# Instant Ocean gel food, anyone had problems?



## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I got some of the above mentioned food, for herbivores, and fed some to a tank with corys and loaches in it. They seemed to like it, but the next day quite a few had died. Tank tested fine, no water issues, just a lot of suddenly dead fish. There was a tiny bit of the stuff left, which I siphoned out. I lost all but one of my pygmy corys, two other, larger, corys of different species and some loaches. I'm tossing the package out, but I wondered if anyone else had tried it and if so, were there any problems with it ? Since it was the only new thing in the tank, I can't think what else could have caused the deaths. The water was just fine, no spikes or anything of that nature.


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## zfarsh (Apr 7, 2011)

oh no, that is horrible, crap, sorry this hapened. Can you check the expiration date? Did you introduce anything else last night? This is the worst thing that could happen, so sorry about your loss. How were your pigmy btw, i know you recently bought them, were they quiete active since you got them in, and grouping togheter (before you fed the gel food)?

I myself havent seen this one before, it looks like the gel food is already prepared for you, as in you dont have to mix the powder with water and let the gel form, right? I know there is another type where you get powder and have to mix it yourself with water, and put it in the fridge, then cut it to pieces and store a small amount in the fridge, the rest in the freezer. I would think that would be better, but havent tried it as I make my own gel food anyways.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Sorry to hear about your loss. Boy, am I glad I didn't buy any of that when it was on sale at BA!

I wonder, could it be due to the fact that the food is designed for saltwater fish?


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## zfarsh (Apr 7, 2011)

i was wandering the same thing too


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## marisesimon (Feb 18, 2008)

*Gel foods*

I bought a bunch at the Hamilton auction a few weeks ago, and I to had a sudden spike of deaths, so I decided to toss it in the garbage.


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## BaRoK (Sep 10, 2009)

Bought several of these for my marine tank. So far so good. No fatalities. All fishes love them especially my clown's. Mind you, I only feed this type of food twice a week. Otherwise, they stay with Full Spectrum pellets.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

The corys were fine, prior to this unfortunate event. And I know the food was intended for salt water fish.. I did read the label.. having a ton of food allergies myself, I'm an obsessive label reader nowadays. But the ingredients were the same as many other fresh water fish foods I've used, so I didn't think that alone would make it unsuitable, plus, I've been feeding marine phyto products to my clams and filter shrimps in a community tank with corys, loaches and danios several times a week for most of this year without any problems at all. I don't think there is a huge difference between salt water and fresh water herbivores, really, unless it's a species specific nutrient or two..like a cat has to have a lot of taurine, but dogs don't need it, so you can't feed dog food to a cat. So the fact it was meant for salt water didn't strike me as being a particular issue. I looked for an expiry date and could not find one, but I've tossed the package now. 

And since it looks like someone else also had a problem, perhaps it was some ingredient in the food itself that was the culprit.. look what happened with the dog and cat food awhile back with the contaminated gluten.. or the milk powder for babies that was contaminated with melamine, for that matter. We have no clue where most of those ingredients come from, nor how they were harvested or processed. From what I have been told, and I was very surprised to hear it, there are no rules for labelling pet fish food in Canada. I had thought we had fairly good label laws, but it seems the makers can pretty much put whatever they want on the label and the ingredients need not even be in the right order, as they must be for human food. Frankly I think everything should have a label that tells ALL.. no secrets allowed. I've been hit by a few too many reactions to stuff that supposedly was not in things I ate, because the label did not specify - now I'm not so trusting. For example, they can just say 'spices', which can cover a lot of ground, but I'm allergic to a LOT of those alone. Fish food should be properly labeled too.

And there was nothing else new in the tank, which is why I suspected the food was the cause. And yes, it's a premade gel, which you are supposed to squeeze out in small bits from a little sealed packet. The other kind is Repashy, which is a powder you mix with water and cook, then either serve, keep in the fridge or freeze for later on. I haven't tried that, though it is popular with a lot of shrimp people.

I just thought the gel format would make a nice change for all the algae eaters I had, some variety.. but I sure never expected anything like this to happen. Appreciate the sympathy.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

Mind you, this is pure speculation, but it could be the difference in salt content between SW and FW foods.

Maybe you should try contacting Instant Ocean and asking them about it?


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Not a bad idea.. I may just do that.


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## Egonsgirl (Feb 28, 2012)

Karen, I feel your pain...... I just lost one of my long-finned cories yesterday also. I treated the tank to some frozen brine shrimp.... don't know what happened there either. I am sorry for your loss.  Check to see where the product was made. I am begining to worry about products from certain countries.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I do wonder about where they get the ingredients... and until such time as labelling is required to be accurate, as it is for human, dog and cat food, I suspect this kind of thing could happen again. Sorry to hear about the longfins too.


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## Fishyfishyfishy (Mar 3, 2008)

I have been using this food from Big Als ($1 for a whole pack) for over 2 months (got them from North York BA). Fed my tropical fish/cory/angels/tetras/plecos. I have 4 tanks with over 150+ fish. Fish are breeding very well.

I even feed this to my red/black crystal shrimps. 

I just store them at room temperature.

No deaths at all.

Do continue to investigate further for other causes for the death of the fish. Hope you find other possible reasons and be able to fix it soon.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Well, in the interest of not killing any more of my fish, I tossed the stuff out. I was afraid to try feeding it again. I pretty much intended it to be a treat, rather than a regular diet. The only good thing is that it was only a buck. 

But I'm pleased to know it was ok for your fish. Even though it was intended for salt water herbivores, I truly could not see a difference in the ingredients, which appeared to be the same as they are for freshwater foods. 

When you think about it, salt water fish aren't that different from FW fish. It's just that they've evolved to be able to live in salt water, they don't actually consume more salt. But they can regulate the salts in their bodies in spite of the salts in the water, and yes, I know, that isn't a very scientific description of how their metabolism works, but I think you know what I meant. 

But the food they eat isn't any more salty than a FW fish would consume, and they don't taste more salty than FW fish do either. Not that I eat much fish these days, I'm a bit too worried about all the crap they accumulate from pollution in their bodies to be happy eating them. Algaes and seaweeds aren't salty either, they just grow in salt water. All that spirulina that's supposed to be so healthy, even for humans, is all grown in salt water. Sea vegetables just get rinsed off before they are dried or otherwise used.

I think perhaps I just got a bad batch or maybe just a contaminated package. I doubt I will ever know for sure. I couldn't really tell Instant Ocean much, as I'd tossed the package before I thought to ask about it, so I had no serial numbers or even the actual expiry date to pass along. Hopefully I will never have such an experience again, but if I did, I'd keep the package at least long enough to tell the manufacturer about the details. I was pretty upset when it happened, what with so many fish dead all at once, so all I really thought about was getting rid of it.


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