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Sick tank?

I have a wonderful little breeder pair of tilapia in my home, but I am having a terrible time keeping the fry alive. I have 2 tanks for fry. In the 10 gallon, the fry are healthy and growing as they should.

In the 45 gallon however, the fry are a quarter of the size of the siblings in the small tank. Also the large tank has dead bodies on an ever increasing scale, soon they will all be dead!

The ph, ammonia and nitrate levels are the same in both tanks, all within normal ranges. They are standard aquarium setups with air stones and screened filters, the temperatures are close - though probably too cold for them, so I installed an aquarium heater in the large tank today.

I'm considering pitching the large tank - could it be a pathogen of some sort that is not present in the small tank?

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Kadish NYC AA Chair on September 10, 2012 at 1:00pm

Not that I could help you but if you don't give more precise data you will not get a precise answer. You may think they are in normal range but we don't know what you think is normal ;)

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Permalink Reply by Winnie Junttila on September 12, 2012 at 4:24am

Oh!

Thanks! Ph is 7.4. Nitrates show at 10ppm. Ammonia is 0. Temp, though, was very low, and I suspect it may be, if not the culprit in the dying fry, at least a factor. The large tank was only 68 when I checked it. The smaller tank was a couple of degrees warmer. Now I have installed a heater, and I have very few bodies today. Predictably, the fry are much more active today as well! Good thing, as mama is just now releasing her new batch!!