Do you eat the fish that you find belly up

johnra

If when you check your pond in the a.m. or anytime really, if you see a dead fish or one almost dead, do you clean it and eat it? I refuse to eat it, but most of my Thai neighbors and family think I am crazy. Today just before noon I found a large white Koi, approximately 60 cms long floating on its back, almost dead. My wifes cousin took it home to cook it. What do you think?

grunta · **Joined:** Jun 20th, '08, 21:21 **Posts:** 280 **Gender:**

i have killed fish that were not looking to happy because of either warm weather (trout) or cool weather (Jade perch) and cooked and eaten them without any problem at all, however I wouldnt consume a fish that has died suddenly but each to there own I guess and waste not want not to a degree.

Zubin

I personnaly do not eat it. I might cook it for my dogs.

nih

I wouldn't eat any "sick" fish unless i was sure of the cause first. And if i found a fish dead even if i was certain that it was from heat or lack of disloved oxygen etc. i would not eat it unless i knew it hadn't been dead for very long before taking it out of the tank.
If i have fish deaths i generally try and do some kind of autopsy to attempt to find out the cause of death even if i have absolutely no intention of eating them.

earthbound

I feed it straight to the dog....

arbe

I bury them in the garden and plant an orange tree or similar on top - I eventually eat them, just not in fish form.

Tony From West Oz

If my trout are suffering from high temperatures / low O2, and listlessly idling along the top of the tank, I scoop them out and clean them before freezing them. The ones I get from the bottom of the tank, prior to them floating are usually only just alive. I clean and freeze these also.
The ones which are floating and dead, providing the eyes are still clear and not cloudy, I also clean and freeze.
Those with cloudy eyes are chook food.

My wife would prefer that I catch them before they die, but trout are a bit vulnerable and die quickly if the temp rises or O2 drops too far.

I have a 35W air pump now, so should be able to protect them a bit more next Summer.

Regards,
Tony.

bryjjk

If the fish are rainbow trout and water temp is the issue I try to cull before to much goes wrong, but if I don't know what the reason for the death is I just burry them under the fruit trees and hope the dog doesn't find them!

Charlie

Same as arbe

Jackfrost

I just ate a fish I found on the front lawn yesterday as it had only been exposed to 10 degree temps for an hour after a cold morning at 3-5 degrees and the eyes were nice and clear... it was lovely

Freebz

mine get cut into chunks depending on the size and frozen then buried in the vegie patch next time it gets turned

Zeknix

Jackfrost wrote:

I just ate a fish I found on the front lawn yesterday as it had only been exposed to 10 degree temps for an hour after a cold morning at 3-5 degrees and the eyes were nice and clear... it was lovely

So basically like eating fish that's been sitting in a cooler full of ice for several hours during the fishing trip. When I use to go fishing for Spanish Mackerel right before the sun started to rise, I would just unhook them and throw them in the corner on the pier. After about two hours of fishing, we would stop and go fillet them on the pier's cutting table. Throw the fillets in some bags and head home. That fish would never make it to the refrigerator or a cooler full of ice. Bread them up and throw them on the pan. Some of the best fish I ever ate.

Mind you this is during summer on the west coast of florida. Once mackerel gets cold, the flesh just doesn't taste that good anymore.

DrLuke

For me it depends on circumstances.

Jumpers no, disease no. Due to a stupid mistake I made, like spike amm or leaving hose on all night, I will definitely eat

Lorna90

I gave that fish to my cat once and it wasn't a very bright idea because the cat ended up having diarrhea. I don't eat belly-up fish since that day.

ghengis

I'd never eat a fish that has got to the point of floating belly up. Clearly have been dead way too long.

On the other hand, I lost power to my house over the w.end, due to cyclone Ita. I don't have a genny, but I did come up with a contingency plan for oxygenating the water overnight.

Unfortunately, by the time I got up yesterday morning, I had a few listless fish and many on the tank floor. I removed most of the still fish, with some actually reviving and seemingly ok. Of the 7 good sized barra I removed, I found three with clouded eyes, which were tossed because I could not gauge their freshness, and four that had crystal clear eyes and must have only just recently drowned. Those made it into my mate's smoker, and they were YUM!!

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