White Eggs?

[Ness]

We have a pair of Green Terrors that have bred and layed eggs a few days ago. Over the last few days I've noticed that most of the eggs have turned white and furry-looking. This morning when I looked they were all like that. We've been told that this means that the eggs are dead but just wanted to confirm... does anyone else know what white eggs mean?

[joz]

It means the eggs are dead,either from the lack of fertilization or the water paramters are wrong for succesful development.The fur is fungus.

[Ness]

Thanx Joz... better luck next time i guess. http://www.thefishtank.com.au/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif

[joz]

Sometimes an anti fungus solution may help if they were fertilized.
This sometimes helps if the parents aren&#39;t attententive enough and fan their eggs.OR.
Depending on species some of them are very critical about water parameters.
Are you sure there is a male present???who&#39;s doing his job.This is not uncommon with some species desire just to reproduce,you&#39;ll have two females going through the motions.

[Ness]

Haha that would be interesting. But no, I&#39;m definately sure that there&#39;s a male and female. We&#39;ve bred these 2 before and had no problems. But cheers for the advice. http://www.thefishtank.com.au/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

[Sloory]

Hi, should their eggs be put into a tumbler next time? or do you not do that with green terrors?

[Ness]

Good news... we spotted some fry in there a couple of days ago... must have been a pile of eggs somewhere that we couldn&#39;t see (ones that didn&#39;t get fungas-ised... :biggrin: )

[Marc]

It&#39;s strange because we certainly have 60+ healthy fry swimming around now but ALL those eggs were white&#33; So either there was another batch of eggs we couldn&#39;t see or something bizarre happened.

[joz]

Some cichlids do move their fry to a secret spot.

[aquafarian]

Fungus in eggs is usually a secondary problem that starts on a few dead eggs that were not fertile but then spreads to healthy eggs. You need to look out for the whie ones and pick them off if the parents don't. Using fungus cure (http://www.e-aquarium.com.au/buy/cure/fungus-cure) is an option but it is a preventative and won't bring back the already affected eggs. For some fish especially mouthbrooders an egg tumbler (http://www.sydneycichlid.com/egg-tumbler.htm) may be of use but when the eggs are stuck on a rock they can be hard to dislodge without breaking them.