question on feeding older food..

:-/ok we'll i have a few cans of cyclopeeze and other coral foods...
I;m pretty sure there 2-3 years old...Do you fellow reefers think I shouldn't be feeding these old cans of food...

 

If you kept it sealed or with the lid on in your freezer, it's fine.

If it were fish foods instead of coral food, just throw it away. The shelf life of pellets and flakes, once opened, is 3 months. Obviously you can extend that period by a long time if stored in the freezer and if you're soaking them in HUFA's and Vitamins prior to feeding.

 

If it is flake it should be crispy to be good. Sort of like chips.

 

it's 2-3 years old the cyclopeeze...
as for brine shrimp frozen what do you guys recommend

 

TECHNICAL ANSWER

Cyclopeeze: If still sealed for 2 or 3 years, probably fine. If you opened it up and used some and put the lid back on and it stayed in the freezer, you're fine. If it was opened and you didn't put it in the freezer, throw it away.

For the frozen brine, look to see if there's "freezer burn" on it. If there is, throw it away. That means the cell walls exploded and a good portion of the nutrition once contained within them is gone. (If you don't drain off the water, all of the polyphosphates are going directly into your water instead of the fishes body)

Like I stated earlier, they'll won't get any vitamins out of it yet they'll get some proteins and carbs. However, just like us they need vitamins in addition to fats (primarily HUFA's), Proteins, and Carbohydrates. You could use it as long as you soaked it in HUFA's and Vitamins but the polyphosphates that were once in the cells are now going to be available to nuisance algaes.

PRACTICAL ANSWER:

The way to be succesful in this hobby relies primarily on 3 factors; Proper nutrition, good water quality, and good lighting. Why risk it on the nutrition part of the equation. (I know it's an expensive hobby but replacing this food costs less than replacing a dead coral, fish, or GFO to remove the polyphates released if the cell walls burst on the frozen brine).

 

thx! happy new year...