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Re: Bad BS Hatch



Barry Cooper wrote:
> 
> David,
> 
> I'll have to check the other feed store in town. The one we usually use has salt in bulk, but it has an anti-caking additive of unknown identity. I even called the manufacturer and they only have a code name for the additive, which they buy by the boxcar load. The didn't know what it was, chemically. Bit of a worry, thought I.

They code-word it for the same reason that confused the latest terrorists
who wanted to poison the US Embassy in Rome, today, with potassium
ferrocyanide -- an utterly harmless compound, when diluted in water. [Gives
one warm feelings that they are that stupid! :-)]

Two additives are commonly used for free-flowing properties. 

Silicates are relatively insoluble, and even cloud the water. The powder is
suspected of clogging gills and being bad for fish. Since it is only used in
premium brands for table salt that usually is also iodized, it caused a myth
about iodized salt that isn't true. These are cousins of the silica gels
used to absorb moisture in enteric pill packages and electronics.

Sodium ferrocyanide is the other anti-clogger. It is called by the medieval
(code?) name "Yellow Prussiate of Soda" to avoid alarming the
chemically-illiterate customer. Virtually all bulk salt that isn't headed to
the table uses the safe sodium ferrocyanide additive. They just are
terrified to tell you that.

I have friends who have used the cheap generic table salt with "Prussiate of
Soda" for their killies and bs hatcheries for years with no observed
problems. In an emergency, use the stuff with silicates, if you can let it
settle and decant off the clear solution after the dust settles.

Wright

-- 
Wright Huntley -- 650 843-1240 -- 866 Clara Dr. Palo Alto CA 94303 
                    http://www.sfbaka.net.

   Instead of giving money to found colleges to promote
   learning, why don't they pass a constitutional amendment
   prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as
   good as the Prohibition one did, why, in five years we would
   have the smartest race of people on earth. -- Will Rogers

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