Thread: Minnows dying

I am having the same problem in Alabama. Have bought bait from 3 different sources and same results from all 3. I think it is the bait coming from Ark.

I think has a lot to do with it. We took some Tuffys from TN to Weiss and they lasted a week and never lost a one, bought some from the dock there and they were dying before we got back to the boat.

A friend told me when minnows where trying to spawn they where hard to keep alive I really think that may be the problem.

There are a lot of guys buying there minnows there and the consensus is they have the best minnows around.I haven't heard of anyone else complaining.

You using their water or yours ? I always have them add their water to my bucket. Then you can add about a teaspoon of better bait. Also when it starts to warm up I carry small juice bottles of frozen water in my cooler. I'll drop one of those in. In cools the water down slow so they can adjust. When I clean a bucket a put 1/2 cup of bleach and fill with water, let it sit couple of hrs. Rinse real good, then fill with clean water and sit overnight. Then rinse out. Kill about anything in there and overnight rinse cleans it out. Plus better bait will kill and chlorine that might possibly still be there. Lots of foaming says they are stressed pretty bad for some reason.usually water not right.

I carried it in empty and used their water. The minnows were dying in 30 minutes when I opened the lid. I did add better bait to them and the water was cool. I will try that method.

Originally Posted by deltarat

I carried it in empty and used their water. The minnows were dying in 30 minutes when I opened the lid. I did add better bait to them and the water was cool. I will try that method.

One thing is don't over dose on better bait. Most of these places already have some in their water. You might ask them next time what they use if they even know.

Ok fellas here is what is happening to your bait REGARDLESS OF WHERE YOU BUY THEM. The minnow farms harvest their minnows and load them onto the distributors truck. The minnows are roughed up with the handling and some scales are knocked off. They are stressed because of overcrowding in the haulers tanks. The minnows start to secrete slime to protect themselves which causes the foam generation. The bacteria in the water starts to breakdown the slime and ammonia is formed, further stressing the minnows. Bacterial growth develops on the minnows weakening them and they start to die. The true goal of the minnow farms is to move the minnows as fast as they can to avoid liability due to rough handling of the bait. Same with the distributor. The bait shops don't know the difference. If they say something to their supplier, the answer is" it must be something you did, not us."

How do I fix this, you ask? Contact you Vet and ask him to order some oxytetracycline, which is an antibiotic. A bag costs $5-6.00, now add,approx, 1/4 teaspoon to your bait bucket plus a teaspoon of rock salt and hold the bait 24 hours minimum. This will kill the bacterial growth on the minnows and the salt will help stimulate slime production. I hold bait in my 300 gallon poly tank for weeks. When I get the bait in I add 3 tablespoons of oxytetracycline to the water and 16 ozs of rock salt. Leave this solution in the tank for 2-3 days then pump it out and add fresh water. The minnows are now free of the bacterial growth and not overcrowded. They will last a long time if you feed them a little goldfish flakes or floating fish food. This method has saved the bacon of 2 bait shops that were experiencing losses, sometimes 50% in 1-2 weeks. 1 of the shops has quit treating their minnows with this treatment and I did not know it until it was too late. I lost all of my minnows and goldfish. The second shop has been treating each load, as they are bought from the distributor for the last 2-3 years, with virtually NO loss. He can sleep at night knowing his minnows are healthy. I checked in with him 2 weeks ago when I experienced my loss from the first dealer, and the second dealer is still treating his minnows with my recommended dosage and having no loss. if anyone buys minnows at Lake Hugo in SE Oklahoma from Jim White's bait shop, his minnows are first treated before they are sold.

If you follow my suggestion then you should experience no loss UNLESS the minnows are so badly weakened they are going to die anyway. My $.02.