he doesnt have to eat them for them to pass parasites, just adding them to your water and they pooing in it will put parasites in your water, just treat the whole tank like i said and just dont feed feeder gold fish anymore, raw shrimp is ok as a part of their diet just make sure they have a good pellet as a staple and that you keep their water clean, as for more veggie stuff that really depends on the individual fish, certain fish need more plant based diet but all of the OPs fish are predatory fish so feeding shrimp, worms, crickets, etc is aboslutely fine and will help with growth rate but like i said make sure the main part of their diet is pellets and that you dont let the fresh foods muck up their water
Long stringy poop
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Any of the experts will tell you to keep your fish on a lower protein diet. I've been dealing with the Hericththys genus for years...Believe what I'm telling you. I have 30 years of experience backing this up. I guarantee you Conkel feeds his fish none of the above foods. Just pellets.
yeah i believe that fish can do just fine of pellets but myself along with pretty much every one else on this site will tell you for best overall nutrition to feed a good pellet as staple and then add in other foods for variety since a varied diet is best, of course all Don feeds his fish is pellets he has huge fish ponds he would go broke trying to feed all those fish fresh foods (of course im not saying to feed only protein, and the pellet if its a good one will have plant matter in it but a varied diet for any animal is always best)
You're the expert, enjoy the consequences. Advanced hobbyists will tell you different. This site in particular lacks the direction of advanced hobbyists. I can see why. It's a waste of time.
im not saying im an expert, and iv never called myself that im just simply saying what has worked extremely well with myself and tons of other members on this site who are much more experienced than i am, and especially with oscars since a plain diet is thought to be one of the main causes of HITH, you cant compare peoples personal tanks with that of a big fish farm the logistics of it are just not comparable at all, we have smaller scale set-ups and so can have the luxury of being able to feed our fish the best things we possibly can, and im agreeing that the staple should def be a good pellet with balanced plant matter content and just use the other stuff as supplements i dont see how that could be bad for the fish and what consequences there would be for that except for a healthy fish who gets a more natural diet, who are these experts you speak of who say to only ever use pellets and nothing else?
Oscars get HITH from too plain of a diet? Yikes. I'm done. Enjoy. This is just to ludicrous to even comment on.
im sorry but you are the one who is now being ludicrous, i DID NOT say that it was the reason they get HITH i personally believe it is 99% caused by environment but if you look up causes of HITH (reputable sites as well) YES IT WILL say this as one of the possibilities, there is no scientific study stating the exact causes of HITH so not even you, Mr. "30 yrs of experience" can claim to know everything about it since not even scientists do! at least i acknowledge that there is still more out there for me to learn and don't try to act like i know everything, but this is seriously ludricous this thread started about parasites and its ridiculous that we even got into an argument about something that is widespread knowledge, and someone ELSE please correct me if anything i have said was factually wrongNorCaliCichlids;3936302; said:Oscars get HITH from too plain of a diet? Yikes. I'm done. Enjoy. This is just to ludicrous to even comment on.
Sarah88;3935435; said:yes that it what they got it from, feeder gold fish have very little nutrition and really shouldnt be used since in addition to low nutrition/high fat content they very often carry parasites from being housed in poor conditions during shipping and at the petstore, treat the tank and dont feed any more feeders that you havent quarantined or bred yourself (and if you have to use feeders than use like guppies or something less fattening) if you want your fish to be healthy
Well said.
I just skimmed over this post, so if I missed somethng or repeat something I aplogize.
Fishkeeping is not difficult, especially with CA cichlids, but if you mess up one of the basics (environment, water quality, proper food) things can go south in a hurry.
Herichthys do NOT consume fish in the wild in any significant amounts, perhaps a stray fry here or there. Just dump the idea of feeders altogether. They take in a huge amount of very low nutrition foods as part of their grazing in the detritus -- lots of plant matter and other fibers mixed with small amounts of tiny inverts and the like. Certainly not a high protein diet. You would have better results with an easily digestible staple food and much less meaty matter.
Modern pelleted foods are more nutritious and completely satisfactory for maintenance and conditioning of cichlids. Much of the belief that a variety is necessary comes from a time when pellets and flakes were made of cheap meals and fillers. Now, however, the better pellets are very high quality diets. It is unnecessary and actually diminishes results to feed a variety of foods, especially when those foods are not suitable for the species you're keeping (as in this case worms, crickets, etc.). Every breeder I know feeds a diet of or close to 100% pelleted foods. You can target certain veggie based formulas or just go with an extremely digestible staple pellet like NLS. You will likely get some resistance to this idea, but most of it is just regurgitated "common sense" from years gone by with no basis in science.
Pimafix and Melafix are crap, even though they are heavily marketed and seem to be widely used for....well......every-freakin-thing!. They are pointless and less effective than clean water and good food. More fish are killed with a shotgun medication approach than were ever saved.
Your fish DEFINITELY has an internal parasite. The only effective way to treat it is with medicated food. Get metronidazole by Seachem from your lfs, online, or just from a pharmacy. There are many online recipes that will tell you how to feed it, but basically just soak it into pellets. Treating the water with metro is almost useless for freshwater fish.
For what it's worth, hexamita can exist at low and perfectly normal levels in most of our fish at all times and may only become a problem for weak and/or stressed fish. That is to say you don't have to "introduce" it -- it is present in many or most systems. You have stressed your fish via diet (and now Pimafix). Feed the metro in a good pellet, add some epsom salt (magnesium sulfate from any drug store), ditch the Pimafix, and keep up with your water changes. You need to do that NOW, because once your fish stops taking food he's pretty much a goner.
HTH!
Fishkeeping is not difficult, especially with CA cichlids, but if you mess up one of the basics (environment, water quality, proper food) things can go south in a hurry.
Herichthys do NOT consume fish in the wild in any significant amounts, perhaps a stray fry here or there. Just dump the idea of feeders altogether. They take in a huge amount of very low nutrition foods as part of their grazing in the detritus -- lots of plant matter and other fibers mixed with small amounts of tiny inverts and the like. Certainly not a high protein diet. You would have better results with an easily digestible staple food and much less meaty matter.
Modern pelleted foods are more nutritious and completely satisfactory for maintenance and conditioning of cichlids. Much of the belief that a variety is necessary comes from a time when pellets and flakes were made of cheap meals and fillers. Now, however, the better pellets are very high quality diets. It is unnecessary and actually diminishes results to feed a variety of foods, especially when those foods are not suitable for the species you're keeping (as in this case worms, crickets, etc.). Every breeder I know feeds a diet of or close to 100% pelleted foods. You can target certain veggie based formulas or just go with an extremely digestible staple pellet like NLS. You will likely get some resistance to this idea, but most of it is just regurgitated "common sense" from years gone by with no basis in science.
Pimafix and Melafix are crap, even though they are heavily marketed and seem to be widely used for....well......every-freakin-thing!. They are pointless and less effective than clean water and good food. More fish are killed with a shotgun medication approach than were ever saved.
Your fish DEFINITELY has an internal parasite. The only effective way to treat it is with medicated food. Get metronidazole by Seachem from your lfs, online, or just from a pharmacy. There are many online recipes that will tell you how to feed it, but basically just soak it into pellets. Treating the water with metro is almost useless for freshwater fish.
For what it's worth, hexamita can exist at low and perfectly normal levels in most of our fish at all times and may only become a problem for weak and/or stressed fish. That is to say you don't have to "introduce" it -- it is present in many or most systems. You have stressed your fish via diet (and now Pimafix). Feed the metro in a good pellet, add some epsom salt (magnesium sulfate from any drug store), ditch the Pimafix, and keep up with your water changes. You need to do that NOW, because once your fish stops taking food he's pretty much a goner.
HTH!
thank you very much for the medication, but i never fed carpintis with live food, nor does it accept live. I had feeders for peacock, since they didn't eat them, i dumped feeders in a 10g. and you are absolutely right, pimafix is so useless, i didin't find it effective or save a fish with the medication.cchhcc;3936571; said:I just skimmed over this post, so if I missed somethng or repeat something I aplogize.
Fishkeeping is not difficult, especially with CA cichlids. Herichthys do NOT consume fish in the wild in any significant amounts, perhaps a stray fry here or there. Just dump the idea of feeders altogether. They take in a huge amount of very low nutrition foods as part of their grazing in the detritus -- lots of plant matter and other fibers mixed with small amounts of tiny inverts and the like. Certainly not a high protein diet. You would have better results with an easily digestible staple food and much less meaty matter.
Modern pelleted foods are more nutritious and completely satisfactory for maintenance and conditioning of cichlids. Much of the belief that a variety is necessary comes from a time when pellets and flakes were made of cheap meals and fillers. Now, however, the better pellets are very high quality diets. It is unnecessary and actually diminishes results to feed a variety of foods, especially when those foods are not suitable for the species you're keeping (as in this case worms, crickets, etc.). Every breeder I know feeds a diet of or close to 100% pelleted foods. You can target certain veggie based formulas or just go with an extremely digestible staple pellet like NLS. You will likely get some resistance to this idea, but most of it is just regurgitated "common sense" from years gone by with no basis in science.
Pimafix and Melafix are crap, even though they are heavily marketed and seem to be widely used for....well......every-freakin-thing!. They are pointless and less effective than clean water and good food. More fish are killed with a shotgun medication approach than were ever saved.
Your fish DEFINITELY has an internal parasite. The only effective way to treat it is with medicated food. Get metronidazole by Seachem from your lfs, online, or just from a pharmacy. There are many online recipes that will tell you how to feed it, but basically just soak it into pellets. Treating the water with metro is almost useless for freshwater fish.
HTH!
