How do you get catfish to top feed?

[Charlotte Seibert]

Since my fish were dieing from ick, which they seem to be doing well now, I was feeding them a few worms to get their strength up, now they will not come to the top to eat tthe food. Even what floats to the bottom they will not eat it. Why?

[TCLynx]

Sick fish tend to go off their feed, that's normal.

If the water quality is poor, fish will go off their feed.  That too is normal and you want to get the water quality back up before feeding them.

Let them get hungry enough to eat, stand back so they can't see you when you put the feed in (I peak under the edge of the cover of some of my fish tanks so I can watch the fish eat without scaring them off.)

When they are hungry, healthy and in good quality water, they will come up for floating pellets (provided the pellets are small enough for them to eat.)

Check to make sure your feed is still good, high protein fish feed can go rancid pretty quick.  I've had feed go "off" and it can kill fish too.

[Charlotte Seibert]

I finally reached full cycle...0 ammonia and 0 nitrite.. PH 7.6.. the fish love to see me..lol tey come to what ever side of the tank I go to looking for those worms..lol.. how do I tell if the fish food is bad? iit still smells the same to me.. I have it it plastic containers.
 TCLynx said:

Sick fish tend to go off their feed, that's normal.

If the water quality is poor, fish will go off their feed.  That too is normal and you want to get the water quality back up before feeding them.

Let them get hungry enough to eat, stand back so they can't see you when you put the feed in (I peak under the edge of the cover of some of my fish tanks so I can watch the fish eat without scaring them off.)

When they are hungry, healthy and in good quality water, they will come up for floating pellets (provided the pellets are small enough for them to eat.)

Check to make sure your feed is still good, high protein fish feed can go rancid pretty quick.  I've had feed go "off" and it can kill fish too.

[TCLynx]

How old is it, if it is older than 6 months (there is usually a date on the bag)?  It is sometimes hard to tell if the fish feed is actually bad or if the fish just don't like it.  Of course if the fish just don't like it, it may be hard to use it anyway.

[Charlotte Seibert]

they did eat it before the nitrite went sky high from the pump failure, I don't have the bag anymore..I put it containers.. but I have only had it about 1 month..will try some goldfish food that I still have at tonights feeding. ty again TC I look forward to your replys..

[TCLynx]

If the food is kinda big, you might try crunching it up a bit if the fish are a bit small to eat it.

Now if you have been feeding them special treats, they my prefer the treats and getting them back on the pellets could be tricky.  Sometimes people will add something to the feed to help entice the fish to eat it again, something with a strong fragrance/taste that the fish like but I'm not sure what to recommend.

What type of feed is it?