Weird thought, fish that don't eat dipping in soup

[Harold999]

Since marine fish drink water all day to keep their osmosis right, how weird is the thought of dipping sick fish that don't eat, in a self made shrimp soup? Same salinity same temperature as the tank, no spices ofcourse, , just bouillon made out of shrimp.
For as long as they're comfortable with, maybe an hour or so.

At least they get some food in their system, albeit very little.

Is it a crazy thought?

 

[Uzidaisies]

Yes, that’s a crazy thought.

 

[JGT]

But you def get points for thinking outside the box.

 

[kittenbritches]

 

[DrZoidburg]

Interesting thought. I would guess 02 levels in soup would be extremely low though. Also the "meat and potatoes" of fish food are not water soluble.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Why not add some garlic, some carets and celery. and some pepper to go with that salt

 

[Harold999]

Interesting thought. I would guess 02 levels in soup would be extremely low though. Also the "meat and potatoes" of fish food are not water soluble.

Bouillon. Put shrimp in a blender, boil it in rodi for a while, then filter, and ad seasalt to the right salinity.
Right temperature, airstone for aeration, and dip.

And yes you can add some garlic/vitamins to it. Pepper i wouldn't do.

 

[Tamberav]

People have done this or rather dip them in vitamins but it has been cautioned that it is harmful to the gills and would do more harm to an already compromised fish.

 

[Harold999]

People have done this or rather dip them in vitamins but it has been cautioned that it is harmful to the gills and would do more harm to an already compromised fish.

Forget the vitamins then. Let's talk about shrimp bouillon.
Plankton rich water could work too. Let the fish swim in it for an hour, and then back in the normal treatment tank with the usual medicines.

The whole idea is to get some food in them. Force feeding without sticking tubes in their throat.

 

[threebuoys]

If the fish won't swallow food, why would they swallow water? My vote is no, it won't work.

 

[Harold999]

If the fish won't swallow food, why would they swallow water? My vote is no, it won't work.

Marine fish swallow water all day to keep their osmosis system in balance.
Freshwater fish don't do it.

So basically a marinefish swimming in plankton rich water drinks and eats automatically.

 

[Auquanut]

If I'm not mistaken, fish don't consume whatever is in the water column. They have to open their gullet and intentionally "eat" when they are seeking sustenance. If you just put them in water supersaturated with food, and they don't accept the food, your just forcing excessive nutrients through their gills, which could be damaging. I could be completely wrong.

 

[Tamberav]

Forget the vitamins then. Let's talk about shrimp bouillon.
Plankton rich water could work too. Let the fish swim in it for an hour, and then back in the normal treatment tank with the usual medicines.

The whole idea is to get some food in them. Force feeding without sticking tubes in their throat.

I would still think this is stressing what is already likely damaged gills. Even if they swallow water and such… they need to also use their gills to breath and super saturated anything would interfere with that I would think.

 

[Harold999]

I would still think this is stressing what is already likely damaged gills. Even if they swallow water and such… they need to also use their gills to breath and super saturated anything would interfere with that I would think.

Fish have no problem swimming in light milky (bacterial bloom) water or plankton rich water.
That density - water with a bacterial bloom - is what i have in mind with a bouillon made out shrimp.
But like i said plankton rich water could work too, just giving them a little nutrients.

 

[Tamberav]

Fish have no problem swimming in light milky (bacterial bloom) water or plankton rich water.
That density - water with a bacterial bloom - is what i have in mind with a bouillon made out shrimp.
But like i said plankton rich water could work too, just giving them a little nutrients.

Sick fish might. People do lose fish during bacterial blooms due to oxygen deprivation so one with velvet or flukes in the gills would be compromised.

I think the concentration to not effect their respiratory rate would be too low to really have any positive effect.

Force feeding fish is generally reserved for chronic anorexia which a broth would not solve. We are talking high amount of calories in the smallest amount possible when using a feeding tube. A broth is simply not a replacement when it is needed to resort to that drastic of a measure. Some fish are tube fed for very long periods before recovery.

It just doesn’t add up for me.

 

[Jedi1199]

Marine fish swallow water all day to keep their osmosis system in balance.
Freshwater fish don't do it.

So basically a marinefish swimming in plankton rich water drinks and eats automatically.

This statement is false. freshwater fish do the same thing. The difference is that FW fish process water differently than SW fish do.

FW fish "drink" and expel water at a much more frequent rate than SW fish do. Their urine is very light and mild. SW fish urine is highly concentrated and toxic by comparison.

Both FW and SW fish absorb water at basically the same rate. The difference is in how they process that water.

I get where you are going with that thought process OP.. but I do not believe it will work in practice.

I believe that what you propose will not only not benefit the fish, but overload your bio-media which will lead to unwanted and avoidable nutrient swings that are very harmful to SW fish.

 

[Jedi1199]

OK.. I just reread your original post.. This is an interesting concept. Perhaps you can do an experiment and post your findings? I would be very interested in the results.

 

[hroberge]

OK.. I just reread your original post.. This is an interesting concept. Perhaps you can do an experiment and post your findings? I would be very interested in the results.

You can’t just sample a couple fish and come to a conclusion. The basic principle is if a fish isn’t eating you can only vary the diet and try to limit stress. Tossing the fish into this will only further stress the fish and create more risk that isn’t necessary

 

[Isopod80]

The way I see it, even if fish do eat passively to some degree the amount of protein you would need to add to the water to have any hope of giving legitimate nourishment to an otherwise nonfeeding fish, would be massive. The fishes metabolism would likely burn through the passively ingested particles faster than it could supply them. As others have mentioned, such a dense soup would likely stress the fish, could potentially damage the gills, deplete oxygen and certainly cause water quality to deteriorate very quickly. Starvation would still be inevitable unless the fish begins to actively feed.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Since marine fish drink water all day to keep their osmosis right, how weird is the thought of dipping sick fish that don't eat, in a self made shrimp soup? Same salinity same temperature as the tank, no spices ofcourse, , just bouillon made out of shrimp.
For as long as they're comfortable with, maybe an hour or so.

At least they get some food in their system, albeit very little.

Is it a crazy thought?

I've long toyed with a similar idea; marine fish drink water constantly in order to maintain proper osmotic balance. Adding medication to slightly more saline water will increase the drinking rate, and then the update of the medication. A few weeks ago, I found an obscure reference that gave an estimate of the amount of water taken in by a marine fish. I ran the math, and it really wasn't enough to transport medication, so I would expect food would be even worse.

Have you seen my tube feeding article?
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/tube-force-feeding-fish.808/

Jay Hemdal