Re: Brine shrimp salt

[Wright Huntley <jwwiii at pacbell_net>]

David_Koran at HQ02.USACE.ARMY.MIL wrote:
> The anti-caking agent is just sodium silicate, i.e., sand.

No, Dave, it is a very different form of sodium silicate than most sand, 
which is relatively large crystals. It is a "foamy" form, also known as 
silica gel, that is used for anticaking in table salt (and anthrax 
weaponization). AFAIK, it damages or clogs gills and is the substance that 
got folks so hysterical about "iodized" salt being harmful to fish. [All 
early "iodized" salt also used it for anti-caking.] It is so finely 
pulverized and has such huge surface area that it can stay in suspension a 
very long time, but it can be filtered out eventually. It is what makes 
the water slightly cloudy when you add that kind of salt to water.

[Iodides are no more harmful than chlorides, and routine dosing at 
hundreds of times the concentration in table salt is used to treat fish 
thyroid diseases. They need trace iodide in their diet, just like we do.]

Cheaper (grocery-store-brand generic) salt often uses yellow prussiate of 
soda (sodium ferrocyanide) which apparently is more soluble and appears to 
be far safer to fish than the salt containing silicates. [The ancient 
name, BTW, is to avoid hysterics from our current crop of chemically 
illiterate consumers. :-)]

I doubt if a little silica gel is harmful to newly-hatched bbs, for they 
ingest nothing until they go through a molt or two, Even then, it may not 
bother their simple gut the way it irritates/clogs gill tissue, IDK.

Wright

--
Wright Huntley -- 760 872-3995 -- Rt. 001 Box K36, Bishop CA 93514




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