Storing Frozen Foods?

[OCCFan023]

Well today I went to my lfs and picked up my coral beauty and while I was there got him some Frozen Ocean Nutrition Angel formula (http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=ON6515
Thats a link to what I got just for a reference. Anyway a while back I had gotten some mysis shrimp for some meaty foods for my other fish (that past away) and when I went to put the angel formula in the fridge with the mysis I was greeted by a very disgusting mysis shrimp.

I havent used the mysis since for like 2 months and was still on the first cube of the package but it had all gone bad, all the jucies were lining the ziplock bag and it was just mest up, so I had to throw it out.

What I was wondering was how do you guy store your frozen foods?
I thought of some questions soo I figured Id list them, and make it the easiest possible way.

1) Should I keep the frozen food in the fridge or freezer? I kept the mysis in the fridge and am thinking that may have been the problem.

2) Does this stuff have a shelf life? I didnt use the mysis that much and will probably not use the angel food daily, maybe 2-3 times a week.

3) How should I store the food. I kept the mysis in a ziplock bag and that completly failed... When I bought the angel formula today they wrapped it in a newspaper so I just stuck that inside a small ziplock bag, then in another big ziplock bag and go as much air out as possible and put it in the freezer (I put it in the freezer until I hear back from the other question)

Thats about it, I really would like this stuff to stay good, but since I dont have a big tank I cant use a whole cube everytime I use it so I keep it around for a while. I dont plan on getting any more mysis (I dont plan on getting any fish that eat the meaty food like mysis until I get my gramma which is a while off.

 

[TLH]

1)It's frozen for a reason.Store it in the freezer.
2)Has your freezer got a rating(usually in the form of stars)that tells you how long you can store stuff for.Otherwise refer to the packaging on your product.It should be OK for 3 months whatever.
3)All the frozen stuff I ever bought came in little plastic trays and you just cut one cube out.If you put it in a bag and flaten it out, then you can break a chunk off when you want it.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

yep...in the freezer only. Ocean nutrition packages are good and hermetic. No need for ziploc
I keep my freezer very cold.

 

[OCCFan023]

ok thanks guys, Ill be sure to keep it in the freezer ( when I was writting this post I thought to my self "frozen" food, and was like wow Im a dumbass but o well lol.

Ill take it out of the newspaper but will the ziplock hurt it with lack of air or something or does it not matter if I put it into the ziplock bag.

Yea the frozen food I have came in the trays, theres like 12 (im not sure exactly) but what Ill do is since Ill feed him the formula twice a week, Ill feed him half of it at one serving and the other half of the cube at the second feeding of the week. I probably wont give him all of the half of cube, but will thaw it all and pitch the rest I dont feed him (dont want to pollute the tank)


thanks for the help again guys

 

[SALTY WATERS]

Frozen foods do not spoil as long they are kept frozen.
I use to use the cubes to, but found I was throwing out alot of the cube as I didn't need that much in a feeding, and I found them a pain in the butt to break-up. I switched to the single bagged foods and just cut a small portion off as needed, then just close the bag up and thow it back in the freezer.
the ziplock will not hurt it, it will probably help; you want to keep the moist air out!

 

[OCCFan023]

Frozen foods do not spoil as long they are kept frozen.
I switched to the single bagged foods and just cut a small portion off as needed, then just close the bag up and thow it back in the freezer.


the ziplock will not hurt it, it will probably help; you want to keep the moist air out!

Yea I would much prefer the big sheets, but cubes is the best for now (the only big sheets they had were brine shrimp I believe.

THanks for th einfo on the ziplock, Ill be sure to keep as much air out as possible

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I just wiggle the frozen cube in the tank until enough falls/thaws off, then refreeze the rest. That way I don't waste any . I use the flat packs the same way.

Oh, and my little angel will eat pretty much anything, mysis included.

 

[SALTY WATERS]

Not a good idea to refreeze meet...

 

[OCCFan023]

I just wiggle the frozen cube in the tank until enough falls/thaws off, then refreeze the rest. That way I don't waste any . I use the flat packs the same way.

Oh, and my little angel will eat pretty much anything, mysis included.

I cut off desired amount, and thaw it in a shotglass filled with tank water, then strain it in a small fish net and feed desired amount. By thawing it and straining it I believe it gets out some of the nasty juices used to package it (that I guess can contaminate tank with unwated stuff) and I guess its not good to refreeze it, but thats news to me but I havent faced that with the that and strain method

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Um, why not? I haven't had a problem with it... it doesn't seem to go bad.

 

[FroggyFox]

I think if you thaw/heat the meat and refreeze over and over it would be bad, but I think if you dont thaw it completely or at least dont heat it and then refreeze it it should be ok. A lot of times I will mix up 5 different frozen cubes and then divide it out into 2 weeks worth of pill containers, mix in a little water and put it back into the freezer. Basically mirroring what my lfs does, except of course they go through the food without refreezing it. I was running into trouble getting just enough food and not wanting to waste 1/2 a cube each feeding...so this is what I decided on and its been working so far

 

[SALTY WATERS]

When you expose meat to temp over 5 degrees celcius then bacteria are prone to grow (though the short amount of time you keep it out won't be to bad) as well each time you dip it in to the tank you are exposing it to bacteria. Not to mention it loses it's quality with each thaw and when you dip it in without straining it you are adding in, as OCC called it "nasty juice" (lol) which add extra polutants into your tank. That's all!

Man I sound like a germafobe or something! LOL

If you're not having problems then don't worry about it.

 

[OCCFan023]

Well I had my first feeing with the angel formula tonight, and it was good.

It turns out this food is a solid block of food, just one big sheet with like cubes that can be cut out instead of like small individualy packed cubes, so its cool. I just lift the lid break some off and put it back in the large container and refreeze.

Unlike the mysis which when it disolves breaks apart into alot of little mysis shrimp, this formula stays together and gets soft so I just let it thaw cut little peices of with a knife and put it in the tank. The first peice was divored by my two cleaner shrimp, then the coral beauty (yet to be named) realized he was missing out and I put some more in and he went after it instantly. So far he is showing awsome signs of adjustment and is eating everything (he ate the seaweed sheets last night to, after the cleaners had there fill)


Ive realized the cleaners eat everything first so I better get use to that. I may try and throw two pellets in the tank to have them distracted and then give the coral his food so I dont pollute the tank too much and restrict excess food, but all is well with feeding!