Frozen Fish Food Questions

I use pe mysis.
I throw a net in a cup, put the cube (or 1/2 cube) in the net, put a few drops of GVH on it, let it sit for a few and then put just enough rodi water on it for it to thaw.
After a bit I toss the water, run just a bit more rodi over it and use tweezers to pick out the food and target feed.

 

I put my frozen cubes in a tea strainer and run it under warm water until it's thawed. I then put it into a cup of tank water and feed with a turkey baster, yummy.

 

I think the thread has strayed a bit from "is the food any good?" to the proper way to feed out frozen fare. I agree 100% that most frozen foods should be rinsed prior to feeding them out, and that phosphate can be a huge problem.

However, the real crux of the matter with old and/or freezer-burned food (which includes re-frozen food) is that the fats and oils in them begin to go rancid, thus losing much of their nutritional value, and is why such foods should be replaced/avoided. In fact, it's a good idea to toss anything that's over 6 months old.

Just wanted to clarify where I was coming from.

 

Yes, the concern here should not only be whats going into your tank water, but what is not going into your fish.

If ice crystals are forming, you're dealing with oxidative rancidity. This affects it's taste, odor and nutritional value. A couple of our fish will outright refuse food more than a month old. So, we buy portions to last us just that long.

Cut the block up into individual servings and divide them out into bags in weekly amounts to reduce the number of times some pieces are removed. Even the warmth of your hands upon removing it can cause some thaw. If you have control of your freezer thermostat, turn it as low as is convient. Buy one of those vacuum sealers for bags. It keeps your food nutritionally intact for SO much longer. By the time you are finished with flat pack, some pieces are going to be removed from the freezer too many times. You'll be lacking A, E, C, B1, your fats will be broken down and there could also be undesirable components present as a byproduct of the rancidity. Some say these compounds are toxic over time.

I keep one bag in the fridge freezer (1 week) and the rest in the deepfreezer where they are preserved even longer. I've stopped using frozen fish food made for our hobby, because you just don't know how old it is. I bought a bunch of different Silverside brands to ID the different species and I found expiration dates of up to 2 years. That's a useless piece of flesh at that point. We buy human grade seafood from the market. We are also lucky in that we have a local fish market on a nice pier , so we can get the food when it's still flopping. I use a grater to feed fish like my Orange Spotted Filefish and anthias, etc.

I supplement our fishes diet with many different vitamins, especially those that are more unstable like C, E and thiamine (B1).

 

Thanks alot!!! That pretty much sums it up;D