Live versus Frozen

[taricha]

First time poster, been lurking here for a month or so to get through the tank setup and get up to speed on basic puffer care questions. Had a question I couldn't find answers to.

I have easy access to collect live freshwater snails, clams, crayfish, and other random freshwater inverts. enough that I could raise him entirely on live foods if desired. My GSP will readily accept live, thawed, freeze-dried, practically anything so that's not an issue.

What would lead to a healthier puffer? Reliance on live foods or the frozen raw stuff from the seafood dept? (I guess he'll get a lot of live snails either way for dental reasons.)

[LilGreenPuffer]

Nice to see you finally! I'm glad you did your research first!

Either would work fine. Live foods are more likely to have parasites, despite quarantining (although QTing reduces the chances A LOT), but frozen food doesn't give them the same "exercise." But provided that you quarantine, there's a much smaller chance of a problem with live, and of course your fish will get exercise on other ways.

I use both, if that helps at all. I like frozen vitamin-enriched foods a lot, and live worms are convenient, since I don't have to chop up a block and defrost. Plus, my fishies looove those live worms!

[taricha]

Thanks for the reply.
It seems like the parasite risk (especially since more than a few days of quarantine would kill the clams) is a very real detriment to long term health. Isn't the exercise and normal predatory behavior caused by eating live food a pretty weak benefit in comparison?
So to refine my question, is there any real benefit to a largely live food diet? Or is it best from a health standpoint to use live foods (aside from snails) only as a rare treat?

[LilGreenPuffer]

Lots of people feed live every day and have never had a problem. As long as you quarantine, you're about 99.999% certain not to have a problem. If you breed your own, then I'd say about, oh, 99.9999999999999999999999999999% certain.

There's always the risk that frozen food could get contaminated. Some nasties can get in and survive freezers.

By the by, I don't know of any worms that can carry parasites.

[pufferpuggirl]

There is an option that you might like to explore. I've heard that using an UV-Steriliser will cut down on parasites. I've never used one, so only going by what I've heard. Your option might be to quarantine your live foods in a tank with a UV light on it, and maybe that will help cut down your risk of any parasites. I would think replicating a puffer's natural diet as much as possible would be good for the puffer, if you can get past the parasite-risk.

Just a thought.

And welcome to the forum!

[Pufferpunk]

Wouldn't that just be for parasites in the water column though, not inside the creatures?

[pufferpuggirl]

To be honest, I really have no experience with UV-sterilisers, just thought I'd mention it in case it's something that might work. I was under the impression that the UV light helped keep parasites at bay, but like I said, I have no experience with it, so I could be totally wrong.

[Jivenjune]

Are you planning to keep your GSP in marine or brackish conditions? I would imagine that in marine conditions, many of the troublesome parasites would simply die off, though I'm not 100 percent sure on that.

[bigfatfish]

I regularly collect fresh snails (& shrimp if I can catch them) from clean beaches to feed my 2 GSPs. I did the same for 10 years for my old one too. I never had any problems, although I am fully aware of the potential to bring in parasites/disease. I decided that their enjoyment of the fresh food was such that I was willing to "risk" it! I can always treat with an anti-parasitic prep if I am worried. I do like that their diet contains some foods that they would hunt for naturally. Of course, I also give frozen foods too, for variety.

[LilGreenPuffer]

Are you planning to keep your GSP in marine or brackish conditions? I would imagine that in marine conditions, many of the troublesome parasites would simply die off, though I'm not 100 percent sure on that.

That won't have an effect on internal parasites...

[taricha]

Helpful replies everyone.
I have not yet decided whether to go to full marine or not. Will get up to med or high brackish and hang out there until I decide.

Thanks for putting into context the relative risk of parasites from live food. Reading threads in the hospital forum and the constant discussions of treating for IPs makes it seem like a much more frequent problem than I guess it really is.

[LilGreenPuffer]

Most fish get IPs from other fish in the store or tank, not from properly quarantined food. I deworm all new fish. I only made one exception - I purchased a betta from a private breeder, who has more invested in the individual fish than a supplier or store, and won't let a fish stay sick just because deworming is a bother.