S.F. Bay frozen brine shrimp

[tgray3]

Wanted to see if anyone else has had a similar experience;

I let myself run low on frozen brine a month ago. I have been using Hikari for a couple years. The closest store to me is Petco and they only had SF Bay so i figured, what the heck, and bought a flat.

After a month of using this stuff i had a pretty bad outbreak of Cyano. I threw what was left of the SF Bay away last week and restocked with Hikari.

After only a week of stopping the use of SF Bay and going back to Hikari the Cyano is almost all gone. Nothing else was changed on the tank, I fed the same amount (1/2 cube a day) and the same frequency, same skimmer, fuge, power heads and i didn't even redirect the power heads to point at the problem spots. The only thing i did was change foods.

I thought this was kind of interesting and wondered if anyone had heard anything about problems with SF Bay frozen food. I know i won't use it again.

 

[oil_fan]

You know, I've never even thought of that. I'd been using SF brand since I started. The last year and half, every 3 or 4 months I'd get case of cyano. The only thing that would kill is if I went chemical on the stuff.

It maybe time to switch brands.

 

[lilbluelude]

Ive been wondering the same kind of thing... Ive asked everyone who has been reporting a bad Hair algae outbreak recently the same question.

I had an outbreak of hair algae and cyano about 2-3 months ago. I hadnt added anything to my tank since May because I was traveling so much for a while. Only thing I could think of was from the food.

Lets just say everyone I have asked who has had an outbreak in the last few months has reported the same SF Bay brine shrimp...

Hmm.. Food for thought? or, coincidence?

 

[oil_fan]

My last case of cyano was probably back in early July I think. After treating it back then, it hasn't come back. I've also started using a UV part time. It's on for about 10 hours during the night. So far the stuff hasn't returned.

Now HA is another issue. I've been in a full blown war with this stuff for the last couple of weeks now.

 

[james s_]

Did you thaw it out and drain it before putting it into the tank?

 

[jdabs]

I've used the SF brand and have not had any problems.

 

[oil_fan]

James, if you're asking me...yep. Thaw it first and drain the extra juices. But some of the juices still end in the tank. Funny thing is that I use the same food in my 20 gallon FOWLR and never had a single cyano outbreak in that tank. Just my 65 gallon one.

 

[tgray3]

James S.;408082 wrote: Did you thaw it out and drain it before putting it into the tank?

Yup, thawed in tank water and rinsed in RO, then mixed with tank water and fed to the fish by dripping it in. One thing I thought of driving home tonight was the difference i've noticed pouring it in the tank. The SF Bay would cloud the water in a small area around where it was poured in even after rinsing it. The Hikari doesn't cloud the water at all.

Maybe, and this is just a thought, the SF Bay has more small shrimp/pieces of shrimp that are too large to go through the shrimp net but so small that it makes something like "chum" and that's whats clouding the water.

Granted, a good skimmer in a tank with good flow should remove this "chum" before it settles and feeds the cyano but with my budget i don't have what you would call a top of the line skimmer but i do have good flow and my weekly tests are done with Seachem kits and the 'trates, 'trites and po4 come out as close to zero as these kits can show.

I guess i could get some LFS water tests done but it's just easier for me not to use SF Bay. Not saying that it's bad food, it just doesn't work for me.

 

[smoothie]

Hikari is a cleaner product and you are right about the chum cloudiness with the SF bay even after the rinse.