Accidentally Dosed Spoiled Amino Acids

[Isolated Reef]

Welp, I had a feeling this was going to happen but this is the situation I’ve gotten myself into. I found myself being extremely inconsistent with dosing Red Sea’s AB+ amino acid and looked for something that could be a more automated solution. I settled on Aquaforests amino acid they offer (Can’t remember the name off the top of my head) and was stoked because it didn’t require refrigeration and could be hooked up to a dosing pump.

I bought the big ol 2000ml container of their mystery juice and because it didn’t require refrigeration, I didn’t even think to look for an expectation date…until yesterday. Turns out they recommend using the entire container, regardless of what size you get, in 30 days. Yeah….it’s definitely been almost 3 months and the stuff is like a yellow snotty sludge and absolutely freaking smells like rotten death in a jug.

I’m now worried as to what in the world can happen to the tank when dosing (very) spoiled, amino acids. I haven’t been able to find anything online so I’m curious if anybody else has done the same or has any advice. I’m definitely going to do a water change today and put some fresh carbon in the reactor. As far as how the corals look, it’s hard to tell if they look like crap or not honestly. The tank has been recovering from a near crash over the course of the past 2 months sooo yeah, idk.

I appreciate any information anybody has!

 

[Lavey29]

I dosed some aminos that were month expired with no negative effect. It's like adding dead food just bumps your nitrates up.

 

[Isolated Reef]

I dosed some aminos that were month expired with no negative effect. It's like adding dead food just bumps your nitrates up.

Interesting, that makes sense. There isn’t anything else in them that could potentially be toxic to the fish or corals when it expires?

 

[Lavey29]

Interesting, that makes sense. There isn’t anything else in them that could potentially be toxic to the fish or corals when it expires?

I called the vendor manufacturer and they said no negative effect but would still skim wet and do a water change.

 

[KrisReef]

Interesting, that makes sense. There isn’t anything else in them that could potentially be toxic to the fish or corals when it expires?

I wouldn't eat it!

Poison is a term that comes with a dose/unit/time (or something like that). A little rotten food might not hurt at all, but too much could likely make your entire tank anoxic. Glad you didn't report a total meltdown from your situation.

 

[Isolated Reef]

I called the vendor manufacturer and they said no negative effect but would still skim wet and do a water change.

You’re amazing, thank you so much for doing that!

 

[Isolated Reef]

I wouldn't eat it!

Poison is a term that comes with a dose/unit/time (or something like that). A little rotten food might not hurt at all, but too much could likely make your entire tank anoxic. Glad you didn't report a total meltdown from your situation.

Definitely not a total meltdown but I did have something strange going on with a couple acro frags which caused me to look into what was happening. The tanks been recovering from a near crash and everything has been slowly coming back, growing new tissue, all the things that healthy corals do. Well, two frags that were recovering nicely have recently started to look pale and have significantly reduced polyp extension over the past week or so. I can’t be 100% sure if it’s the spoiled aminos obviously but from the tests and things I’ve done on my end, it’s my number 1 suspect. We’ll see if some water changes, wet skim and stopping the spoiled dose yields positive results!