Dead BBS

[rockfisher]

I have been hatching BBS for years. All the sudden they seem to be dying in 24 before I can feed them to my fish. Nothing has changed. That I can think of. I use aquarium co-op and have been for about two years. I tried a different brand recently just to see but still bad luck. I love the aquarium co-op but when things are going crazy it was the one thing I could change. Any ideas?

[AllFishNoBrakes]

While I’m no expert, I do hatch BBS about once per week and haven’t had any issues, but here’s what comes to mind:

-Are you saying that after they’ve hatched, they’re dying less than 24 hours from hatching? Or, are they not hatching at all?

-What size vessel are you hatching in?

-What amount of salt are you using in that vessel?

-Is there an air stone in that vessel?

-Temp?

-If they’re dying post hatching, are you keeping them in saltwater?

-Have you tested your tap water? Both before when you weren’t having issues, and now again that you are?

Again, I’m no expert, but these are the questions that come to mind with your initial post. 

[Fish Folk]

Best to go through all of the parameters.

Are you using tap water? Could your source have changed in some way? The first thing that comes to mind is changing from Chlorine to Chloramine. Not sure how that might affect BBS hatches, but it is an idea. I think you can search your public water reports online in US here

Maybe slowly eliminate options. Try hatching out BBS in anther location, different source water, etc. Maybe the batch of eggs went bad? Try a new batch.

When my air is insufficient, I get rapid die-off.

 

[Cory]

I've seen this happen before. Know that something has changed for you. The most common ones are temperature when hatching, or not getting the container clean enough, and bacteria builds up on the inside and can change how they tumble etc.

[rockfisher]

The only thing I can think of  is the well water after the hurricane. I’m getting a hatch they just are not staying alive like they were before. I have two ziss hatcheries. I feed one during one day and the second is making for the next. I think I’m going to have to test the well water. It just seems odd that they would hatch and grow but not live the extra 8-12 hours to feed through the day. I do have the air on the low side but I have done that for about a year and half after a saw a video in which Dean said he thought a lot of BBS were lost because of high bible flow. That has not changed. At least I don’t think. After Ian I was not hatching any for about 4 weeks most because there was no power for two of those weeks. I guess saying nothing changed isn’t exactly right because everything changed. But the setup is the same. 

[rockfisher]

Now that I have reread this a four or five times I am going to really clean the ziss hatcheries. I just rinsed them when the storm came. Water was at a premium and mybe when I restarted I didn’t clean then well enough. Thank You Cory

Edited November 7, 2022 by rockfisher

[Guppysnail]

This may sound crazy and may not be what you see. 
As seasons change and temps get lower in the house I had three batches i thought died. I harvested at my normal time and it was orange but I saw only a handful actually moving. on the third batch I hooked the air back up and let it run another 6 hours hoping to salvage at least a few more. 
When I harvested all the still orange ones I thought were dead were alive and well. They are so tiny I think I had mistaken the bright orange unmoving ones that were all floating rather than sinking as well as some that were sinking as dead when they just had not completely hatched. 
Edit to add the recent hurricane your water company is most likely heavily treating the water with chemicals. If you are in well water perhaps something got into the well. 

Edited November 7, 2022 by Guppysnail

[rockfisher]

Well I’m not sure what one thing did the trick but two things where likely the the biggest things. #1. I got my Aquarium Co-op brine shrimp eggs ordered and delivered after the hurricane. I love them. 2#. I cleaned both ziss hatcheries very well. Now things are back up and going I have 4 pairs of angels with fry, panda Cory fry, a sharp increase in some guppies that produce smaller numbers, and My Discus look much better. Thanks for the help everyone.