General Care Discussion :: Question about Feeder fish, please help

[redforman]

I just cleaned my turtles tank, I recently bought 10 baby feeder fish for him to chase around although he is too young still, to eat them, I put them in the tank and then decided to take them out after really deciding if I want him to eat the fish with the risk of possibly giving him parasites. I only put the fish in the tank and none of the water they were in previously. They were only in the tank for maybe an 1 1/2 to 2 hours and he didnt eat any of them. My question is, could my turtle still get parasites from them if he didnt eat them but was in the same water as them? I took them out and froze them for later when hes bigger. Please help, kinda worried I just gave my turtle parasites.

[Love of Animals]

Yes he could get parasites but I wouldn't worry about that. Just keep an eye on him for a couple of weeks if your really worried. Did the feeder fish look healthy? Many people feed their turtles feeder fish and don't have problems. Some turtles live with fish. Mine lives with a goldfish that was a feeder fish but he didn't eat him. Now the fish is the same size as him. You don't have to feed your turtle fish at all if you don't want to. Most turtle pellets contain a good amount of protein. Turtles are slower than fish. In the wild they would most likely be only able to catch a fish that has slowed down due to illness or injury.

[redforman]

From what it looked like, the feeder fish did look healthy and I don't remember seeing any dead fish in the tank when I bought them today. They weren't in the tank very long so I didn't know if in order to get the parasites if their were any, if he had to have eaten one or if the water could have been contaminated by any chance. He's really healthy and I just worried about the little guy. I cleaned out the tank before I put the feeder fish in it so I hope eveything is ok. Thanks for the reply

[steve]

Try not to worry about it. Fish parasites aren't likely to harm your turtle.