), and I use live brine shrimps. I noticed that after the feeding some of the fray start to swim chaotically and after 5min they are dead. Usually about 2-20 dead after the feeding (from 200-300 total). And at the end, survived only 20-30 babies. I can not find the problem. Today I feed my fry (3 days old after they became free swimmers) and after they finish eating ...start dying and in 5min all of them (about 400) were dead(actually only 3 survived). I check them under a microscope and I noticed that the babies are dead, but the heart, still working(I checked about 10 and it was the same with all of them). I can see them with full stomach... Is it possible that they overeat. The are dead from some kind of stress, but I can not figure out what is the cause of that.
Please advice. Thank You.

 

Hello and welcome. I'm nit experienced with Angels, but maybe Flowingfins can help or call on others experienced with Angels.

 

Where do you get your baby brine shrimp from? Do you hatch them yourself? I am assuming they are baby brine shrimp.....There is a possibility there is some bacteria or something in the brine shrimp....

It is very odd that they would all die like that right after eating. I feed freshly hatched BBS to all of my angelfish babies and they eat WAY more than they probably should, but I have never had them die from overeating.....

How long have they been free swimming when this starts to happen? is it their very first feeding that kills them? What kind of tank do you keep the fry in? What temp? what size? how often do you do water changes? etc

 

Yes I hatch the BBS(babies brine shrimps) by my self. I bought them from Ebay last year. I have raised many babies to adults for the last year. But I always have had dying babies after the feeding, but never all of them. For sure it is related to the BBS, but it is something I do wrong. The last thing I did was: I decapsulated the eggs and then I hatched them to avoid any shells in the aquarium. I have fry right now 5 weeks old (approximately 150 babies) and many of them have died after feeding, but even though, I have around 50% surviving rate with them. The babies who has just died, were free swimmers for 3 days.
I keep feeding the fry with BBS for 3-4 days after I hatched them. Is it possible that they(BBS) become too big and can kill the babies?!?! But I feed them at morning and nothing happen, and then at the afternoon, all are dead 5 min after they have eaten...

 

I'm sorry...I am at a loss then Maybe Tolak can help!

 

What's your water parameters?

 

GH -->7
KH --> 3.4
pH --> 7.4
T -- 28C
Water change --> 1/week 35% to 45%
I do not think it is water issue.
It is clearly there is a feeding problem, but could be something else....
Thank you.

 

I didn't have luck with my Angelfish fry until I did daily water changes

Do you test your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates?

 

Amonia is 0.
nitrates is 0;
nitrites: I can not test them right now.

I have newborn babies today....I need to find solution for them. I do not want to see them dying again...I have 7 days before they became free swimmers.

 

Zero nitrates sounds uncycled..

 

My fault....by mistake yesterday I did 2 x Ammonia test....
Nitrates:10

 

My fault....by mistake yesterday I did 2 x Ammonia test....
Nitrates:10

Again, what are you keeping them in?

What was the ammonia reading? I only see the nitrate reading. And even a nitrate reading of 10 can be high for angel fry. They are very sensitive. Hence the need for DAILY 50% water changes.

Just because it appears the food is what is killing them, that could still be a result of stress from water quality. For example, I ordered baby angels online, they were dime sized when I got them (not even dime sized actually) and the most important thing they told me was to not feed them when they are very stressed. And to especially not feed them live food when they are stressed. (and obviously they are stressed from the shipping process) I know the scenario is different, but I just wanted to explain how water conditions can be the contributing factor even though it APPEARS to be the food itself.

So the size tank you are keeping them in, along with water quality is a huge factor here. What size is the tank?

 

Here is the result of my investigation: DO NOT FEED THE FRY WITH ARTEMIA OLDER THAN 4 DAYS after the hatch!!!!!!!!!!!!! The older artemia is killing the yang and fragile fry.

 

Here is the result of my investigation: DO NOT FEED THE FRY WITH ARTEMIA OLDER THAN 4 DAYS after the hatch!!!!!!!!!!!!! The older artemia is killing the yang and fragile fry.

Oh yes.... that is true, you're only supposed to feed them freshly hatched BBS. The oldest ones I have fed to my fry were about 24 hours old....max

I didn't realize you were feeding the fry bbs that was 4 days old... I see that you mentioned that now that I reread your other post. Maybe you should only do the shrimp for one to two days at the most before you hatch new ones for them

 

Oh yes.... that is true, you're only supposed to feed them freshly hatched BBS. The oldest ones I have fed to my fry were about 24 hours old....max

I didn't realize you were feeding the fry bbs that was 4 days old... I see that you mentioned that now that I reread your other post. Maybe you should only do the shrimp for one to two days at the most before you hatch new ones for them

Up to 3 days is safe...but more than that is dangerous.