Amount of agar/gelatin needed to bind medication with food

[Muffin87]

Humblefish's recipe to bind food uses Seachem focus (which I can't get over here):

• 1-2 scoops Seachem Focus (makes it reef safe + binds the medication) - You can also use agar or unflavored gelatin for binding.

Is one scoop intended as 1/8 teaspoon?
Does 1-2 scoops apply to both Seachem focus and agar/gelatin?

Thanks a lot for all the help!

#fishmedics #fishmedic

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Humblefish's recipe to bind food uses Seachem focus (which I can't get over here):

• 1-2 scoops Seachem Focus (makes it reef safe + binds the medication) - You can also use agar or unflavored gelatin for binding.

Is one scoop intended as 1/8 teaspoon?
Does 1-2 scoops apply to both Seachem focus and agar/gelatin?

Thanks a lot for all the help!

#fishmedics #fishmedic

Even the instructions from SeaChem aren't clear. The box says use a 5:1 ratio, Focus to medication and the bottle says 1:1

Basically, for Agar or Focus, it is like baking - you need to use the amount to achieve the proper binding and that in turn depends on the moisture content of the food you are mixing with. I always make a test batch first.

Here is the bigger issue - you cannot just mix medications with food and Focus and ever hope to get a proper dose. Fish meds are delivered at a mg per kg of fish mass rate. To do that properly you need to calculate it carefully. We have some tools here to do that, but it is NOT easily done:

Proper Dosing of Medicated Foods

Proper Dosing of Medicated Foods Jay Hemdal c. 2020 Oral medications are an excellent way to target internal diseases of fishes. Marine fish absorb aquarium water, so in certain cases, they “drink” enough medication from the water to effect a cure. However, freshwater fish actively export...

www.reef2reef.com

Fish Weight Calculator / Medicated Fish Food Mix Calculator

If you follow threads on the Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis forum, you know that whenever oral medication is the recommended treatment, @Jay Hemdal cautions that achieving the proper dosage is critical to success. He often refers to his article Proper Dosing of Medicated Foods. That...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Humblefish's recipe to bind food uses Seachem focus (which I can't get over here):

• 1-2 scoops Seachem Focus (makes it reef safe + binds the medication) - You can also use agar or unflavored gelatin for binding.

Is one scoop intended as 1/8 teaspoon?
Does 1-2 scoops apply to both Seachem focus and agar/gelatin?

Thanks a lot for all the help!

#fishmedics #fishmedic

I found my notes from some recipes I made with Focus.

4 level scoops = 0.25 g
1/8 Tsp = 0.18 g

1/2 tsp Focus + 1/2 Tsp water and 3 g of pellets bound the Focus to the pellets pretty well, and weighed in at 5.75 g

1/2 tsp Focus + 2 g frozen mysids = 2.4 g of food

Jay

 

[Muffin87]

I found my notes from some recipes I made with Focus.

4 level scoops = 0.25 g
1/8 Tsp = 0.18 g

1/2 tsp Focus + 1/2 Tsp water and 3 g of pellets bound the Focus to the pellets pretty well, and weighed in at 5.75 g

1/2 tsp Focus + 2 g frozen mysids = 2.4 g of food

Jay

Thanks so much for this @Jay Hemdal.

Do you think these recipes should work the same replacing focus with agar?

Thanks!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Thanks so much for this @Jay Hemdal.

Do you think these recipes should work the same replacing focus with agar?

Thanks!

Sorry, I don’t know. My gut feeling is no, agar or gelatin require a very specific ratio of powder to water in order to set properly. Focus seems to be “add some to stick things to food”.
Jay