Repashy failure, Please help me save this messed up batch <3

[KittenFishMom]

I decided to try to makes a batch of Repashy many months ago using a table spoon of boiling water and 3 tables spoons of Repashy. It didn't work out at all.

Last night I misread the bottle and thought it was 1 part boiling water to 2 to 3 parts powder. Now I see it is the other way around. It needs more help than I know how to give it.

Last night I brought 1/4 cup water to a boil in a glass measuring cup and added a1/2 cup Repashy powder, I could not stir it and it was very crumbly. I tried added some more boiling water from a coffee mug until I could sort of stir it. and turned it out on a plate. It didn't hold together. I patted it some and stuck it in the fridge overnight in a zip loc bag. This morning it was still crumbly. I put a small chunk in my 2 female guppy tanks. They ate at it, and it also seemed to foul the water some.

Anyone have any advice for rescuing this batch? I was thinking of adding some more water and hanging the zip loc bag in a pot of simmering or boiling water.  I was toying with trying to microwave it, but I think I would get hot spots, even with it turning on the turn table. I could steam it in my pressure cooker/insta-pot in a bowl uncovered, or with a plate on top. I think the oven would dry it out too much.

I have 3 un-opened 6 oz bottles in different types of Rapeshy, so I really would like to get the hang of making it. I was hoping the larger batch would work better and I could freeze it. 

I'm a pretty good cook, but I never make Jello or jelly.  My chicken broth always jells.

I would love to "fix" this messed up batch and have better success with future batch

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 9/7/2022 at 4:01 PM, KittenFishMom said:

Last night I brought 1/4 cup water to a boil in a glass measuring cup and added a1/2 cup Repashy powder, I could not stir it and it was very crumbly. I tried added some more boiling water from a coffee mug until I could sort of stir it. and turned it out on a plate. It didn't hold together. I patted it some and stuck it in the fridge overnight in a zip loc bag. This morning it was still crumbly. I put a small chunk in my 2 female guppy tanks. They ate at it, and it also seemed to foul the water some.

Add more hot, very very very hot water.  Essentially, the mug cooled down the water, likely enough to cause it to seize up on you. Repashy really needs boiling water to activate well and to be mixed very well.  Using a whisk or something that will scrape the edges and do a very good job of mixing in a brief amount of time is worth the added dishes. 

You can microwave it from what Cory has said on a few videos to liquify it.  I have not done this, but I will try to get a video or something for you.  You can also just add more hot water.  Pre-heat the container if it's a thick material so that it doesn't drop the temp as much.  You can just hold the mug over the hot water in something to add it and potentially that is enough to get the food to start to liquify. 

I'll see what I can dig up, but my guess.... that's all that happened.  Boiling wasn't quite hot enough and it's a finicky process, but just hotter water and more stirring and you're good.    I use a 1:3 ratio with mine.  You might have more success with 1:2.5 ratio or a 1:4 depending on what fish are eating the repashy in question.  If you're doing 1:2 it's going to be very hard to stir it well enough, but is possible.

If you're familiar with chocolate melting, try that first. Bain marie I think it's called.  Same thing in the microwave.... slowly warm it up, stir, then add more heat.

 

[Anjum]

On 9/7/2022 at 4:01 PM, KittenFishMom said:

Last night I brought 1/4 cup water to a boil in a glass measuring cup and added a1/2 cup Repashy powder

A 1:2 ratio would be 1/4 cup Repashy to 1/2 cup boiling water.

A 1:3 ratio would be 1/4 cup Repashy to 3/4 cup boiling water. 

I used the 1:3 ratio & it worked great. Set up like jello. 

That's going to make a lot of food though. How many fish are you feeding? You may want to start w/ a smaller amount until you get the hang of it. I only mixed up a Tablespoon of Repashy (to 3 Tbsp boiling water) & it made enough food for 3 weeks. But I'm only feeding a small group of Corydoras & a couple SAE. 

Hope that helps!

[KittenFishMom]

I messed up and reversed the ratio. I didn't want to try to work with less than 1/4 cup boiling water, so I used a lot more powder than I would have liked to, because I flipped the ratio.

I'm trying to find the best way to save the 1/2 powder I mixed1/4 cup of boiling water.  I think I will add about a cup of water and slowly heat and stir and heat and stir in the microwave and see if I can get it hot enough to melt without covering the inside of the microwave with fish food smelling splatters. I will cover it.

If it splatters in the microwave, we might be in the market for a new microwave. This type "spawn and grown" has a strong sent to it.

[Anjum]

On 9/7/2022 at 4:45 PM, KittenFishMom said:

think I will add about a cup of water and slowly heat and stir and heat and stir in the microwave and see if I can get it hot enough to melt without covering the inside of the microwave with fish food smelling splatters. I will cover it.

If it splatters in the microwave, we might be in the market for a new microwave. This type "spawn and grown" has a strong sent to it.

