Jump to content

Biofilm alternative


fishmosy

Recommended Posts

As long as it doesn't contain any restricted ingredients it should be fine. If it is a high risk (biologically it may need to be treated(methyl bromide) which may end up being more than the cost of the product itself.

Edited by inverted
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bugger, I guess ill stop waiting for the foods and start waiting for the letter explaining why they confiscated it then :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice! So jelly!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I realize this thread is rather old, but has anyone tested this further?

 

Is this a viable alternative to the cubes I make with agar-agar? I am bio-film challenged and looking for supplements.

 

Also.... Would the shrimp care if it was "broken cell" Chlorella vs whole cell?

As far as the original idea goes, it works really well and the shrimp fed off it (tested on cherries, CRS, chameleons and Paratya). However with the rise of cheap, nutritious shrimp foods, such as Boss Aquarias shrimp crack and snow, and increased demands on my time, I've stopped making it.

Agar agar will work as a binding agent for foods. I think 3-4% by weight is a good starting point for getting the right consistency.

With regards to broken cell vs. whole cell, I don't believe there would be much difference because as shrimp are grazers, (I assume) they would have a mechanism of breaking down the cells of the algae they consume.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

@buck  What is your experience with the "bacter ae"?

 

I tried it, only fed it once. while the shrimp seemed to enjoy it, they all seemed to get lethargic for a while. Not their normmal active ever-grazing selves. They would eat for a while, then be motionless for while. It was almost like shrimp valium! :huh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use bacter ae.... It creates a lot of biofilm.... My shrimp hardly eat anything I put in the tank because they have enough.

Can't say I noticed them getting high :D

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’ve been feeding it to mine for a while now and I really like it, the shrimp just wonder around eating it.  my tanks fairly heavily stocked atm so I still feed other things ( I like to very there diet) they seem to really like the baby food too. It’s not a powder but really small granules so everyone gets some!  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

  • Posts

    • sdlTBfanUK
      I would hazard a guess that perhaps those eggs were unfertilized and thereby unviable? Did the eggs change colour, usually yellow to grey as the yolks used up, or any eyes in the eggs. Is your water ok, using RO remineralised and the parameters in range, as I have heard others say that if the water isn't good it can 'force' a molt? How is it going overall, do you have a good size colony in the tank, you may have reached 'maximum occupancy' as a tank can only support so many occupants.
    • beanbag
      Hello folks,  The current problem I am having is that my Taiwan bee shrimp are molting before all their eggs have hatched.  Often the shrimp keep the eggs for 40+ days.  During that time, they lose about half or so, either due to dropping or duds or whatever.  Shortly before molting they look to have about a dozen left, and then they molt with about half a dozen eggs still on the shell.  Then the other shirmp will come and eat the shell.  These last few times, I have been getting around 0-3 surviving babies per batch.  I figure I can make the eggs hatch faster by raising the water temperature more (currently around 68F, which is already a few degrees higher than I used to keep it) or make the shrimp grow slower by feeding them less (protein).  Currently I feed Shrimp King complete every other day, and also a small dab of Shrimp Fit alternating days.  Maybe I can start alternating with more vegetable food like mulberry?  or just decrease the amount of food?
    • ngoomie
      Yeah, cancer risk was a thing I'd seen mentioned a lot when looking into gentian violet briefly. I kinda just figured it might only be as bad as the cancer risk of malachite green as well, but maybe I should look into it more. I've been doing a pretty good job of not getting it on my skin and also avoiding dunking my unprotected hands into the tank water while treating my fish at least, though. Maybe I'll just not use it once I'm done this course of medication anyways, because I know a store I can sometimes get to that's pretty distant carries both malachite green and methylene blue, and in pretty large quantities.
    • jayc
      Can't help you with Gentian Violet, sorry. It is banned in Australia violet for potential toxicity, and even possible cancer risks. I thought it was banned in Canada as well. At least, you now know why there isn't much info on gentian violet medication and it's use. But keep an eye on the snails after a week. If it affects the snails, it might not kill them immediately. So keep checking for up to a week. Much safer options out there. No point risking your own life over unsafe products.
    • ngoomie
      Hello! I have a tank that currently does not contain shrimp, but does contain neon tetras which I am currently treating for Ich, as well as some bladder snails. Shrimp will be a later addition, likely cherry shrimp but I'm still doing research just to be sure. Initially I'd intended to buy some sort of Ich-fighting product that contains malachite green after doing a decent bit of research on it, most of which indicated that it should be shrimp-safe so I'd be good if I ever needed to use it again once shrimp were actually introduced (though I should note I'm aware shrimp can't get Ich, I'm more wondering in case the tetras could get Ich again, or something else that responds to similar medication). I ended up not being able to find any MG-containing products without either having to travel quite far or wait multiple days for delivery (which I was worried could lead the Ich to be fatal), and ended up picking up 'Top Fin Ick Remedy', a product that contains gentian violet which is a triarylmethane dye like malachite green. The bottle has two slightly differently worded warnings about its use with invertebrates ("not recommended for" and "not safe for" respectively), but when I'd been researching malachite green, I'd also heard of products that contain MG but not any other ingredients that would be harmful to inverts still being branded with warnings that they could be harmful, just as a "just-in-case" since the manufacturer didn't test it on any inverts, and I'm wondering if maybe it could be a similar situation here. I'm having a very very hard time finding information about gentian violet's use in fishkeeping at all though, it seems currently extremely uncommon. What I will say though is that I'm on day 2 of treating my tetras with it, and the bladder snails seem just fine -- in fact today I noticed what looked to be a bladder snail that appeared to be newly hatched (because of its size) that I hadn't seen before that was zipping around the tank without issue. But obviously, shrimp are not snails, and bladder snails are also notoriously hardy little guys, so what I'm seeing right now could easily be totally inapplicable to cherry shrimp. It might even be inapplicable to other species of snails, for all I know. Has anyone else here ever used anything that contains gentian violet in a tank that actually does contain shrimp? Were they okay, or should I make sure to not use it once shrimp are added?
×
×
  • Create New...