Feeding and Nutrition :: Should I Quarantine my Live Food?

[Pizza]

The title says all, but in specific, I'm going to buy a bunch of feeder fish - Rosy Red Minnows to be exact, to feed to my turtles on special occassions, but should I quarantine them in a separate tank for a while so the sick/dead ones are singled out? I'm wondering if eating a sick fish can also make my turtles sick, or is it fine to give the fish to them straight from the pet shop?

[industrial_girl_2000]

I have never quarantined the fish when I fed them to Sheba, but then usually the water gets kinda dirty from the fish water that I only give her feeder fish right before I do a complete aquarium water change.

Like you said, it is hard to know for sure if the fish are diseased before you feed them to your turtle. I would say to only buy the fish from a store that has a clean tank for their feeder fish. One other thing I was told is to not buy feeder fish in the springtime (April timeframe) because the water temp fluctuations can make the fish sick (and then you feed the sick fish to your turtles....not good).

I know others on this board have some good suggestions too (they use feeder fish more than I do) & I would like to hear what they say about it so I will stop here!

[steve]

I do replace the water that they are sold with immediately. It seems like half the fish I get die the first night. Its possible for the turtle to catch something, which is why I agree with Kristin that you should carefully choose when and where you buy your fish. Keep in mind, feeders are generally kept in bad conditions anyway.

[Pizza]

I see, how can you tell if the fish are of good quality at least in a pet shop?

Here, they're all about the same, all the fish in the pet shops are in clear running water, and the fish themselves look very healthy and active (all the dead/sick fish are removed almost as soon as they're found), until they make it home at least.

[megcornell]

When I buy Leo feeder fish, I wait until they ( I go to petsmart) have a fresh shipment, I don't like to get the ones that have been hanging around a while.
I don't quarantine them, but I never dump the water they're sold in into the tank with the fish, I scoop them out in hopes that most of the possibility of catching anything is removed with the gross petsmart water. And knock on wood Leo doesn't seem to have gotten ill from feeder fish yet, of course he sucks at catching them so he hasn't had many chances either haha.

[kc]

I do replace the water that they are sold with immediately. It seems like half the fish I get die the first night. Its possible for the turtle to catch something, which is why I agree with Kristin that you should carefully choose when and where you buy your fish. Keep in mind, feeders are generally kept in bad conditions anyway.

usually when you buy fish you don't put them in "different" water immediately. you leave the fish in their water and at the same time just get some fresh water from the tap and let the water sit for one or two days and then transfer the fish. that way, you'll minimize the death of your fish.

[Pizza]

So, how long should I separate my fish? I just bought a bag, it's been one hour, and one is already dead (I may have made the error of making the water too warm). I don't really have the space to keep them any longer than a few days so...

[cam722]

I on the other hand never did anything for my feeder fish other than let the bag they came in sit in the tank to acclimate them to the change in water temp. I then would put some of the tank water in the bag.. for a bit.. maybe 10 minutes.. and then in they went. Only time I had any die on me was when I was changing the turtles water and wasn't keeping an eye on the temp and put the fish back in.. (thankfully not the turtles) and the water was too hot and kind of cooked the fishes.. oh well.. so they didn't get sushi they had fried fish that night

[Hardip]

Float bag in tank, and wait for 10 or so minutes for the bags water temperature to match that of the tank.

Open the bag up, and slowly drip or pour some of the tanks water into the bag. Do this over a regular interval so that you effectively double the water in the bag.

These were the sort of steps I'd undertake, especially for my marine fish, but similar also for when I had freshwater fish.

[Muirner]

Hardip is very right here. Aclamation should only take 2 hours. Take the bag they came in, put in the corner of your tank (in water) let it float, and then slowley add tank water, after the volume has doubled or close there too then add the fish.

My feeders are in a 10gal, and my turts were in a 55 gal.

[Pizza]

Good to know, I'll do that next time I purchase some feeders.