Favorite food for picky/sickly fish in QT?

[SallyWho]

After I abruptly lost two fish in QT (I suspect a rogue reaction to CP, which had been added three days prior and was the only thing that had changed, even though firefish are supposed to tolerate it well), I only have the one firefish left. Naturally, he's in hiding because he's all alone in there now and doesn't feel secure, but he's not even coming out to eat. I've been using the same flake food that the LFS uses, pellets, and mysis, but neither of the dry foods interest him in the least, and he only barely poked his head out for the mysis. He may have taken a nibble, but not much. Same with the frozen bloodworms. They used to go bananas for a mysis/bloodworms mix. I'm worried that whatever killed off the other two has weakened this last one, and he needs to eat to heal and survive. So, for a possibly convalescing fish who isn't eating, what would you suggest feeding? My LFS doesn't carry a great variety of frozen foods- mostly mysis, brine, and bloodworms- so I may have to order it online. A vendor that doesn't charge a kidney and half a liver for shipping would be ideal. Recommendations? Thanks!

 

[starypotter]

When I had a fish in QT that needed to put on weight and gave me trouble eating I hatched brine shrimp for it, still actually hatching a small amount just to keep up with it and to keep them eating. LFS even sold already hatched brine. They wanted nothing to do with frozen either. I sometimes soaked the brine in phyto first or some fishy vitamins to tell myself that I was making it more nutritious.

 

[SallyWho]

When I had a fish in QT that needed to put on weight and gave me trouble eating I hatched brine shrimp for it, still actually hatching a small amount just to keep up with it and to keep them eating. LFS even sold already hatched brine. They wanted nothing to do with frozen either. I sometimes soaked the brine in phyto first or some fishy vitamins to tell myself that I was making it more nutritious.

Is hatching brine shrimp difficult? I don't have an abundance of free buckets, and have no clue what sorts of lights I might need. Air stone and heater, too? Can a brine shrimp "farm" as it were, double as a pod farm? Like, can I do both at the same time?

 

[starypotter]

Is hatching brine shrimp difficult? I don't have an abundance of free buckets, and have no clue what sorts of lights I might need. Air stone and heater, too? Can a brine shrimp "farm" as it were, double as a pod farm? Like, can I do both at the same time?

Oh even that's intense. There's a kit you can get online. Screw a soda bottle in upside down, stick a bubbler on it and let it go. There's this one you can buy or you can just do something like this.

I don't have a heater or anything special on it. Brine shrimp hatch best in a bottle shaped container since it'll settle if it's in a tank or container. No lights, mine's just on the kitchen counter. It probably should be kept warmer but I don't have problems with it not being kept warmer, with that being said my last batch didn't hatch so maybe a light just to keep it a bit warm might be helpful or maybe a sunny window would be enough.
Here's a hatchery, one pack of eggs only lasts a couple days so might want to order some other eggs too. https://www.amazon.com/San-Francisc...ocphy=9003613&hvtargid=pla-348697796533&psc=1

 

[SallyWho]

Oh even that's intense. There's a kit you can get online. Screw a soda bottle in upside down, stick a bubbler on it and let it go. There's this one you can buy or you can just do something like this.

I don't have a heater or anything special on it. Brine shrimp hatch best in a bottle shaped container since it'll settle if it's in a tank or container. No lights, mine's just on the kitchen counter. It probably should be kept warmer but I don't have problems with it not being kept warmer, with that being said my last batch didn't hatch so maybe a light just to keep it a bit warm might be helpful or maybe a sunny window would be enough.
Here's a hatchery, one pack of eggs only lasts a couple days so might want to order some other eggs too. https://www.amazon.com/San-Francisc...ocphy=9003613&hvtargid=pla-348697796533&psc=1

A thought just occurred to me. Since I seem to have a problem with CP, I was planning on using copper. That will kill live brine, won't it?

 

[starypotter]

A thought just occurred to me. Since I seem to have a problem with CP, I was planning on using copper. That will kill live brine, won't it?

I have no clue, I'd say chances are likely might want to check the disease forum on that. You don't need to hatch them all and put them all in at once, I leave them in there and just harvest however many I plan to feed at that time.

 

[Katrina71]

Sea monkeys in the toy aisle.

 

[SallyWho]

Sea monkeys in the toy aisle.

....what??

 

[Katrina71]

....what??

If you want to hatch brine shrimp. They have a kit in the toy aisle at most Walmarts if you can't find a hatchery or eggs. Sea monkies are brine shrimp.

 

[Katrina71]

You might try nutramar ova frozen food also

 

[SallyWho]

If you want to hatch brine shrimp. They have a kit in the toy aisle at most Walmarts if you can't find a hatchery or eggs. Sea monkies are brine shrimp.

Whoa. I had no idea. In a toy aisle? Wild! I'll check it out- I have to do some grocery shopping tonight anyway.

 

[Katrina71]

Yep. It's faster than waiting for a package to arrive.

 

[norfolkgarden]

Sea monkeys in the toy aisle.

That guy was a marketing genius!

40 years later and they are still around.

Take that pet rocks!
[emoji23]

 

[Katrina71]

That guy was a marketing genius!

40 years later and they are still around.

Take that pet rocks!
[emoji23]

And here I am still thinking they are cool! Lol

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Live blackworms

 

[SallyWho]

Live blackworms

Where can I find those? My LFS doesn't carry live foods (except maybe occasional shipments of pods/phyto). Petsmart in their bugs-for-critters-that-eat-bugs area? Online vendor?

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Ask a lfs to order some blackworms or you can order them online

 

[norfolkgarden]

[email protected]

Just ordered a pound (Waaaay too much)
Fast delivery, great customer service.
Good prices.

With the heat, I always order everything with the 10:30 a.m. guaranteed delivery to get things in the house as soon as possible.

That worked out to be $5 extra.

Will definitely order from them again.

 

[Ferrell]

Or algae barn for live baby brine. That’s what I got my picky Anthias started in the added in some LRS Nano and got them eating frozen. Nano is not as chunky as regular Reef Frenzy