# Pepso Food Warning



## hlynnb024 (Mar 3, 2005)

Wow, thanks for the warning!
JC


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## Aphyosemion (Oct 15, 2004)

Is that some kind of medicated food or something? Why would it kill shrimp, otherwise?
-Aphyosemion


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## Canoe2Can (Oct 31, 2004)

I feed that off and on every time I get new fish. Good thing to know, now. Sure enough I've gone through a lot of ghost shrimp in the last 4 months, and I thought it was because of the high nitrates in my tap water. Hmm....


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## Aftica (Nov 26, 2003)

Yep it is a Medicated Food... here is a link from that fish place...

http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products/KW/pepso/Class//T1/F62+0192+0058/EDP/6746/Itemdy00.aspx


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## Laith (Jul 7, 2004)

I was curious as to why this would happen so I've been searching to see what is the medication in the food...

Nothing on the web except "special formulation...".

Does it give ingredients on the product packaging?


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## Aftica (Nov 26, 2003)

The list is as long as my arm.... 

The ingredients of Pepso food are:

Fish Meal
Wheat flour
bloodmeal
feather meal
fish oil
soy lecithin
lignin sulfonate (binder)
L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate
choline chloride
vitamin E supplement
sodium sulfathiozole <= sulfa drug
nitrofurazone <= medication
cod liver oil
niacin supplement
d-calcium
pantothenate
riboflavin supplement
thiamin mononitrate
biotin
pyridoxine hydrochloride
Folic Acid
vitamin A supplement
vitamin D3 supplement
vitamin B-12 supplement
zinc sulfate
Manganese sulfate
ferrous sulfate
copper sulfate <== I never noticed this till now
sodium selenite
potassium iodate
ethoxyquin (preservative)
propionic acid (preservative)

Tasty, eh? 

minimum crude protein 50%
minimum crude fat 17%
maximum crude fiber 3%
maximum moisture 10%
maximum ash 12%
minimum phosphorus (P) 1.25%
Maximum minerals 2%

I will say though - it certainly made the lethargic fish pep up... and they had no problems accepting it (cept for the one who was already not feeding)


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## kzr750r1 (Jun 8, 2004)

Think it's the copper?


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## crshadow (Sep 4, 2003)

Aftica has pointed out a good thing to be mindful of, which is to always read the ingredients on various foods when it comes to feeding shrimp.

I had a similar problem with Wardley Algae wafers. I'm not badmouthing the product as Pl*cos seem to enjoy them. Anyway, the point is that after losing a lot of my shrimp I looked at the package and noticed that it contained Copper Sulfate. Once I stopped feeding, the deaths stopped.

Since then, I always check the ingredients for anything that looks out of the ordinary. I also avoid products that list "Trace Elements" as an ingredient as that could include practically anything...

-Jeremiah


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## cprroy73 (Nov 10, 2004)

that's why I use omega one exclusively.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

That's why I use frozen mosquito larvae... :fish: and other "real" things.


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## Aulonochromis (Jan 14, 2005)

I wonder if Pepso will kill snails?


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## Salamastre (Jun 19, 2005)

crshadow and Aftica:

I will be eternally grateful to both of you 

As I posted elsewhere, I am about to buy my first batch of shrimp, and I had a half full bag of wardley algae discs waiting for them. You just saved me some good money and frustration.

The price sticker covers the bottom of the English version ingredient list, finally I know what 'sulfate de cuivre' means on the French side 

I guess I now own a bag with a few years' worth of Wardley's Green Water Culture Starter Discs.


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## crshadow (Sep 4, 2003)

Salamastre, glad we could help! roud: Good luck with your shrimp!

-Jeremiah


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## jng (Jun 29, 2005)

That's strange. I've been feeding the Wardley Algae wafers a couple of times a week for my oto. I have 2 amano shrimp in the same tank that always get their share. 

Maybe I've just been lucky so far, but I won't push it. I just don't know what to do with the rest of the wafers now.


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## jesstray (Mar 17, 2005)

*Am I Murdering My Shrimp???*

I have been using the pepso food in order to clean my fish of any internal parasites that may exist and have not had any shrimp fatalities. I have three Amano shrimp and they seem to be just fine. I am certain that they have eaten some of some, because when I first got it I used it as the sole diet for 5 days straight. And two months later I still feed it solely two days of the week. I have observed both my Amano and my ghost shrimp eat.

Now my ghost shrimp population has declined from 10 to 2, but all three of my Amano shrimp seem to be just fine. Did Jungle actually provide a response stating that it will or may harm your shrimp? I am curious to find out if I am slowly poisoning my fish. I too will be frustrated if that is the case and it is not mentioned on the bottle.


