Red pepper-plus! Food additive/s  5/11/10
Greetings from the Texas Panhandle-again-
<Howdy back at you from Cairo, Egypt>
I have three questions. Is that copasetic with you? If not, well, you may throw stones at me across the "big pond"!
<Mmm, well "most of us" at WWM are on your side of ponds most of the time>
Number one query and some> I make my own fancy goldfish food. (Yes the fish are fancy and so is the food!)
<Neat>
In this magic no bloat life saving concoction, from your answers and questions by the way; I blend baby food peas, sardines (in water), blanched broccoli or fresh spinach from the garden-(never any poison on this place), elodea/Anacharis, and or water sprite, an acidophilus tablet and gelatin for the bonding agent.
<Sounds yummy. I feed my fancy goldfish on Spectrum pelleted food and live plants>
This blend has done wonders for the flop, flip and sink problem that I use to have with the goldfish. Thanks for that. Occasionally my fat finned misshapen friendly fellows receive a slice of orange or zucchini squash. Finally we get to the question. (It's like going to Oklahoma from Texas by way of Chicago!) I read recently on ya'lls request and answer list that a gentleman claimed to add red pepper to the blended food mix for his fish to consume. Why?
<Some people have claimed over the years that this aids in digestion, helps reduce parasite loads and even adds to colour... ala paprika in foods for birds like flamingos et al.>
I haven't been able to find any where the reason for adding red pepper. If this is a good thing I would like to know so I might improve the wee fish's lives while they are in my tanks. .
Number two query> we have at the office a native fish tank. In that tank of fifty five gallons we have three small blue gill sunfish, perch as some so wrongly call the fish around here, and a small channel cat. We replace all of the natives with new ones when they grow too large for the 55 gallon tank.
They move on to an outside pond.
<Sounds good>
The sunfish are not mature as of yet and haven't begun to shred each others fins. Two male and a female. I am sure the extra male will have to be re-routed soon. They are being fed trout chow, worms, crickets and grasshoppers.
<Okay... the Purina product is a bit messy as you likely know... and has a bit too much protein (40% if memory serves), but... >
My question is would the mixed blend that I feed the goldfish suffice for the sunfish.
<Might well do so>
Their feeding is really nasty and I feel that feeding the blended gel food might make things easier to keep clean. They like it but I didn't know if it was enough for the wild fish. I do a fifty per cent tank water change weekly on the 55 gallon.
<A goodly amount>
Third question> a friend gave me a large black Moore. She, my friend, had the fish in a really small tank of five gallons for its, so far, three years. I now have the fish in a thirty gallon quarantine tank by it self before eventually moving it into a 100 gallon tank.
I'll swear the fish, "Tough", seems to be smiling! However the Moore has what resembles two red warts, one on each of it's sides. After research I have not been able to identify the problem. The water is so much better now in the cycled thirty gallon tank than the torture chamber of the wee five gallon. I wish more folks would research and read your information. It was suggested by my vet, (who is not a fish vet by any means however a great small and large animal vet, to remove the fish and apply iodine to the spots. (That seemed some how wrong.) ???????????
<I'd leave these marks be... are likely viral... stress-induced or at least related. May well go w/ time in your good care>
I am thinking after some reading that the spots may have been caused by the fish's water conditions in its small tank. Bless her heart my friend just did what the goof balls at the big chain, no names mentioned, fish store told her to do. They sold her three goldfish and the five gallon tank with a small sponge filter, gravel and plastic plants. She told me she was changing the water three times a week because it smelled so bad. The other two fish died. Both had the red warts. "Tough" survived! How long after the spots disappear, if they do, should I keep the fish in quarantine? I sure could use you input. Thanks Bob
<I'd move this fish soon to its new digs... the likelihood it's got/carrying anything catching is exceedingly small. Cheers, and Stella biers (at Speke's bar at the Sonesta presently), Bob Fenner>