Female axy with eggs still attached to body

[SarahO]

Help! About 6 weeks ago I adopted two axy's from friends who were moving. Four weeks later to our surprise the axy tank was full of spawn, most of which we removed as we had no idea what to do with it. However, the female still has some spawn coming from her behind (about 10-15 eggs) - we left it for about four days after noticing it to see if she laid it, or removed it naturally, but she hasn't and the eggs are starting to go cloudy and grow mould so I have removed most but a few eggs still remain that I can't get to.
Any suggestions? Have I done the right thing here?
Are cloudy eggs dead eggs? If they are still inside are you damaging the axy if you physically remove them? Or will dead eggs intoxicate the axy if they remain inside?

also, one remaining egg has now hatched in the tank and we weren't prepared for it so have no daphnia - if anyone knows of a supplier in the area that can supply in the next 24 hours i would be really grateful. Or anyone who wants a free hatched axy baby that can feed it!

Thanks so much for the help.

Sarah

I live in London and

[Eva]

Hi SarahO,

I fear that this could become a problem. The female may just have been too exhausted to finish laying her eggs, but if they are stuck and now spoiling, they can poison her. I would urge you to take her to a vet as soon as possible. Cloudy eggs are duds, yes.

If you want to raise the larva, you could remove the adults to temporary containers and leave the larva in the big tank until you get some foods going. I can't think of the English word right now but the big tank will have higly nutritious "sludge" from which the larva can feed. Once you get live microfoods for the larva, you can separate it to a small container and put the parents back in the big tank. If you don't want to raise it, leave it where it is and the parents will eat the larva.

Good luck with your girl, though. Please do let us know how it goes.

-Eva

[SarahO]

Hi Eva,

Thanks for your help here! I thought as much but it's good to get that reassurance! I managed to remove all the eggs, they seemed to all be dead and I didn't want her to become intoxicated, but Bongo seems to be fine now. But I did wake up this morning to find she had more eggs coming out again!

Thanks for the tip on leaving the eggs in the tank too, I will remember that for next time.

Thanks loads,

Sarah

[Eva]

Hi Sarah,

That's great news. I'm glad the little mama is ok.

-Eva