Diy Focus experimentation

[Gareth elliott]

Left is focus right is diy

Onto the next polymer [emoji23]

If cant tell turned into a gel. Probably a good diy cricket water if raising insects.

Simply use 3 parts water to 1 part cmc powder. Which is commonly used in food and edible.

 

[ngoodermuth]

I once tried using the gelatin recipe on hikari’s website... it ended up a stale gummy bear-like consistency and even crumbled up not one of my fish would touch it [emoji23]

 

[Gareth elliott]

I once tried using the gelatin recipe on hikari’s website... it ended up a stale gummy bear-like consistency and even crumbled up not one of my fish would touch it [emoji23]

I use unflavored gelatin to make diy plant tabs. Yeah alot like gummy bears lol

Using povidone next the inactive ingredient in betadine. This is taking longer to ship than the food additive as had to order from pharmaceutical supply, and i wasnt paying for faster shipping [emoji23]

 

[Gareth elliott]

Ok so the Polyvinylpyrrolidone test.

Ok this passed a viscosity test next will be a does it hold the medication test.

Going to mix with a strong antibiotic that does strongly effect the biofilter. So for this using tetracycline. Test of effect on biofilter will be done using a seneye for ammonia detection. With then do some is it palatable tests.

Btw a 100g container cost me the same as a 5g container of focus.

Btw lack of color is probably due to the fact this does not contain an antibiotic like focus does already.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Palatability test 1

Make up is
1/8th tsp pvp powder
9 ml tank water
1.5 grams brine shrimp
.5g spirulina
.5 ml entice

Fish tested are guppies as i have them readily available. Not a picky eater so not a true test for more finicky eaters. But they did eat it. There was a noticeable localized cloud that went with water motion rather than diluting outwards from location.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Next test will be waiting on slides for the seneye.

No fish just cycled media in a cycled empty 2 gallon tank. Will add to the pvp powder and 1 pill of abx and tank water. Add to tank with filter off for 20 minutes then dose ammonia and test the speed of removal vs control.

 

[ccombs]

I once tried using the gelatin recipe on hikari’s website... it ended up a stale gummy bear-like consistency and even crumbled up not one of my fish would touch it [emoji23]

The real question is if it tasted like a stale gummy bear?

 

[ngoodermuth]

The real question is if it tasted like a stale gummy bear?

Haha... yea, think I’ll pass on that taste test...

 

[Gareth elliott]

Ok so i did tests using tetracycline on (3) 2.5 gallon tanks using simple sponge filters.

Brine shrimp by net volume of 25ml with 1 the powder of one abx capsule. Fish oil and 1/4 tsp of pvp powder. Created frozen cubes.

1 tank added just brine shrimp no abx.

Tank 2 empty, cubes with abx.

Tank 3, 2 guppies cubes with abx.

There was not an ammonia reading difference between tanks 1 and 2.

Tank 3 required a water change to avoid ammonia poisoning of the guppies.

2 possibilities here, i did not cycle the media well enough and the 2 guppies created enough bio mass to over come the nitrogen cycle needs.

Next is the short digestive system of a guppy means an appreciable amount of abx entered the water column anyway.
Now i will do more of these test to confirm the findings were not just


Ammonia readings
Tank 1 .001
Tank 2 .001
Tank 3 .056
Will conduct more tests to verify the first results as there could have been some experiment or testing errors involved.

will say so far does indicate that abx even with a binder might not be “reef safe”. I am purposely using a very harsh antibiotic. And metabolism of different classes of antibiotics is not something i am testing [emoji23]

 

[ngoodermuth]

Interesting, maybe a 4th tank as a second control... with similar sized guppies eating only non-medicated food... would help eliminate the possibility of the bioload alone causing the spike.

I’d be interested to see if the spike is lower or the same without the antibiotics present.

Were all three tanks set-up simultaneously?

 

[Gareth elliott]

Interesting, maybe a 4th tank as a second control... with similar sized guppies eating only non-medicated food... would help eliminate the possibility of the bioload alone causing the spike.

I’d be interested to see if the spike is lower or the same without the antibiotics present.

Were all three tanks set-up simultaneously?

Yes all three at the same time. All using ro/di water and 13.2g of seachem equilibrium.

 

[Gareth elliott]

No new tests yet, work lol

But thinking of scrapping the pvp test in favor of something else.
https://www.oceandocs.org/handle/1834/2483

So with alginate.
Its digestible
Has a positive effect on growth rates of salmon.
Much cheaper
Can order food grade through amazon.

 

[Gareth elliott]

changing the steps slightly.

Before i was adding the binder, meds and food right before feeding. Now this allowed for precision in what was added to each tank each feeding. This also meant this took much longer to prepare each feeding.

Soaking phase shake test tube for 2 minutes then sit for 10 minutes under refrigeration.

In second test tube shake binder and water till dissolved.

Add to food mixture shake for additional 2 minutes.

Portion into cubes to freeze.

Instead of each feeding being exact as, though i am using volume measurements of for each cube with large syringes that does not mean each cube is exactly the same as the next. Will ensure each tank will receive the same amount of medication over the life of the experiment. Hopefully this will equal more timely results with my personal schedule.

And this batch of food was using diced krill not brine shrimp. Reworking my hatcheries to produce more brine shrimp at a given time. Small amount produced was a proof of concept not for actual test tank feeding.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Alginate makes a very jelly like substance. Advantage to gelatin they eat the floating blobs, tgat do not dissolve after mixing. Will adjust the amount added as this was a pain to mix with food. I think need closer to 1/24th of a teaspoon not the 1/8 teaspoon i added. The prospect of studies stating there was a positive growth rate with its use. Are too hard to pass up trying it.

 

[Gareth elliott]

Will do some mixing and palatability tests.

But this might work for delayed feeding.
If they peck at through out the day, this does not dissolve in the water column once mixed.
Calling this a krill stick [emoji38]

 

[Gareth elliott]

Krill stix are palatable by the following marine fish, not a long list as i am using my tank as the test subjects.

Coral beauty dwarf angel
Lubock’s fairy
Red lined wrasse
Clown pair


These are non medicated
Fresh baby brine
Krill
Selcon

 

[Gareth elliott]

Ok finally completed a series of the 4 tank tests.

Results.

Yes there is abx leaching if you do not:
-Use enough binder
-do not thoroughly mix abx with food before adding binder.
-do not let sit for required binding time.

This varies with the binders i tested.