Ocean Nurtition Spirulina

[wontonflip]

I got this for the foxface and blenny:

Ocean Nutrition Spirulina Formula Cube Tray 7oz

I rinse all my food out and refreeze them into smaller cubes that are good for one feeding each....I mix all my food together (mysis, emerald entree, and the Spirulina). Problem is, because this stupid Spirulina is in a gel, when I re-thaw it, it turned my entire block into a gel pack!

Has anyone used this before, and how did you serve it? Did you chop it up? Seeing as how the gel keeps its form, should I even bother rinsing it? It just seems...weird to put this in my tank :shock:

 

[dcantucson]

I don't like the gel stuff myself and my fish don't seem to like it as much either. I try to mix and break it up but then there is very little solid stuff left. It clouds the water more than anything else. I try to avoid it.

 

[wontonflip]

I don't like the gel stuff myself and my fish don't seem to like it as much either. I try to mix and break it up but then there is very little solid stuff left. It clouds the water more than anything else. I try to avoid it.

Yeah I know...I'm kinda annoyed by it. I didn't read that it was a gel. So i Have 2 weeks worth of food that have this gel stuff mixed in. My fish did eat them though -- at least, the pieces that were small enough. No matter how much I smooshed it around, it would not break up, and like you said, just clouded up my water.

 

[Chris_150G]

Just an FYI about thawing and refreezing food.


"Refreezing is bad for three reasons. First, by refreezing food you multiply the damage to it--any cells that escaped rupture the first time the food was frozen are at risk of being ruptured the second time. Second, when food has been frozen and thawed out, it has larger pockets of liquid within it than the first time due to the ruptured cells. When the food is refrozen, the larger pockets of liquid can freeze into much larger ice crystals, which can tear through many more cell membranes and lead to more damage to the food. The third and most important reason not to refreeze is increased risk of spoilage due to microorganisms." (Source:the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board)
http://www.straightdope.com/columns...reezing-food-bad-what-exactly-is-freezer-burn

 

[Bifferwine]

With that Ocean Nutrition foods, you have to buy a special feeding clip. It's a suction cup clip that has a plastic mesh "basket" attached to it. You squish the cube of food in the mesh basket, and stick it to the glass. Then the fish feed from it that way.

 

[Chris_150G]

With that Ocean Nutrition foods, you have to buy a special feeding clip. It's a suction cup clip that has a plastic mesh "basket" attached to it. You squish the cube of food in the mesh basket, and stick it to the glass. Then the fish feed from it that way.

I want one!

 

[wontonflip]

Dangit. Now i have to find this feeding clip? What is your take on the gel? Do you think it's bad for water quality? Like David mentioned, it does cloud up the water.

Thanks for the info Chris...good read. I might rethink my process here. No matter how you feed the fish, there is always going toi be some thawing. I don't feed my fish an entire cube; more like 1/4 of it. So I'd still have to pull it out, cut off the pieces, and then rinse and feed. Thus far, though, they eat all the food I put in, and don't seem affected by it. But it's something to think about.

 

[Chris_150G]

It sounds like you have a well organized system. I don't even know how to rinse the cubes. I tried a few times but it was too messy. How do you do it? I tried using some contraption for tea and that failed.

 

[PRC]

I put the gel in my tank once....Everyone of my fish looked at me like I was pissing in their tank....It came with some salt I bought, my fish wouldn't touch it, I ended up throwing it away...I did notice the water got cloudy.

 

[Melosu58]

I`m not a big fan of gel either but spirulina is good for your herbivore Foxface.

 

[wontonflip]

It sounds like you have a well organized system. I don't even know how to rinse the cubes. I tried a few times but it was too messy. How do you do it? I tried using some contraption for tea and that failed.

What I do is take cubes, and let them melt in some rodi. The I just use a fishnet to strain it out, then dump it all into a ziplock bag. I cut it up into single servings and store in a pilil box. You should see the color of the water when I'm done :shock: I can't NOT rinse! Plus according to others on this forum, frozen food have phosphates in it, leading to increased algae problems. Why take a chance. I do this once every couple of weeks. So all I have to do is pull out a cube from the pill box, thaw it, and feed.

EDIT: I decided to toss this batch of food. Just fed the fish and I really hate that stuff.

 

[reeffreak]

It's to much work to break up cubes with gel binders.You mash and mash,it slides out of the way instead onto the floor..The 2Docs have the mesh veggie clip.

 

[wontonflip]

This thing: Grid Feeding Clip

????

Hell, I can make that! I already have the plastic mesh and extra algae clips :)

 

[Bifferwine]

Yep that's exactly it.

 

[reeffreak]

Ya,that's it.