New Fish Med Trio Feeding Concern

[David Willard Jr]

I purchased some fish from Mike's Cichlids and they are beautiful.  My question is I have found conflicting statements on feeding during the first week while in the med trio.

I hadn't read the no feeding on Cory's instructions and fed them on day 2 since they are in with the L144a Plecos and some snails that helped get the tank up and running.  I did not feed them yesterday but the misplaced guilt of not feeding them as I pass the tank today and see that "feed me" look has got me.  What should I do?  Stick to the remaining days without feeding since I know they can go awhile in reality.  Or do I just resume normal feeding to appease my guilt...lol.  I am also concerned as they were "acclimated" by Mike's, which I assume means they weren't fed over the weekend to minimize ammonia during their transit here arriving on Tuesday.  Thank you in advance for any advice you can provide.

Also, I have successfully completed the med trio process multiple times even though I fed them, so I am not sure why I am so worried.   LoL.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Hi @David Willard Jr, welcome to the forum. I would hold off. As you already know the med trio requires the week treatment without waterchanges. The concern when feeding is ammonia of course- Cory says it's ok to feed 1x the 4th or 5th day this is the reason why (ammonia) So if I were in your shoes, I would hold off. Fish can be fine without food for weeks. It will be fine. Just watch for ammonia! 

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/5/2023 at 2:26 PM, David Willard Jr said:

I did not feed them yesterday but the misplaced guilt of not feeding them as I pass the tank today and see that "feed me" look has got me.  What should I do? 

Stopping feeding for the first couple of days is because of internal worms and parasites being released. You would want to keep an eye out for bloat and for things like that.

If you don't feed the fish for say, 5-7 days, there isn't going to be a lot of long term issues doing this as it is normal. They would graze on what is in the tank and that would sustain the. Until the food is there.

I wouldn't have an issue feeding or holding back food. The main thing is to keep feeding light if you do feed.

@Odd Duck

@Colu

Can you please help us out with the internal parasites and feeding clarification?

 

[David Willard Jr]

On 5/5/2023 at 2:41 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Hi @David Willard Jr, welcome to the forum. I would hold off. As you already know the med trio requires the week treatment without waterchanges. The concern when feeding is ammonia of course- Cory says it's ok to feed 1x the 4th or 5th day this is the reason why (ammonia) So if I were in your shoes, I would hold off. Fish can be fine without food for weeks. It will be fine. Just watch for ammonia! 

Ammonia!  I did not even think of that as the reason.  Makes total sence now.  I will just ignore those glaring eyes for a few more days so as not to risk it.  Thank you for the responses and the welcome fish fam.

[Colu]

Not feeding during the Frist week is to help the fish pass the parasites more easily and to help prevent ammonia spikes I would only with hold food for that period of time if they in good condition to start with if there under weight or not in good condition I would feed them up for a couple of days before starting the med trio you can  start to feed once a day after the frist couple of days it won't do any harm @David Willard Jr

[Odd Duck]

I haven’t done a big literature search but I’ve not found anything in any formularies about withholding food, nor seen it in any reports I’ve read so far, in fact many dewormers are better given in food.  The concern about damaging the beneficial bacteria and ammonia spikes is potentially real, especially with the med trio since it isn’t only dewormer.  Water changes can remove meds too early and prevent the treatment from being effective even though water changes are your friend if there are ammonia spikes.  It takes some extensive experience to know which meds need to stay in the water vs which meds act quickly then can be removed via a water change so I would trust Cory’s recommendations on the medications he recommends.

[David Willard Jr]

On 5/11/2023 at 3:53 PM, Odd Duck said:

I haven’t done a big literature search but I’ve not found anything in any formularies about withholding food, nor seen it in any reports I’ve read so far, in fact many dewormers are better given in food.  The concern about damaging the beneficial bacteria and ammonia spikes is potentially real, especially with the med trio since it isn’t only dewormer.  Water changes can remove meds too early and prevent the treatment from being effective even though water changes are your friend if there are ammonia spikes.  It takes some extensive experience to know which meds need to stay in the water vs which meds act quickly then can be removed via a water change so I would trust Cory’s recommendations on the medications he recommends.

Yeah, I trust Cory for sure but I think we all question things we are not comfortable with even when given by an educated professional.  I have a list of Dr's I trust with my life yet I sometimes question their directives...lol.  They finished out their fast and are good and healthy post water change.  

 

Thank you all for the advice.

Edited May 12 by David Willard Jr

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/11/2023 at 7:57 PM, David Willard Jr said:

Yeah, I trust Cory for sure but I think we all question things we are not comfortable with even when given by an educated professional.  I have a list of Dr's I trust with my life yet I sometimes question their directives...lol.  They finished out their fast and are good and healthy post water change.  

 

Thank you all for the advice.

 Welcome to the forums!  If you haven't seen it the talk on the members side on youtube by the fish vet is really helpful.  It talks a little bit about how to view fish disease as well as showing some common illnesses.  The steps to diagnose, how to respond, that's where I learned a ton from it as well as members here like @Odd Duck and so many other people with their microscopes and knowledge.  It's definitely a process to learn how to treat illnesses and there is a lot of tribal knowledge mixed in with some "best practices".  I think there are some major steps we as hobbyists have to make in terms of our fish care and that is where we do have a lot of opportunity for improvements of the health of livestock around the world.  In terms of aquaculture and engineering there is a lot of work to be done....  Especially if we want to be able to, as hobbyists, actually give proper information for disease review/treatment.