I recently purchased some feeder fish for my Midas Cichlid, and I woke up this morning to find him dead. It was devastating since I have had him since he was about 2" and he was about 9". I bought them from my local Petsmart and all the fish seemed healthy and alive, so no obvious illness. I have bought them from there several times before this incident and I have never once had a problem. I thought my Midas's passing was odd considering he was so lively and healthy, but I wrote it off as a freak accident. We had originally thought he had ended up choking on one of the fish, but now my Jack Dempsey is acting very strange. He has been sitting on the bottom and if he gets scared he takes off swimming, doing some twists and aggressively rubbing on things. Again, he was perfectly fine before hand. All the feeder fish do appear healthy and don't act sick, but both the fish have started acting odd after ingesting them. And, the other fish in the tank seem completely fine, along with the three other feeder fish in there. Is it possible that ingesting them has caused them to be sick? Any advice would be helpful because the Jack is another special fish of mine that I have raised into an adult and I really don't want to lose him. I don't have a tank to isolate him in, but if it is something serious I will make a late night trip to the store, just for him.
Poisonous Feeder Fish?
- Thread starter JackDempseyLove
- Start date
Sorry for your loss, but feeders should always be quarantined before beind fed for a significant time so that you can treat anything.
It's also a reason many people just breed small fish like guppies at home, for feeding.
It's also a reason many people just breed small fish like guppies at home, for feeding.
Thank you. 
I will be yelling at myself for not putting them in quarantine, but I just grew complacent with the fact that I had never had a problem. This time around, I just didn't have the space for that. However, I will definitely not be doing that again any time soon, and I will start my own little feeder operation like you suggested. I will go search through the treatments I have, but I may end up having to go to the store anyway just to make sure my big Jack makes it.
I will be yelling at myself for not putting them in quarantine, but I just grew complacent with the fact that I had never had a problem. This time around, I just didn't have the space for that. However, I will definitely not be doing that again any time soon, and I will start my own little feeder operation like you suggested. I will go search through the treatments I have, but I may end up having to go to the store anyway just to make sure my big Jack makes it.
Many feeder fish are raised in less than ideal, often times cramped conditions, think about their small profit margin.
To be realistic you would need to quarantine them for at least a month or more before feeding.
And just because they don't show signs of disease, doesn't mean they are not asymptomatic carriers of something that will easily kill your favorite fish.
Feeders are a nightmare waiting to happen, especially when the pellets produced today have a more better nutritious value and are safe.
To be realistic you would need to quarantine them for at least a month or more before feeding.
And just because they don't show signs of disease, doesn't mean they are not asymptomatic carriers of something that will easily kill your favorite fish.
Feeders are a nightmare waiting to happen, especially when the pellets produced today have a more better nutritious value and are safe.
I don't think a Midas would die from a cracked heater and the other fish would be fine. I would get the feeders a new home (or give them back to petsmart) and treat the jack demsey with methelene blue in a hospital tank. Also, are the goldfish his only tank mates? I would also keep an eye on the other tank mates with the jd if there are any other than the goldfish.