I have minnows and they get crooked and then die. is it OK to feed them to my softshell turtle. why are they ~

Question

I got some 'rosey red' (or something like that) minnows from the fish store place and already, two of them [after only having them for a day] seemed to get a crooked body and soon after, die. I don't know if it's some sort of disorder or something... but I got them to feed to my softshell turtle and I don't want to feed him bad fish. I was wondering if it could be some sort of fish tuberculosis tumor... PLEASE HELP!!!

Answer 1

Fish TB usually has a slower rate of onset than just a few days.
There are several other reasons that can cause a "bent" fish:
Here are some reasons a fish may develop a bent spine.

1) It could have been born this way resulting from a genetic defect (doesn't apply in your case apparently)

2) You may have a faulty heater, pump, filter or tank lighting system. Check to see if you have a bare wire touching your tank or anything else that could be introducing electric current into your tank. This seems your most likely problem due to the repeat occurrences and quickness with which this happens.

3) A severe injury can bend the spine. Normally though if broken, the fish would die right away. Only likely if you have aggressive fish in your tank. But unlikely this is your problem.

4) Fish tuberculosis sometimes results in a gradual development of spinal curvature. Not likely in your case due to the quickness with which it happens.

5) Certain vitamin deficiencies can result in spine curvature. Again, unlikely in your case because this would develop over time.

To be on the safe side, I wouldn't feed the dead fish to your turtle. They apparently didn't live long enough for you to know if they were healthy from the pet shop. You don't want to risk passing along an illness to your turtle.

Check around your tank for faulty electrical connections or bare wires. Be careful because you'll be doing this around electric current and water.

Answer 2

If you notice a difference in the appearance within a few days, that's not genetics. This would be present throughout their lives. the same for scoliosis, caused by a vitamin/mineral deficiency. If calcium, vitamin D, or other essenial element for building bone strenght is missing from the diet, spinal curvature will happen, but it happens GRADUALLY. This would also be true for fish tuberculosis, another condition where this can occur.

For this to happen as quickly as you're seeing it, it would have to be caused either by a physical injury, stray electrical current in the tank (this can cause a trememdous muscle spasm causing the spine to curve - I've never seen it happen in a tank, but if someone is using an electrical device to capture wild fish and the charge is set too high for the water conditions) but this last idea should affect all your fish in a confined area.

The last possibility is that the fish are infected by camallanus, an intestinal worm. This causes the fish enough pain that the muscles contract and deform the spine. If you still have any of the minnows, look at the anus when they're at rest (not actively swimming) and see if you notice and red, thread-like objects hanging from the anus like in this photo of a guppy: http://www.alaquairum.net/imagenes/Camallanus1.jpg The really long one is extreme, I'd expect to see them more of the length of the next longest. If you notice these on any of the fish, chances are that all have it, and this can be transferred to your turtle. I'd euthanize the entire batch, and not buy from that supplier in the near future - when the worms stick out as in the photo, they're laying eggs, which may be in your dealers' (and your own!) tanks. You might want to share this website with your supplier, if you can determine this is your cause: http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/CamellanusTreatment.pdf

You'll probably want to sterilize your tank by using a 5% bleach solution to kill any eggs the worms may have laid. This will upset your bacteria in the tank, so you won't be able to add a lot of fish in the near future - only a few at a time until the tank cycles again (http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm )

Answer 3

The water quality your turtle tolerates might not be good enough for the health of the fish. Minnows are usually pretty robust. I think you could try regular minnows instead. They are also probably inbreedintg the minnows like mad so they are only good for a few days since they are defective, perhaps. The PH, Chlorine or Amonia are probably too high though in the water and you are just poisoning the fish. You can keep the tank water cleaner and test it and adjust it for the benefit of the turtle and the fish alike, or they will just croak after a day or too in the water. If the turtle can tolerate the polluted water better than the fish, it will not kill it to eat them, but he is probably stressed like they are if the tank is not clean enough or the new water is not dechlorinated before adding it. Get a test kit. The fish should be Ok to eat, though if he prefers them alive, he won't eat the dead ones.

Answer 4

Do you still have this problem with the minnows. If so stop feeding the turtle these minnows and ask a vet what may be wrong with these minnows. If he says that nothing is wrong with the fish you may feed them to your turtle.

Answer 5

The wo't get anything like that i gave my turtle angel fish and it was dead it didnt kill them.

Answer 6

yes