Agar agar...failed?

[kathyt 24]

I just made a batch of gel food this afternoon using agar, baby food, etc.

It gelled well and I just fed it to my fish. They enjoyed it.

One tilapia filet

2 jars of mixed veg baby food

2 Tablespoons agar agar

1 acidiphillis capsule

1 multi vitamin (I use liquid baby vitamins with NO iron)

Steam the tilapia then use the blender to puree

add the baby food to blender and mix with the fish

add the multi vitamin and acidophillis

In a sauce pan I boil 1/2 cup of water and add 2 Tablespoons of agar agar (I have the flaked agar, it has worked fine for me.)

I then simmer the agar for at least 5 minutes till the flakes have dissolved and mixture is starting to seem thick.

Remove from heat.

Pour the blended mix of baby food and fish into saucepan.

Mix together well and pour into whatever pan you use. I use those ice cube trays that make really small ice cubes. These make just the right size for one feeding for my fish.

I don't heat the baby food or the multi vitamin or acidophillis. I don't think it's necessary and I wonder if it might reduce the potentcy of the vitamin and acidophillis.

Oh, I forgot to say, I add 1/2 teaspoon of koi clay, but that's not necessary.

Edited January 25, 2012 by kaytee

[Johnnyonthespot 12]

Ok, awesome. So it seems the consensus is I made it way too watery, and the ratio is closer to 2:1 than 1:1. I see everyone using fish, I assume shrimp covers that base? I'm also wondering if I should quit on the AA, my first experience with it has been subpar.

[dnalex 13,633]

Don't quit. We love agar, and so should you! :rofl

[Johnnyonthespot 12]

Gah. I want to quit, I'm a quitter. Ok, one last piece of help (for now of course):

-I keep one piece in a bag in the fridge...there's usually a wet spot in the bag with this (never saw that before), and it's very moist. I assume that's due to water and possibly the AA not bonding completely...BUT

-The food has the consistency of a wet crumb cake, and when I drop in a piece, it crumbs a bit. Does that mean the AA didn't bond properly?

I'm confused, scared, and alone. I just have no idea whether or not I should quit on the aggravating aggravating.

[Johnnyonthespot 12]

Oh, also curious about if shrimp is good for the protein element. I'm just very confused...I just want to figure out how to make good gel :/

[dnalex 13,633]

Some shrimp is good

[Johnnyonthespot 12]

Some shrimp is good

But is it a suitable replacement for fish? Also, any thoughts on the consistency questions I posed earlier?

[dnalex 13,633]

I have never used just shrimp. I've mixed shrimp & fish, and fish alone, but never shrimp alone.

[Johnnyonthespot 12]

Gotcha, thanks. Now I just need to figure out my stupid consistency problems. I'm assuming I used too much water and didn't properly melt the AA, since I measure it up exactly (1.5 cups, 1.5 TBSP).

[dnalex 13,633]

Follow kaytee's directions for melting it first and longer.

[Johnnyonthespot 12]

Alrighty, I'll give it a shot. Would that be the cause of the crumby disposition or is that just how AA works?

[dnalex 13,633]

I find that AA actually bonds even better than gelatin, so when it doesn't, it may be that you didn't add enough or the agar was not melted and blended sufficiently.

[Johnnyonthespot 12]

Thanks for your help, as always! Hope my next batch is a success! Thinking of adding some more shrimp, too.

[Johnnyonthespot 12]

So I whipped up the batch today, eyeballing the amounts lol. Somehow I used 8 ounces of baby food, plus I added 5 shrimp, some green pepper, and spinach, and ended up with less than a cup. Makes 0 sense. Anywho, I added in my paprika and pills as well, boiled the .5 cup of water, mixed the AA for like 5 minutes, then mixed in my stuff.

I think it came out great! It's really solid and firm. I had to leave after feeding them buy the gulped it up. I came home to a stupid floaty Gabby, I'm sure she started gulping the second I left, but really don't think it's food related since nothing could be wrong with this batch. Thanks for your help everyone!

[kathyt 24]

I'm glad the food came out good for you this time. But I know it's disappointing that Gabby was still floaty.

[Johnnyonthespot 12]

Thank you. Much to my dismay, I woke up and she's STILL floaty. It's never lasted overnight. She's probably a little backed up, just hope this new batch doesn't cause digestive issues :/

[Johnnyonthespot 12]

So I have a problem. I switched to the AA batch Thursday. Friday-Saturday she was fine, but today it got weird. I fed them around 10, and by 3 she was bottom sitting a lot...then it became pretty regular. I gave her a pea at 7, and she didn't even perk up, just went back down. So I came home around 1030 and gave her a little of her gel food, and she was actually sitting in between eating.

She looks bad. She's having a very hard time staying off the ground, and I'm wondering if the food is too heavy for her and weighing her down. I transitioned from a 1:1 food ratio to roughly 2:1, and I'm using the AA instead of gel. I'm going to switch to an old gel batch tomorrow. Is there any chance that the food is just too heavy for her and making her too heavy? I'm really not sure what to do at this point, and she looks absolutely miserable.

[dnalex 13,633]

Oh, no. It's possible she ate too much. I would fast her for a couple of days, or feed her really cooked spinach to flush out her system.

I hope she recovers right away.

Good luck!

[Johnnyonthespot 12]

Would eating too much cause that reaction? I've ever heard of that before. I'm very quick to blame the AA batch because it seems to have just caused problems. Could it be possible that the food itself is too heavy?

Thank you. I'm just nervous. At least her dorsal fin is up while bottom sitting :/

[Johnnyonthespot 12]

I would have edited my post but it's time barred. I actually do think it's over-feeding. I just realized that I've changed my food to water ratio from 1:1 to 2:1, and yet she's eating the same amount. Bernie's taking it fine because he's both a glutton and juggernaut, but she's not. So I'm going to cut her feeding down by around 33% and see what happens, but I'm going to stick with the AA batch for now.

Could this be a plausible conclusion?

[dnalex 13,633]

That's what I figured. For now, feed her just the spinach or nothing until she's not so miserable anymore.

Btw, I've had this happen to me before, and I ended up purging my guys with cooked spinach.

[Johnnyonthespot 12]

That's what I figured. For now, feed her just the spinach or nothing until she's not so miserable anymore.

Btw, I've had this happen to me before, and I ended up purging my guys with cooked spinach.

Awesome, thank you, as always. If she's still in morose depression tomorrow, I'll feed her some spinach. Just out of curiosity, how much would you recommend for a tiny fish? Like a whole leaf or just a few nibbles?

[dnalex 13,633]

A very very well cooked whole leaf is fine. The reason why I suggest spinach is that it is also a great laxative, and there is less concern about gas.

[Johnnyonthespot 12]

Cool, thanks. I microwaved a lead for a minute in water, ripped it up and fed it to her. Bernie refused it, much to my dismay lol. Anyway, she enjoyed it. I just came home roughly 6 or so hours after feeding. She seemed lively but is again resting on the rocks. She'll get gel tonight most likely. One thing I noticed which is weirding me out is her body shape is changing....the bottom of her, right around where her anus is seems to be protruding out. Bernie's is shaped like this ) while hers is more so like \

Here's a picture to show what I mean, hopefully it makes sense:

Does she look normal/healthy? I mean hell, maybe she's carrying eggs? I don't even know if she's a girl lol.

[redfish 252]

Hi

I would stick to spinach tonight, or nothing. Maybe fast them a couple days, won't hurt them at all. Then just spinach again for a day or two to really clean her out. Don't feed her more gel yet, if she over ate she needs it to go through her before more gel.

Edited January 30, 2012 by Red