A frequently returning question from end users
Although no 2 aquaria are exactly the same, we advise to instruct your customers to not thaw our blister cubes before feeding these to their fish, aquatic invertebrates, amphibians or turtles.
FROZEN SINGLE INGREDIENT BLISTERS
We advise against thawing out our frozen single ingredient blisters such as bloodworms, brine shrimp, Mysids, copepods, rotifers, plankton etc. as these have been formulated to float for a while whilst slowly dispersing individual animals. Afterwards, the cubes will slowly start to sink meanwhile still releasing organisms. This allows fish feeding near the water surface to feed, whilst thawed cubes result in rapidly sinking food organisms, only feeding fish foraging in the deeper parts of the water column or near the bottom. That's because larger organisms such as bloodworms and Mysids have no buoyancy, though brine shrimp will sink less fast.
PHOSPHATE SPIKES!
What about people complaining about phosphate spikes after having fed their aquarium inhabitants?
The feed administered to an aquarium is by far the largest source of phosphates in any aquarium. The amount of phosphates naturally present in any fish food (whether it’s a flake, pellet, frozen food, wafer, stick or even live food) will always be much, much larger compared to the amount of phosphates some people might be able to detect in their tap water.
Next, when processing the various aquatic insects, crustaceans and other critters most aquarium inhabitants naturally prey on, it is not possible to have a natural food free of phosphates. Phosphates play a very important role in the metabolism of animals, fish included. For example, the ‘fuel’ which powers muscles is ATP (adenosine triphosphate). ATP molecules are continuously synthesized by the body in order to be able to deliver energy where energy is needed, e.g. for cell division, ion transport through a membrane, membrane maintenance (membranes contain phospholipids), respiration, digestion, muscle contraction and many, many other metabolic processes. One should also not forget that all multicellular organisms contain DNA, which is made up of nucleotides with each nucleotide containing:
As a strand of DNA contains phosphate groups, how could phosphate not be present in any frozen, moist, semi-moist or dry food?
Simply stated: if an aquarist throws food into an aquarium, phosphates are added to that aquarium and there is nothing anyone can do to prevent this. Thawing and rinsing the food before feeding will only remove a tiny bit of phosphates in case some leaching took place in a cube (not a given). The vast majority of the phosphate (groups) contained in the DNA and the membrane walls for example, will still be present.
Instead, aquarium keepers should be incouraged to do the following the prevent the buildup of excessive levels of phosphate in an aquarium:
