Old Food

[AtomixIGN]

Years ago... four or five, I bought a 12.7 oz container of Bio-Blend tropical and I've been running with it ever since. Mixing in what ever new foods I come across. My most regular additions are Bio-Blend color, Nutrafin floating pellets(they float the longest) and Hikari Micropellets. But every now and then i'll dump the left overs out of a treat container in there and give it a shake. For example HBH Frog and tadpole pellets and Bloodworms. It has never fallen below the half way point of being empty which means a percentage fo the remaining food is old.



Is this stupid? The fish gulp it up. Every now and then i'll see a fish hit a pellet and spit it back out once or twice before finally eating it. But all in all they eat it all.


Oh and quick, possibly related side story, I picked up some angels for my new 33 and they instantly blew up with flexi-infections. Bloat and finrot and white puffs all over. I lost one and saved the other two with salt baths and a pair of scissors. The next day my 55 blew up with the same problem. I lost my biggest Blood Parrot and my biggest Clown loach. Both about 8". My Sydontis Alberti lost his antenna and some Black Phantoms lost eyes. I treated with antibiotics (day 4) and now I'm Pima/Melafixing. Could old food be a contributing factor to this terrible loss?

 

[cichlid savage]

I have read that after so long (differing times for different foods) foods will loose their nutritional value. Mine never stays around as long as yours. One could assume with your recent fish losses and illnesses that somehow the food has been contaminated or has simply gone bad which my be causing your problems.

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

dont think its the food....thou i do agree that it will lose its nutritional value over time.

do you use any tank equipment between both tanks? or any water exchange happen?

sorry about your tank infection...just another reason to quarintine.

 

[is300zx]

I don't think it's the food either. I've used new life spectrum pellets that are a few years old and never had a problem. I don't overfeed my fish so the foods I buy last for a while. Your problems probably came from the new angels you added and cross contaminated the other tank.