Quarantined feeders - many deaths

[geno]

Hi ppl, I have a major problem with my feeder guppies n ghost shrimp. Every time I buy a bag of them home (~30px each) and I add them to my bichir tank, many of them die off. In e past I would just dump them straight into e tank w/o first acclimatising them to e water. Now I've become more dilligent and would slowly replace their bag water with tank water before introducing them in. But e death rate is still v high, perhaps even higher than when I just dumped them in straightaway!! Wads wrong?

Also, is it just me or are guppies particularly smelly fish? Even live ones.. I nv seemed to have this odour problem with any of my tanks until I introed guppies!! Even my betta doesn't stink so much!!

 

[OscarRobinson]

If you keep getting that many deaths I would say try getting them from another source. They may be being kept in very poor water quality and when you acclimate them some of them may not be able to adjust to the change.

 

[Cichlaholics Anonymous]

these fish go through a lot of stress in the way they are shipped and housed, they are already weak an didn't acclimate well

 

[FSM]

How are they quarantined if you dump them right in? Get a 10 gallon or similar size and put them in that for 2 weeks, so you don't give you fish diseases.

 

[IITUFFTOBEATII]

Also, is it just me or are guppies particularly smelly fish? Even live ones.. I nv seemed to have this odour problem with any of my tanks until I introed guppies!! Even my betta doesn't stink so much!!

i suggest you find a new source, i have never experienced stinky guppies...

 

[r3d]

You should look into a different staple diet, my bichir eats market shrimp

 

[geno]

How are they quarantined if you dump them right in? Get a 10 gallon or similar size and put them in that for 2 weeks, so you don't give you fish diseases.

Hi FSM, I meant that last time I din bother quarantining them properly or even adjusting them to e tank water, which naturally resulted in afew deaths. Now I'm trying to quarantine them first but still many died during e 1st day of quarantine itself. I had a death rate of abt 40% on e 1st day alone. Din even get to put them aside for 1 full day much less 2 weeks..

Btw I quarantine them with afew drops of anti-external fungus and bacteria med. It's a local s'porean brand, Ocean Free =)

 

[geno]

You should look into a different staple diet, my bichir eats market shrimp

Hi r3d, I've tried feeder ghost shrimp and catfish for my ornate. Prob with catfish is tt they hide v well under e wood n escape being eaten. I had one who did tt for afew months hiding in a large plant, n in e end he outgrew my bichir n ended up being 1 ft long =O now I dun mind keeping a large catfish as I have a 4ft tank, but when kept tgt with e ornate he wld snatch up all e pellets and basically left e ornate with zero food. So I had to release him into a pond elsewhere..

Another catfish soon followed his bro's example and started growing too. In afew weeks he reached abt 4-5 inches and I immediately gave him away to e lfs. In short I have quite a bad experience with catfishes hehe..

Btw I also tried feeder goldfish from e same guy and e same thing happened as per e guppies - large no of goldies died before e ornate cld reach them. Tts why i switched to guppies in e 1st place.

So basically my feeder fish series: shrimp => catfish => goldfish => guppies

As for market stuff I've tried tiny pieces of pig liver, minced pork and chicken fillet. However my ornate was v shy n din even touch them which resulted in cloudy water with oil on e surface. I nv dared to try them again after tt =(

 

[slammer97]

Try adding them to a separate 5 - 10 gallon tank with lots of airation or decent filtration (penguin 100) and no heater. I had the same problem and taking out the heater with lots of air / filtration fixed it. Now my death rate is probably 1- 10% max. Not to mention the benefits of quarentining before feeding

 

[lispykid7]

yeah i agree with fsm and slammer. feeder fish are large carriers or disieases, especially feeder goldfish. quarentine em and save yourself the hastle of your fish dieing from disease.