What Are You Feeding & Where are You Buying Your Koi Food This Season?

the problem with corn based foods is the same problem found with that dog food that
was killing dogs earlier this year... contamination with fungus that causes toxins.
food for trout and catfish is formulated to first be as cheap as possible and then
put weight on the fish as fast as possible so they can be harvested as fast as
possible. this food is not formulated for the long term health of pet fish. corn is
implicated in liver disease in fish, perhaps rancidity and fungal toxins are the
underlying cause. a good rule of thumb is feed what the breeders feed.
Ingrid

Andrew Burgess wrote:

"JB" writes:

I visited a couple of web sites pricing food for this season (Aqua Mart for
Hakari Staple & Western Pond for Sho Koi) and noticed a jump in prices.
Between the two, Western Pond was offering 10 lbs of Sho Koi for $56.98,
including shipping costs. This seems about $7.00 higher than last year.

What are you feeding? And, where are you buying it?

I order Rangen 25 lb bags direct from the factory.
The last number I used was 208 543 6421
If I recall correctly, it was about $30 plus $10 shipping.

I still want to try catfish or trout chow someday. Does anyone know if
one floats better than the other? I would guess that catfish sinks
and trout floats...




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

wrote in message
...
the problem with corn based foods is the same problem found with that dog
food that
was killing dogs earlier this year... contamination with fungus that
causes toxins.
food for trout and catfish is formulated to first be as cheap as possible
and then
put weight on the fish as fast as possible so they can be harvested as
fast as
possible. this food is not formulated for the long term health of pet
fish. corn is
implicated in liver disease in fish, perhaps rancidity and fungal toxins
are the
underlying cause. a good rule of thumb is feed what the breeders feed.
Ingrid
==============
Any food can *go rancid* if it's not kept cool and dry, not just catfish and
trout chow. My koi and goldfish have been on these feeds at least 7 years
and breed like crazy. All are healthy and active with excellent color. No
$8 to $10 a lb food fed or needed.
--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
rec.pond's FAQ are at: http://www.geocities.com/justinm090/faq.html
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

wrote in message
the problem with corn based foods is the same problem found with that dog
food that was killing dogs earlier this year... contamination with fungus that
causes toxins. food for trout and catfish is formulated to first be as cheap as possible
and then put weight on the fish as fast as possible so they can be harvested as
fast as possible. this food is not formulated for the long term health of pet
fish. corn is implicated in liver disease in fish, perhaps rancidity and fungal toxins
are the underlying cause. a good rule of thumb is feed what the breeders feed.
Ingrid
==============
Any food can *go rancid* if it's not kept cool and dry, not just catfish and
trout chow. My koi and goldfish have been on these feeds at least 7 years
and breed like crazy. All are healthy and active with excellent color. No
$8 to $10 a lb food fed or needed.

That's true, rancidity, and that's great, if those foods work for you and
you're happy with them. If I had as many fish as say Roy or Carol feeds,
I'd be looking at Rangen, a koi food that is still fairly reasonable
priced, jmo.

As tis, many of us, similar to Altuma, have fewer fish, so we don't need to
buy in bulk, and it would/could be hazardous to our fishes health if we did
(rancidity).

Ingrid did mention something about keep foods frozen, and that's one of the
reasons I like ShoKoi, it is freezable. Some brands mention not to freeze,
it was explained to me something about the oils separating??? I'm not quite
sure, so read the label. And just an aside, if you go to a backyard fish
store and they try to sell you X-koi food in an old ice cream container,
take a pass on it. ;o) ~ jan

--------------
See my ponds and filter design:
www.jjspond.us

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

"~ janj" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
the problem with corn based foods is the same problem found with that
dog
food that was killing dogs earlier this year... contamination with
fungus that
causes toxins. food for trout and catfish is formulated to first be as
cheap as possible
and then put weight on the fish as fast as possible so they can be
harvested as
fast as possible. this food is not formulated for the long term health
of pet
fish. corn is implicated in liver disease in fish, perhaps rancidity
and fungal toxins
are the underlying cause. a good rule of thumb is feed what the
breeders feed.
Ingrid
==============
Any food can *go rancid* if it's not kept cool and dry, not just catfish
and
trout chow. My koi and goldfish have been on these feeds at least 7 years
and breed like crazy. All are healthy and active with excellent color.
No
$8 to $10 a lb food fed or needed.
=======================
That's true, rancidity, and that's great, if those foods work for you and
you're happy with them. If I had as many fish as say Roy or Carol feeds,
I'd be looking at Rangen, a koi food that is still fairly reasonable
priced, jmo.

I need something affordable. And considering they went through as much $8+
lb food as they do the cheaper foods, I'll stick to the cheaper foods.

As tis, many of us, similar to Altuma, have fewer fish, so we don't need
to
buy in bulk, and it would/could be hazardous to our fishes health if we
did
(rancidity).

When I only had a few koi and GF I also bought the expensive foods in 5 lbs
bags. Personally I can't see any difference in their health, breeding or
color on the cheaper chows (including puppy and kitty chow mixed in). I
keep all their food indoors in the coolest driest place in my A/C home. The
garage or outbuilding are the last places I would keep fish food. Not only
would it quickly get rancid buy insects would infest it.

Ingrid did mention something about keep foods frozen, and that's one of
the
reasons I like ShoKoi, it is freezable.

Some people have too many fish to freeze their foods.

Some brands mention not to freeze,
it was explained to me something about the oils separating??? I'm not
quite
sure, so read the label. And just an aside, if you go to a backyard fish
store and they try to sell you X-koi food in an old ice cream container,
take a pass on it. ;o) ~ jan

I've been buying most of mine at TFC, in bags - it's always been fresh, bug
free and the fish love it. If there's anything left in the fall it gets
mixed into the compost pile.
--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
rec.pond's FAQ are at: http://www.geocities.com/justinm090/faq.html
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

Jan,

Some of the softer foods that are being manufactured now say not to
freeze the food, but if you are using a "hard" food freezing is fine.
The reason for the freeze band on some of the foods is for the oil
separation, as you suspect, and the fact that some of these oils break
down when frozen making them useless for fish nutrition..

Tom L.L.

Excuse me Ingird,

Who, are saying these things. Documentation, pLease. As some one who
keeps up with that is going on in the Aquaculture world, I have seen
nothing of your claims. Plus I don't know of any product that is corn
based (dog or fish), except one (for fish), and that is not easily
available to the general public, you would have to know about it an go
out of your way to purchase it, so that is probably not the case. Most
corn products that are put into fish foods are corn glutein, which is
high in protein and easily assimulated by fish and is very good for
fish.

So please, tell us of the research and/or documenation that supports
what you have said about the liver problems, etc.

Tom L.L.