Freshly hatched Leliella sp. larva with fungal affliction of its egg shell

[Andreas Werth]

Hi,
I wanted to share a photo of one of my Leliella sp. larvae, freshly hatched yesterday.
I found it to be interesting, that although the egg shell was obviosly afflicted by some kind of fungus, the larva hatched without a problem (as far as one can say for now).



I hope you like it.

[trident]

That's some nice photography
You mean that fry is from that egg shell?
That's interesting, usually fungus infected don't hatch at all.

[Andreas Werth]

Hi Richard,
thanks, I´m 100% sure that egg shell and larva belong together, since this larva was the first and only one who hatched out of the group. It was born while I was cleaning their little tank.
And like you said, it is not true, that fungus only afflicts unfertilized eggs or eggs with already dead larvae.

[benny]

Excellent capture and very good control on the lighting!

What is the setup like on this extreme macro shots?

Cheers,

[Andreas Werth]

Thank you Benny,

I used an EF 60/2.8 macro lens combined with 3 Kenko extension tubes (12, 20 & 36mm) and two flashes triggered via infrared transmitter ST-E2. Egg shell and larva have been photographed from above in a glass bowl.
No tripod used, I tried to keep a steady hand ;-)

[benny]

At these magnification, steady hands you have indeed! Thanks for sharing with us!

Cheers,

[Andreas Werth]

You´re welcome, Benny :-)

Talking about fungal infestation...

(@all:)
can you imagine, that there is hope for life inside these eggs?

[luenny]

Woah! The last photo is really something. If you don't tell me what it is I would have though it is some form of art.

[Merviso]

Wow... wonderful shots...

Looks like a life & death battle for the small fries... Hope that they can survived the fungus attack and grow up stronger! Good luck!!

[Andreas Werth]

Hi,
inside every single egg was a living fish and I helped them out two days ago.
I wouldn´t have thought that this is possible, before I ran into this.
But at the moment I have to fight fungal infestation on some of the fries itself, so keep your fingers crossed.

[celticfish]

Andreas, wonderful pictures as usual!

I'm not to familiar with the fish you have but you can consider using Sea Almond Leaves.
They do make the water acidic and if enough is used turn the water into "blackwater".
Most important is the leave secrete anti-bacterial stuff into the water.
I had a discus pair whose eggs kept getting fungused.
Eventually I realized it was an infertile male...
BTW the eggs just turned white after I applied the leaves.
No fungus formed around the unviable eggs till they eventually disintegrated.

[Andreas Werth]

Hi celticfish,
thank you.
Unfortunately it looks like its too late, fungus already took over. I do use Sea Almond leaves since two days, before I used an extract out of parts of alder trees (fruits in the botanical meaning, in german called Erlenzäpfchen), but it was either not strong or not concentrated enough.
So, unfortunately all larvae suffer from fungal affliction now and I have no hope that they will make it :-(

I did this shot yesterday:



(@Benny: this one is nearly uncropped and shot with 20/3.5 & FD-EOS macro converter combination;-))
You can see that growing is restricted to the pectoral fins.

The good news is that the parents working in the next batch. I won´t try to raise them without parents this time.

[celticfish]

Oh, just recalled you're in Germany...
You can use oak leaves too!

[benny]

I did this shot yesterday:



(@Benny: this one is nearly uncropped and shot with 20/3.5 & FD-EOS macro converter combination;-))

Woah!!! That's some impressive magnification!! For those not in the know, these pictures are wayyyy more magnified that what the famed Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5X macro lens can do.

If the fishes don't make it, at least the pictures will serve as a reference for fungal infections on the eggs. Great stuff!!!

Cheers,

[Andreas Werth]

Hi Benny,
the lens is capable of doing more than 5:1, but in this case - you can´t possibly know - I used it without belows. Instead I used it with two of three of my Kenko tubes (12 & 20mm). I have to check later, but I guess it is less than 5:1 in this case, maybe 3-4:1. Anyway, without your advice and great help, I wouldn´t be able to use these fine gems of photo hardware - thanks a ton, my friend :-)
That lens is razor sharp. Used f3.5 above.

You can use oak leaves too!

Thanks, we *do* have almond leaves, too :-) (but we have to import them)