Coral Frenzy, the original powder coral super food, has recently re-branded and re-released an upgraded version of their already very popular and respected food. Here is what was in their press release:

“Coral Frenzy coral foods have been reformulated for improved compliance with international requirements and ingredient restrictions, which means that aquarists in countries such as Australia and Japan may now be able to purchase it. Additionally, probiotics have been added to the improved formulation, with the goal of helping maintain excellent water quality.

As has always been Coral Frenzy’s policy, every ingredient is listed on the label, so there is no question about what you are feeding. There are no “secret” ingredients or fillers; what you see is what you get in Coral Frenzy coral food.”

Before we dive into it, check out this amazing footage from Than of Tidal Gardens on the previous version of the food.

And Keith of Reef Bum:

As you can see, this food definitely works and triggers amazing feeding responses from the animals.

Let’s get right to the point!

One thing that overwhelmingly stands out as a change from the old blend to this blend is the inclusion of Probiotics.

What is probiotics? 

“Probiotics are a live microbial feed supplement which benefits the host animal by improving its intestinal balance.” (Roy Fuller, 1989)

In layman’s terms, it’s strains of bacteria that help with many things, including the digestive system and the overall health of the animals that are consuming it.

It certainly isn’t a new concept to the hobby, and the public aquarium sector has embraced this idea for at least a decade. Larry Dupont of LRS started the revolution of probiotics for our hobby and many hobbyists found success using his product, which led many other companies, such as Cobalt, New Life Spectrum, and Benepets to add probiotics to their food.

How is it beneficial for our animals in our aquarium?

This was Larry’s findings after his extensive research:

• Increased metabolism and easier digestion of foods
• Increased nutrient absorption from ingested foods
• Enhanced immune response
• Production of compounds which inhibit pathogens
• Beneficial bacteria out-compete harmful micro-organisms for nutrients and energy

(You can read about it here on his site)

Also, check out this article from the American Journal of Physiology: Effect of dietary probiotics on clownfish: a molecular approach to define how lactic acid bacteria modulate development in a marine fish.

I am sure that I am not the only one that has wondered about the legitimacy of these claims and even wondered what strain was in there, and if they really have active bacteria? How do we know that they are alive? How do they stay dormant? I had so many questions.

Coral Frenzy has always boasted that they are 100% transparent with their ingredients and once again, I was pleasantly surprised at how transparent this company was. Many companies won’t reveal what goes into their products to protect their feeds or supplements from being duplicated, but Coral Frenzy stood by their claim and listed on the bottle the bacteria strains that they used. (Bacillus Subtilis and Bacillus Lichenifirmis)

These are commonly used bacteria in our trade and, unlike other strains of bacteria, they are formulated to stay dormant until they become activated at a moisture level of 60%, so it’s perfect for our application.

I wasn’t done. I wanted to find out more and so I enlisted the help of Chris Lazarko of Coral Exchange  to get things under the microscope (quite literally). He sterilized everything, and then prepped and cultured the product to see if there was, in fact, any viable bacteria available. This is what we found.

Coral Frenzy and its bacteria (stained for better visibility at 40x)

Coral Frenzy and its bacteria (stained for better visibility at 100x)

Coral Frenzy and its bacteria (stained for better visibility at 400x)

Coral Frenzy and its bacteria at 1000x

Coral Frenzy and its bacteria (stained for better visibility at 1000x)

But is it viable?

Here is a footage of bacteria cultures under 1000 x magnification. As you can see, tons of them are now viable and was able to be cultured when water was introduced. Chris and I came to conclusion that because the Hay bacteria (Bacillus subtilis) that is in this food is gram positive bacteria, it will also help with the nitrates in the water column. Many bacteria companies actually include this strain of bacteria to help with denitrification in aquariums.

Nutritional value. 

One thing that is often over looked is nutritional value. As a hobbyist and animal owner, you should make a habit of familiarizing yourself with ingredients and how much nutrition certain food provides to get the most for your money and to make sure you feed the best food for your animals.

For Coral Frenzy, Nutrional Analysis is as follows:

Particle size : 53-2300 microns

Crude Protein (min): 53.7%

Crude Fat (min) : 18%

Crude Fiber (max): 2.87%

Ash (max) :11.6%

Moisture (max) 6.26%

Omega 3 (min) 5.72g/100g

Omega 6 (min) 1.02g/100g

Omega 9 (min) 3.18g /100g

Probiotic Blend : 1,000,000 cfu/g (min)

How do corals react to this?

None of this really matters if the animals don’t find this food to be palatable and if it gets wasted by not getting eaten, and then getting swept into the overflow to rot, polluting the water in the process. Let’s give this a run!

As you can see, the Acanthaphyllia swallows the thick paste of powder food. It then caught a lot of the smallest particles with its mucus and slurped it down like some irresistible and highly nutritious marine spaghetti.

It really makes me happy to see companies living up to the hype, doing and including what it advertises. We can safely tell you that Coral Frenzy delivers on nutritious food that creates great feeding responses from the animals and has beneficial, viable strains of probiotics in the product. I welcome this change from Coral Frenzy and look forward to more innovations from the food industry to follow suit. We benefit from this as well as our animals, which will make them healthier, more vibrant in color, and help them to thrive in our systems.

Happy reefing!