Feeder fish aren't necessarily less healthy. Feeder fish are just
less desirable because of color, size or shape and sometimes because
there are just too many for the space.

Koi become feeder fish because the farmer thought the fish wouldn't
turn into a saleable looking fish within a reasonable time and wasn't
worth feeding longer. The fish he kept at the time he made feeder
fish of the ones you bought will get culled again and some of the
keepers will be sold cheap and some become more expensive because of
their shape and color. No matter what stage of growth or expense the
fish may still have parasites and disease. You just got a cheap
lesson in fish keeping.

Regards,

Hal

On 25 Oct 2003 03:35:41 GMT, (Judi9000) wrote:

If you buy fish from feeder tanks, make sure you treat them for parasites
before putting them into your pond. I was so excited last week to find baby koi
in the feeder fish tank and so i bought some. They infected my 2 ponds and my
nieces pond with ANCHOR WORMS and ICH! The good news is, the pet store that I
bought them from gave me all the medication to treat all 3 ponds.