That sounds like a good plan. And yes, I'm sure it smells great to the fish! 😅

[Aaron Hanson]

I agree with @Anjum. 1:3 repashy to water ratio seems to work the best for me in terms of the consistency once the mixture has cooled. If you don’t need a lot of food, I would also recommend measuring with tablespoons rather than cups, as previously mentioned. I also bought separate utinsils like a cheap sauce pan, whisk and measuring devices for “fish food cooking” only, but don’t feel like this is necessary. 

Keep experimenting with small batches, and you’ll have it down in no time. good luck!!

[KittenFishMom]

I agree with everyone that a 1:3 of powder to water would have worked much better than my 1:3 of water to powder.

I just wasn't tuned in, now I am trying to salvage something from the messed up batch. I will put it in a bowl and add hot water and microwave and see what I can come up with. (When putting away food after dinner, if something wasn't popular my grandmother would wink at me and say "should we toss it tonight, or put it in the fridge and wait a week to toss it?")

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by KittenFishMom
fixed 1 of many typos

[Aaron Hanson]

I’ve never tried adding water after the initial mix, but you could always try! No sense throwing it away if you could possibly fix it. The worst thing that could happen is if something goes wrong, and you have to throw the batch away.  I was thinking you could just add a bit more boiling water to your mixture, but microwaving it could work too (I honestly have no idea).

let us know how it turns out if you try a little experiment because I would love to learn! 

[KittenFishMom]

@Aaron Hanson I added 1/2 cup water, after chopping up the mess and started microwaving at 30 second (with a lid) between stirring. As it warmed up, the chunks started melting and it seems to have turned out well. I let it sit until solid and it gracefully slide out of the bowl into the zip loc bag. I put some bits that stuck to the bowl in the tank with the smaller female guppies and they went to town on it. I put the fork that I used to stir it in with the big females, and they liked pecking it off the fork. It held together and didn't foul the water. I gave the corys a few tidbits because they are laying eggs when I change the water. (using room temp bottled, because our well is being fixed. I am sure the 2 peppered corys are female, and I don't think they can breed with the dotted one that I think might be female too. Tomorrow I will cut the bowlful of Rapeshy into little cubes and wrap and freeze them. I will probably send it frozen to the LFS that is taking my female guppies to keep the in good condition after the stress of the move. I need to build my 55 gallon tank and get rid of the female guppies before I think about breeding or buying any fish. 

I did buy 2 dwarf chain loaches at a big box store. Their max size is 2.5 inches. When I got them settled into the planted 10 gallon tank, they magically turn into YOYO loaches with a max size of 6 inches. I called the big box store and they said they were the same price and the clerk gets them mixed up. They said they could give me store credit if I bring in the receipt, but agreed with me that it will be very hard to catch them in a planted tank. I'm hoping they stay small until the 55 tank is ready, or that the LFS will take them if I can catch them.

My husband brought home some small tanks from the second hand store for isolation tanks. Turns out the kitten has decided to hang out in one of the tanks and become my "newest catfish". I'll try to get photos tomorrow.

It's time for bed before I start doing water changes in my sleep.  

Thanks for all the fish ... I mean all the help and support.

 

@Aaron Hanson I added 1/2 cup water, after chopping up the mess and started microwaving at 30 second (with a lid) between stirring. As it warmed up, the chunks started melting and it seems to have turned out well. I let it sit until solid and it gracefully slide out of the bowl into the zip loc bag. I put some bits that stuck to the bowl in the tank with the smaller female guppies and they went to town on it. I put the fork that I used to stir it in with the big females, and they liked pecking it off the fork. It held together and didn't foul the water. I gave the corys a few tidbits because they are laying eggs when I change the water. (using room temp bottled, because our well is being fixed. I am sure the 2 peppered corys are female, and I don't think they can breed with the dotted one that I think might be female too. Tomorrow I will cut the bowlful of Rapeshy into little cubes and wrap and freeze them. I will probably send it frozen to the LFS that is taking my female guppies to keep the in good condition after the stress of the move. I need to build my 55 gallon tank and get rid of the female guppies before I think about breeding or buying any fish. 

I did buy 2 dwarf chain loaches at a big box store. Their max size is 2.5 inches. When I got them settled into the planted 10 gallon tank, they magically turn into YOYO loaches with a max size of 6 inches. I called the big box store and they said they were the same price and the clerk gets them mixed up. They said they could give me store credit if I bring in the receipt, but agreed with me that it will be very hard to catch them in a planted tank. I'm hoping they stay small until the 55 tank is ready, or that the LFS will take them if I can catch them.

My husband brought home some small tanks from the second hand store for isolation tanks. Turns out the kitten has decided to hang out in one of the tanks and become my "newest catfish". I'll try to get photos tomorrow.

It's time for bed before I start doing water changes in my sleep.  

Thanks for all the fish ... I mean all the help and support.

 

[Guppysnail]

Add more boiling water and microwave boil the whole mess stir nuke some more. I saved one batch I screwed up like that and one batch it didn’t work.