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## Oqsy (Jul 3, 2004)

yes, it is confirmed by the company that pepso food does kill shrimp. copper sulfate is included in the food as an anti-parasitic that kills invertebrates. it is targeting GI parasites in fish, but shrimp are very succeptible too. think about it this way.. if it kills ich, fish lice, or worms then it will most likely kill your shrimp and / or snails.

Oqsy


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## Aftica (Nov 26, 2003)

yes, as Oqsy said. it is confirmed by the company that pepso food does indeed kill shrimp.

They (Jungle) confirmed this on my first telephone call (see first post in thread) - I was lucky - of the 6 shrimp in the tank only one was hungry I guess. I never had a shrimp fatality before this and not one since.


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## carlnorman (Jun 10, 2005)

*Food*

:icon_idea I have now confirmed that it was the food that was killing my cherries, I don't know if any of these things were in it, but I will check now. I am so good at growing algae, that I don't think I will have any trouble feeding my shrimp without supplements.


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## AZFIsh1 (Dec 29, 2004)

I have used praziquantel to worm fish in tanks with cherries and had no noticable loss from it...... You would not believe the things your fish will pass after you treat with the stuff.


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## Pia (Dec 20, 2004)

Aftica said:


> I called them to complain and their response was that since most people don't know what an invertebrate is they don't put it on the package to cut down on the number of phone calls to find out what is an invertebrate!


So why not say what an invertebrate is on the packaging? That way people with shrimp are informed but there would still be less phone calls.. :icon_conf

WARNING: This product is dangerous to shrimp, ____, ____, ____.. etc


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## carlnorman (Jun 10, 2005)

The food I had was HBK Crab Bites and it contains Copper Sulfate, I wish I had read the package before feeding as it cost me 10 beautiful Cherries @ $9 each!


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## Talonstorm (Nov 6, 2004)

I have fed HBK crab bites lots of times and haven't lost any shrimp. I really think it depends on the amount of copper sulfate in the food. Many of the plant ferts also have copper, and they don't bother my shrimp either if used in the proper dosages.

Tina


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## aquaverde (Apr 15, 2003)

True, there's a trace amount of copper in lots of stuff we use. Really small amounts, like 1/10000 of a per cent copper in Flourish. CSM has a lot more, relatively speaking, but still a small amount at a tenth of a per cent.


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## BriNeShriMp (May 30, 2005)

The food I had was HBK Crab Bites and it contains Copper Sulfate, I wish I had read the package before feeding as it cost me 10 beautiful Cherries @ $9 each!
=======================================
Your paying 9 dollars for cherries? They are only 3 dollars at my lfs.


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## carlnorman (Jun 10, 2005)

Yah, I paid 8.99 each, that is in Canada, so that is part of it. Big Al's is now down to 6.99. As more of us up here start breeding them, I am sure the prices will be more reasonable. That is what I have been trying set up.

As to the HBK Crab Bites, it is without a doubt what was killing the shrimp. I have not lost one since I stopped feeding it to them. I would probalby realized it was the food sooner, but I was learning how to use the testing kit and got some wacky results whick lead me to believe it was water issues.

Maybe in a bigger tank or with tougher shrimp, the crab bites would have been fine, or I just got a bad batch, but I will not be risking any more on that. I have lots of Algae, they can eat that!!


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## daFrimpster (Mar 7, 2005)

I kept a crawdad tank for a couple years feeding them HBK Crab bites as their staple food. I never lost one during that time except one via cannibalism.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2005)

I don't know what to say in this thread, I feed Wardley's algae wafers and once a week I feed pepso food to my community tank. They are for my pleco and algae shrimps and I have not had a casualty for the entire year ...
Infact, in my pleco tank, I have a wood shrimp living along with my BN pleco and they get a dose of the same food as well. If any one every own a wood shrimp, they will know that it's alot more sensitive to copper than most of the other shrimps. My wood shrimp have been alive for more than 1/2 a year. This news is very contradictory to my experience.
Although I have to admit that I did not had much success with the following cherry, bumble bee, tiger and blue(rainbow) shrimps. I have survivors, but the casualty rate is pretty high. Ironically, I don't feed algae wafer and pepso food to these guys. I feed shrimp pellets for them. Are you sure this is the real cause of your shrimps death?


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## carlnorman (Jun 10, 2005)

I know with mine, the tank was cycled naturally for two months before I got my first shrimp. They were fine until I added the HBK Crab Bites, then they would die everytime they moulted. Since I stopped using the CB's I have not had any deaths.

May be coincidence, but I sure wouldn't put anything with copper sulfate in my tanks again if they contained shrimp! :icon_conf


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