Is there any aquarium safe substance, with a low freezing point, that can be safely bound to frozen fish food?

[rennjidk]

It's an odd question I'm sure, and sadly, no, I cannot go into details regarding why, but there is a real purpose for it.

Alcohol, sugar, vinegar, and salt will all lower the freezing point. They are all commonly added to reef aquariums, however, it's not usually by letting fish food soak in the solutions for extended periods of time (up to a week).

First, would any of these even have negative effects on fish health if ingested in the described way?

Secondly, can you think of any substance with a low freezing point that would not?

Thanks in advance.

 

[vetteguy53081]

It's an odd question I'm sure, and sadly, no, I cannot go into details regarding why, but there is a real purpose for it.

Alcohol, sugar, vinegar, and salt will all lower the freezing point. They are all commonly added to reef aquariums, however, it's not usually by letting fish food soak in the solutions for extended periods of time (up to a week).

First, would any of these even have negative effects on fish health if ingested in the described way?

Secondly, can you think of any substance with a low freezing point that would not?

Thanks in advance.

there is sugar dosing and vinegar dosing but not sure the effect on food as I personally would not without knowing any effect on the fish

 

[rennjidk]

there is sugar dosing and vinegar dosing but not sure the effect on food as I personally would not without knowing any effect on the fish

That's what I'm trying to find out

 

[Jay Hemdal]

It's an odd question I'm sure, and sadly, no, I cannot go into details regarding why, but there is a real purpose for it.

Alcohol, sugar, vinegar, and salt will all lower the freezing point. They are all commonly added to reef aquariums, however, it's not usually by letting fish food soak in the solutions for extended periods of time (up to a week).

First, would any of these even have negative effects on fish health if ingested in the described way?

Secondly, can you think of any substance with a low freezing point that would not?

Thanks in advance.

Some algae food products are evidently preserved with glycols (maybe propylene?) and those would of course lower the freezing point. However, they also increase carbon loading when added to aquariums, so not really good.

Jay

 

[rennjidk]

Some algae food products are evidently preserved with glycols (maybe propylene?) and those would of course lower the freezing point. However, they also increase carbon loading when added to aquariums, so not really good.

Jay

Has there been any study into excess carbohydrates, or specifically glycols on fish health?

Also, how would you differentiate the addition of PG and VG, as opposed to traditional carbon dosing sources?

 

[rennjidk]

I swear this is for an actual project, lol.

 

[Tony727]

Why not just salt water?

 

[rennjidk]

Why not just salt water?

That option was part of the original question. I assume that salt would bond more easily to the food and could cause issues/death with the livestock.

 

[Tony727]

Sorry, I meant like tank water or freshly mixed saltwater. I don’t think soaking it for an extended time would be different from it floating in the water.

 

[rennjidk]

Sorry, I meant like tank water or freshly mixed saltwater. I don’t think soaking it for an extended time would be different from it floating in the water.

It definitely would. That's how osmosis works.

 

[Tony727]

It definitely would. That's how osmosis works.

I feed my fish mixed seafood that’s in a slush of saltwater which is stirred and fed via dosing pump. I would assume they can consume the food even if saturated with saltwater since they drink the water and their kidneys work out the salt.

 

[rennjidk]

I feed my fish mixed seafood that’s in a slush of saltwater which is stirred and fed via dosing pump. I would assume they can consume the food even if saturated with saltwater since they drink the water and their kidneys work out the salt.

I'm very curious about how that works, your setup I mean. So you're using the same diy frozen autofeeding system as everyone else, where you essentially have a slow mag stirrer and container inside of a mini fridge, and then food is pumped out with a dosing pump? How long are you able to keep the slurry fresh and edible? Is there even a point that it will spoil being par frozen?

Also, I maybe wrong, but I don't believe fish actively drink water.

 

[rennjidk]

Since we're in the thread anyways and google's bringing up a few different answers, can saltwater fish consume too much salt via solid food @Jay Hemdal ? Could a prolonged soak in SW saturate food with enough salt that feeding it daily becomes harmful over time?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Since we're in the thread anyways and google's bringing up a few different answers, can saltwater fish consume too much salt via solid food @Jay Hemdal ? Could a prolonged soak in SW saturate food with enough salt that feeding it daily becomes harmful over time?

IDK of any studies. Are you talking about a hyper saline solution? If so, then yes, the fish would have to deal with the greater than normal influx of salts as it ate the food, and its kidneys would need to deal with that. If the food would be in normal seawater salinity, that is fine - I use seawater as a solvent for medicated foods with no issues.

Jay

 

[rennjidk]

IDK of any studies. Are you talking about a hyper saline solution? If so, then yes, the fish would have to deal with the greater than normal influx of salts as it ate the food, and its kidneys would need to deal with that. If the food would be in normal seawater salinity, that is fine - I use seawater as a solvent for medicated foods with no issues.

Jay

No, I mean regular 35ppt saltwater, but for an extended period of time (7-10 days). I'm guessing it would be no different than a fish ingesting tank water, since osmosis will cause the food to come to equilibrium with the surrounding saltwater solution?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

No, I mean regular 35ppt saltwater, but for an extended period of time (7-10 days). I'm guessing it would be no different than a fish ingesting tank water, since osmosis will cause the food to come to equilibrium with the surrounding saltwater solution?

Correct, marine fish must naturally handle incidental seawater taken in along with its food, so that is not an issue.
Jay