It's been a year since I last fed my White Cloud Mountain Minnows any live food - particularly daphnia (never fed them it before, it's just been the once) - and as I'd like to vary their diet beyond flake food and the occasional de-frosted pea, I've been considering feeding some daphnia and (over)thinking about the potential risks of fish catching parasites and other diseases from live food.
Prior to feeding to the fish (mere minutes), would it be fine to just treat daphnia - as well as other live foods - with one of the over-the-counter medicines available? Which one(s) would be best for this? All just as a preventative. Obviously if the fish have been treated with any medicines, then it's wise not to do this too soon afterwards as there could be mixing of the medicines, but otherwise...is it a viable approach, or is it overkill?
It's been almost two weeks since I last treated the fish with a mix of Esha 2000 and Esha Exit, used a carbon pad for about 4-5 hours on the 5th to remove the remainder, plus a 50% water change. A 50% water change today also, as I have been away for all that time (so it really did need a clean after almost 2 weeks). Would this have left sufficient time between the treatments and any intent to treat live food before feeding it to the fish, or would it be best to play it safe and wait a little longer? I also use Prime, which might cause an issue, although if the medicine is ingested by the live food, would it react? Except I'd have to find a way to get the live food into the tank without pouring the treated water back in (and it might have to be a small amount of tank water also)...you can tell I look at every possibility, even overthink and worry about messing things up.
Prior to feeding to the fish (mere minutes), would it be fine to just treat daphnia - as well as other live foods - with one of the over-the-counter medicines available? Which one(s) would be best for this? All just as a preventative. Obviously if the fish have been treated with any medicines, then it's wise not to do this too soon afterwards as there could be mixing of the medicines, but otherwise...is it a viable approach, or is it overkill?
It's been almost two weeks since I last treated the fish with a mix of Esha 2000 and Esha Exit, used a carbon pad for about 4-5 hours on the 5th to remove the remainder, plus a 50% water change. A 50% water change today also, as I have been away for all that time (so it really did need a clean after almost 2 weeks). Would this have left sufficient time between the treatments and any intent to treat live food before feeding it to the fish, or would it be best to play it safe and wait a little longer? I also use Prime, which might cause an issue, although if the medicine is ingested by the live food, would it react? Except I'd have to find a way to get the live food into the tank without pouring the treated water back in (and it might have to be a small amount of tank water also)...you can tell I look at every possibility, even overthink and worry about messing things up.
