Is out of date fish food still viable?

Gold_Dust_2

My sister recently bought a house and the previous tenant left some fish in the pond, and the only food that we can find is out of date. The oldest expired in 2002 so we won't be touching any of that - the most recent expired in oct 2012. I have some goldfish food at home, but I'm not sure whether it's suitable.

I'll take a picture, and would appreciate it if someone could take a guess at the size of the pond and what type of fish there are. There are only 2 that I can see, and I know from experience (unfortunately) that dead fish float, so I don't think there are any more....

There are a couple of other ponds though, and I can't see any fishies, but they are murky ponds so I can't be sure.

In short - help!

We've been here since weds, so can't be sure of when they were last fed but they definitely weren't fed for a few days!

rising_from_the_ashes

Can you not just go & buy some new food?

Gold_Dust_2

I will, I'm just concerned that they haven't eaten since weds at least, so was wondering if they could be fed straight away. There are at least 3 now, they look like goldfish. The little blighters aren't half good at hiding!

krlyr

Just remember that there will be natural sources of food in the pond for them - especially the murky ones. Plants, insects, algae - a similar diet to wild carp - so chances are they haven't been starving over the past few days.

Gold_Dust_2

Thank you so much. Any tips on how I can find out if there are any in the other ponds? I think he mentioned some newts, too. We may have to rehome these little guys.

krlyr

Do you want to keep the ponds? If not, I'd drain them bit by bit - you'll find out if there's anything in there eventually, and you can always relocate into the one pond and then find someone who wants them once you know final numbers.

eskimo26

As I understand it they will be ok for approximately two weeks. I remember looking into it when going on holiday but i still had them fed a bit while i was away.

Chances are they won't be starving though.

As far as i know pond food is different to tank food, not sure why. I guess the pond food is better at being seen and not dissolving quickly compared to standard flakes.

Also for anyone with a tank avoid these slow release holiday feeders.

topdaddy_2

Out of date will be fine. Its made from ash anyway.

krlyr

topdaddy wrote: »

Out of date will be fine. Its made from ash anyway.

I'm not sure it is. I know "ash" in dog food doesn't mean there's ash in it - it means ash in the sense of what's left if you were to burn off the food. It somewhat represents the filler/waste part of a food, though this "ash" can contain some nutritional value so it's considered to be a bit of an outdated method of analysing foods. Google seems to suggest it's the same case for fish food.

topdaddy_2

All carbon and mineral though. Aint gonna go off.

pawsies

Fish food is made from fish derivatives. I've never understood why people think that is the best diet for them but nevertheless I would feed it. What would you do if the label had come off? Probably feed it. I wouldn't waste something that could be used