16 dead babies :-(

[auntiejude]

@Kaysie I considered genetics, and it could be a factor. But a batch I sent to someone else are absolutely fine - 100% hatch and 100% survival at the same time as mine died. If it was genetics I would have expected the others to have a problem too. And the larvae were different ages too - some were 1 week, some were 2 weeks.

@Layna, they were a mixture of wild-types and albinos, possibly some melanoids too (can't really tell at 20mm!). They all looked healthy until they flipped on their sides or back or stopped moving

I am convinced it was environmental - it all happened very quickly, the smallest ones were worst affected, and it all stopped in 24 hours after 2 water changes and a change of food.

I am down to 22 larvae but they all seem fine - I have them on daphnia and I'm trying chopped up bloodworms with one group. I just saw one catch a bloodworm so they are definately hungry!

 

[layna]

I never found a conclusion as to what cause the death of mine, no one on here knew and i cant think of anything i did wrong, but they all went grey with ice white gills no matter what their colour so there was defiantly something wrong, the only thing the two tubs shared was a pipette and i dont think cntamination would be that severe.

Maybe they were just a batch clutch of eggs? was it the mamas first laying?

 

[auntiejude]

Yes it was their first batch, for mum, dad and me!

I know I may never know the exact cause, I was just hoping that someone may have some ideas beyond my experience and research.

Time to move on with the remaining little darlings :happy:

 

[layna]

Well ive read somewhere that first batches tend not to be so successful, something like 50% mortality rate i think(could be wrong), so maybe that contributed?

 

[willowcat]

Didn't you say that you cull the eggs before they hatched. If so, why?

 

[willowcat]

Kaysie,
Thiaminase poisining....Being it is an enzyme, can the mother pass it to the young? Especially, being the fact that the young have yolk sacks.

 

[auntiejude]

Yes I culled the eggs, I kept about 60 in total, found some more in the tank (sneaky mum hid them!), sold some and hatched about 60 myself. There is no way I could have hatched and kept 600 larvae, and I couldn't have culled little larvae - I'm too soft! What difference does that make to my babies dying? I had just over 60 hatchlings, lost a few, then 30+ died in one night.

 

[willowcat]

When I ask you something, I do not want you to think that I am condemning you. I ask these questions so hopefully I may help and also, so I can learn. I did not realize that the 16 deaths came all at once. If they didn't, and food wasn't an issue, then I would of then applied Kaysies' genetics reply and also, would of asked you how old your female is. I have come to learn, after receiving eggs from someone, the embryo was huge, the hatchling was huge, and the growth rate was superb, and the death rate was down, considerably. I asked her why her egg was like this. She told me the female was 8 years old. Now, I also recently, received eggs from a person, for the forth different time, and these eggs were all duds except 23. His past batches have been strong eggs. He thought maybe it was a new and younger male. That is something I would like to know, if young males bring into account, the weakness factor, like young females? When I asked you why you culled them, it is not that I was trying to pin you down or make you feel bad. I am not here for that. I asked because I can't understand why some people only want a few eggs, given the death ratio factor. What my thoughts of culling of eggs are, for me, is to hatch, and feed, grow, then sell hatchlings. Woooooooooopsssss.......just gave away one of my future marketing secrets.....My thought is I cull what I want, and I sell only living, established, on food hatchlings. (I know most people are not set up for volume). But I feel, that it is just as easy to feed 600 as it is 50, up to a point. Say, around three weeks. Then space starts becoming an issue. What you do with your eggs is your business. I figured, if I ask you trival questions then I can hopefully pin point the answers that I am looking for. Because you and I both know that we bust our rears culturing this stuff, and the last thing we want to see if a bunch of death! So let me ask and if I figure it out, you will be the first to know. :happy:
I would like to send you a friend request....will you accept?
Trace

 

[Kaysie]

Woooooooooopsssss.......just gave away one of my future marketing secrets.....

Good luck. I'll tell you what I tell the vast majority of people wanting to breed mass quantities: you'll be lucky if you break even. There just isn't that big of a market for axolotls, and the overhead (food, shipping, etc.) is high.