Severe Stunted Growth

[Neurus]

Hi guys, I have hit a bit of an area for concern. Of the second clutch of eggs that hatched about a month ago i have 4 survivors. (When i moved house all but 4 died with the motion). Of these four there are three wildtype/dark melanoids that are about 3cm long now and are starting to get little buds at the front. The 4th one is evidently a leucistic, I know its meant to be hard to tell at this point but its a pure white body, black eyes and pink gills. It is also only 1cm in size, literally a third of the size of its siblings. It is eating daphnia as are the others, but has not grown in three weeks. So much so i now have two nursery baskets in the adult tank, one for the three bigger ones and one for the runt of the litter.

Has anybody else had this happen? Is it area for concern? It would be an absolute shame as this is the first ever white survivor from Neurus. Her Larvae usually are about 70% white and they usually all die in the first week and are seriously deformed. The wildtypes/melanoids however grow up perfect

 

[madeve]

my larvae seem to be growing very slowly, they hatched in mid-december and one is a little shy of 3" and the other is just at 2". I have fed them mainly brineshrimp I tried frozen bloodworms but they didn't care for that much and I now feed blackworms.
Hope your little runt survives.

 

[Kaysie]

I've found that generally, leucistics grow slower than others.

 

[madeve]

I've found that generally, leucistics grow slower than others.

that would explain my two little axies

 

[Jake]

Some larvae just naturally grow slower, they are the weaker ones which doesn't make sense that those are the only survivors our of an entire clutch. In nature the weaker larvae become food for their sibblings.

That's strange that all but four died in transit especially if the weak ones lived. They can handle motion (not quite as well as eggs or juvies), are you sure there weren't water quality issues or a lack of food maybe?

 

[pete]

Her Larvae usually are about 70% white and they usually all die in the first week and are seriously deformed. The wildtypes/melanoids however grow up perfect

The genetics of this result isn't obvious to me, but it sounds like she's got some unfortunate genes. I wouldn't stress about the Mini-lotl, hopefully it'll catch up.

 

[Neurus]

The genetics of this result isn't obvious to me, but it sounds like she's got some unfortunate genes. I wouldn't stress about the Mini-lotl, hopefully it'll catch up.

This is the parents if thats any help. Neurus is the albino Kiro is the Melanoid

 

[Neurus]

Some larvae just naturally grow slower, they are the weaker ones which doesn't make sense that those are the only survivors our of an entire clutch. In nature the weaker larvae become food for their sibblings.

That's strange that all but four died in transit especially if the weak ones lived. They can handle motion (not quite as well as eggs or juvies), are you sure there weren't water quality issues or a lack of food maybe?

To say Died in transit really means that a stupid removals guy manged to kick over the tank

 

[Genome42]

My leutisitcs were small and slow to grow compared to the speed other colours have grown from posts on the forum. But i don't think that was helped by the temperature as it was very cold up here. I also had one who seemed to stop growing as his siblings were getting huge although he was stilll eating as i could see the food through his belly. He has caught up now and is the same size as the others.
Im sure yours will catch up and keeping them separate is the most sensible course of action until his growth gets going.

Genetics-wise, I think there must be a lethal/semi-lethal gene of some description next to the white gene in either mum or dad or both. Which means those larvae who inherit white also end up with the bad gene. Alot of the lethal/semi-lethal genes on the list of the colony website have been identified in whites but i guess that might be due to the inbreeding needed to ensure you keep the white gene. Just an unfortunate roll of the genetic dice for your pair!

 

[pete]

Genetics-wise, I think there must be a lethal/semi-lethal gene of some description next to the white gene in either mum or dad or both. Which means those larvae who inherit white also end up with the bad gene. Alot of the lethal/semi-lethal genes on the list of the colony website have been identified in whites but i guess that might be due to the inbreeding needed to ensure you keep the white gene. Just an unfortunate roll of the genetic dice for your pair!

But even if both parents had a white chromosome linked to a lethal gene (Can't be homozygous or they're dead), you shouldn't have more than 25% dead progeny. So to get 70% lethality, I think there must be something more going on. Possible multiple lethal genes in the parents or perhaps a gene affecting egg or sperm development, I don't know.

 

[philbaker76]

Not sure if this is relavent, but in every batch of eggs I get at least one "runt"; it looks like the other hatchlings - except the eyes are smaller and head a square shape. ...they grow slow and always seem to die at about week three/four.

Winter batches do take longer to raise - the ones that eat more seem to grow quicker.