Is this good fish food?

[stricknine]

The first fish I bought, 2 banggai cardinals, died on me within two weeks. I cant figure out what the heck caused it so now Im questioning my feeding.

We bought a pack of frozen mysis, frozen brine, and frozen plankton. We let it thaw out and made two types - Mysis/Plankton/Garlic, and Mysis/Brine/Garlic - And portioned them out and refroze. (garlic came from the liquid in our store bought minced garlic for cooking)

Everyone seems to like it including the banggais until they lost their appetite. The cleaner shrimp soak it up and are looking good, and I even target feed some of my corals with the mush and they are doing great.

Is there anything wrong with my food choice or prep? Am I missing something they need? Can garlic be a bad thing? What is everyone else feeding?

Thanks!

 

[Playa-1]

I'm not sure that thawing and refreezing is a good idea. You would be better off buying a prepackaged mixed preparation or making your fish preparation from scratch with fresh seafood and then freezing it.

I usually feed a Pre-packaged mix from H20Life and blood worms. Occasionally I will feed some reef flakes or pellets just to mix it up a bit. It's good to offer variety.

As far as the Cardinals it's hard to say what happened without more information. Water parameters fluctuations or exposure to disease thru the dealer network was likely your problem. The best advise I can give you is to get a QT, learn about it and use it.

 

[IslandCrow]

I'd hazzard to say that it's not your feeding practices. I'd agree with not re-freezing food, and I really can't speak intelligently to what brands of garlic extract you should or should not use. Personally, the only time I've used garlic is to get a finicky eater to start eating, and then I never used it again.

If you haven't asked these questions of yourself already, you may want to. How did you acclimate the fish? How were your water parameters. Specifically, did you have any detectable levels of ammonia? Did the fish show any signs of parasites or disease? Do you know if anyone else has had similar experiences from that store. There are many things that can cause the death of a fish that are not necessarily your fault. If your tank was fully cycled and you acclimated the fish properly, a death after only two weeks is usually (though not necessarily) the sign of a pre-existing problem with the fish.

 

[stricknine]

All water parameters were great, tank fully cycled. The only sign of sickness was the banggais were turning brown, loss of apetite one to two days prior to kicking the bucket, and a white stringy poop hanging out of them. Lazy too.

As for the food, in your opinion, should I get rid of all the pre packs made? Wouldnt want to "test" the batch on new healthy fish.

Also trouble is all the blister packs are too big for my 24 gallon and the tank mates. How long will they stay good after thawed?

THANKS ALL!

 

[IslandCrow]

What I do is thaw out one of the cubes, rinse it out, and keep it in the refrigerator in some tank water. It will generally last me at least a week before it starts smelling bad and I throw it away. I don't think the food's a problem, but you could certainly throw it out and get some new food just to be safe. It sounds like a more likely cause was some sort of internal parasite. The symptoms you describe sound like they may match that diagnosis, but I'm far from an expert. You may want to list the symptoms in the Fish Disease forum and see if anyone there has a more educated opinion.

 

[rort]

As we all learn fish dieing is just something that is apart of the hobby. Some fish are able to handle captivety while others are just not made for it. You might of had that with you cardinals but again its hard to say. If you are very attentive to your param's, keeping the stress level down, acclimation like IslandCrow said, and feeding, then it might come down to that you didnt do anything wrong...

I am sorry for your loss!

 

[ReefNutPA]

Agreed. Do not thaw/re-freeze foods - especially mysis shrimp. That's one reason PE Mysis is shipped in dry ice so it stays frozen solid. They even go as far as telling you to toss it if it's thawed/soft upon delivery if it was shipped using plain ice instead of dry ice.

Although, I would suspect if these were wild-caught Bangaii's that the food had absolutely nothing to do with it. IME, WC Bangaii's do not do well at all. I would lose them all within days after delivery when I'd order them at work.

Tom