How long does Marine Snow keep good?

[sb_reef]

Hello all... I am a newbie to the board. I have had a bottle of Marine Snow in my fridge for about four or five months (??) and I only used it once (so it has been opened), but, I was wondering if it would still be ok to put in my tank. Does it keep good that long?? It has been refrigerated the whole time, never left out or anything. I thought I might finally start using it because my polyps seem to be dying off. Anyhew -- any suggestions on the possible experation of my Marine Snow would be much appreciated! Thanks all..

 

[LeoR]

It's good forever as it's 99.99% water

 

[SPC]

I have had a bottle of Marine Snow in my fridge for about four or five months (??) and I only used it once (so it has been opened), but, I was wondering if it would still be ok to put in my tank

-Considering that it is 99% water, I would say it will probably still be good into the next millennium :wink: . Purchase some DTs, your corals will love you for it.
Steve

 

[holeinone1972]

I am pretty sure it loses it's usefullness as soon as they fill the bottle at the plant. Dt's is what you need.

 

[sb_reef]

Thanks for the responses!! Hmmmm... well, how un-informed did I just sound?? DOH! I thought maybe the protein part of it would go bad or something. Isn't there a protein component to Marine Snow? Oh well, another classic example of "the clerk at the local fish joint" selling me something that I prolly didn't need. Ok, time for another semi-silly question; what is DT???

Happy Friday! WHOOOP!!

 

[holeinone1972]

DT's is a live phytoplankton, which you can add to your reef. It is a very good source of nutrition to help feed all of your critters, corals and clams.

You can sometimes get it at your local fish store or you can order it at www.premiumaquatics.com

here is a link to the phytoplankton page: http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant ... Code=DT-30

 

[MattM]

Although, there is more water in Marine Snow than DT's, I would not call it totally useless.

The phytoplankton in Marine Snow is stuck to large colloidal masses of proteins and fatty acids. This is just the stuff that some corals feed on, especially those that are known to feed by capturing such masses in their mucous coatings. These large fatty masses are actually called "marine snow" by biologists.

DT's is a fine product, but there is no one perfect food for every creature - each has it's own feeding strategy. Not every animal can benefit from the small particle size in a pure phytoplankton product.

DT's at 100X:

Marine Snow at same magnification:

 

[SPC]

Matt, didn't Marine Snow test out at 99% water, or was that another TLF product?
Steve

 

[MattM]

Both Marine Snow and DT's are mostly water, but, of course you're buying it for the non-water part.

I think the product that everybody is thinking of is Combi-San. That's the one that had nowhere near what they said was in it based on two seperate analyses. In fact, most city tap water has more trace elements than Combi-San.

FYI, while TLF still distributes Combi-San, they have also started producing their own supplement product called "Sea Elements". Julian wouldn't say if it was in direct response to the Combi-San debacle.

 

[saltshop]

The phytoplankton in Marine Snow is stuck to large colloidal masses of proteins and fatty acids.

Matt,

Unfortunately, when tested Marine Snow had neither carbohydrates or fats in its make-up. It did have a miniscule amount of protein, but didn't even have enough umph to have a detectable calorie. How something that cannot even produce 0.1 of a calorie can be called a "food" I have no idea? You can see what was in it, or actually what was not in it here:

http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish/data/foods.asp

With that being said, I have no idea of how the lab actually did the test (wasn't there of course) so it would be possible they didn't shake the bottle enough or even filtered out the colloids. To be honest though, the magnified photo you posted looks like nothing but a piece of gelatin under a microscope. There are a few spots that could be some dead phytoplankton or cell membranes, but nothing of much substance in there. The picture of the gelatin is quite interesting though, and made me wonder if I could add an actual food to the bottle and have the food get stuck in the gelatin which might be interesting. FWIW, marine snow in nature is composed mostly of carbohydrate rich mucous flocks shed by other corals and invertebrates, which in turn attracts large amounts of bacteria, cilliates, protozoan, and small zooplankton which become the actual food consisting of proteins and fats. The "snow" itself, without the critters it attracts is basically just a sugary substance that isn't particularly nutritious.

 

[danmhippo]

Protein colloids, eh?

Matt, what if you spit into a petridish and look under your microscope under same magnification, would you be looking at the same protein clump as in MS?

 

[MattM]

Matt, what if you spit into a petridish and look under your microscope under same magnification, would you be looking at the same protein clump as in MS?

Good question! Can't say that I've tried it...

As far as the previous post, I can't say we did a definitive analysis on Marine Snow. We looked at it under the 'scpoe and the only thing we found was those large chunks that appear to have phytoplankton cells stuck to them. When you read a description of marine snow like you posted -

composed mostly of carbohydrate rich mucous flocks shed by other corals and invertebrates, which in turn attracts large amounts of bacteria, cilliates, protozoan, and small zooplankton which become the actual food consisting of proteins and fats.

- I could see how a large gelatenous-looking chunk with stuff stuck to it fit the bill.

FYI - If these chunks are not substantial food sources, then there is probably no value at all in the product, 'cause that's the only thing we could find in there.