Problem with dry Fish preservative

[bpplatt]

I have been using Rinehart dry fish/bird preservative on my fish. Mix a fistfull or two per gallon of water and leave skin soak overnight. Here's the problem.

1. The preservative never totally dissolves in water. Leaves granules and small lumps in the bottom of my rubbermaid when soaking the fish.
2. The granules and small lumps seem to stick to the fins and some other parts of the fish, I cannot get them off even when rinsing them extensively before mounting the skin. Sometimes shows on the finished mount.

I am wondering if there is a better preservative I should be using, or different way of trying to dissolve this stuff in water. It's kind of a pain. I am not an expert, but do a few fish now and again. Is there a liquid preservative that would be better?

I mount mostly warm water fish, walleye, northern, bass, panfish.

I appreciate your honest input and suggestions. I'm always looking to learn!
Thanks in advance!

[CrabCrazy]

50/50 DA and water...have you tried dissoving the dry stuff in warm water

[bpplatt]

50/50 DA and water...have you tried dissoving the dry stuff in warm water

Yep, I have, seems a little better, but on bigger fish when you mix it stronger, still has the same problem. Do you use the 50/50 DA and water on small and large fish CrabCrazy? How long do you leave them in the solution for?

[Frank E. Kotula]

3 oz of zinc sulfate to a gallon of water, cap full of kemal 4 and a cup of borax. Use this till it falls all on the bottom. Should get like 10 or more fish.

[bpplatt]

3 oz of zinc sulfate to a gallon of water, cap full of kemal 4 and a cup of borax. Use this till it falls all on the bottom. Should get like 10 or more fish.

Where do you get the zinc sulfate and Kemal 4? How long do you keep the fish in the solution Frank?

[CrabCrazy]

about an hour...plus i add a little lysol to it

[bpplatt]

about an hour...plus i add a little lysol to it

Do you leave bigger fish in longer? I have 2- 17 lb northerns and a 9 lb walleye I just skinned. Also, how many fish can each bach of solution do CrabCrazy?

[CrabCrazy]

all fish same time...you can still leave them in longer.......use it untill its dirty or if its diluted by wet fish skins

[bpplatt]

Great, thanks guys. CrabCakes; Any problems with grease spots leaching through after a few years with this method? I wanna be sure this is a good method that won't bite me later.

[Cecil]

What's wrong with plain ol' 20 mule team borax? You do know the wet/dry preservative is just borax right? John Rinehart even said so years ago at an IGT seminar. It's called marketing.

I do soak trout, salmon, pike, musky,  catfish, carp, gar, and bowfin, striped bass, and hybrid striped bass in paint thinner overnight before the borax soak. It seems imperative to remove the grease...

[bpplatt]

What's wrong with plain ol' 20 mule team borax? You do know the wet/dry preservative is just borax right? John Rinehart even said so years ago at an IGT seminar. It's called marketing.

I do soak trout, salmon, pike, musky, and catfish, carp, gar, and bowfin in paint thinner overnight before the borax soak. It seems imperative to remove the grease...

I didn't know that Cecil. Thanks. Do you soak it in straight thinner? How long do you soak it in borax after the thinner bath?

[Cecil]

What's wrong with plain ol' 20 mule team borax? You do know the wet/dry preservative is just borax right? John Rinehart even said so years ago at an IGT seminar. It's called marketing.

I do soak trout, salmon, pike, musky, and catfish, carp, gar, and bowfin in paint thinner overnight before the borax soak. It seems imperative to remove the grease...

I didn't know that Cecil. Thanks. Do you soak it in straight thinner? How long do you soak it in borax after the thinner bath?

Yes straight thinner. Borax only a few hours is necessary but you can soak them overnight. The only exception are those chromish Great Lakes summer trout and salmon. I only soak them in thinner a couple of hours and only a couple of hours in the borax solution. I also wash all fish skins after the thinner in Dawn detergent for about 20 minutes before rinsing and placing in the borax solution.

And one more thing: I apply table salt heavily to the show side of the chromish fish before skinning. Maybe 30 minutes to an hour. You can also thaw them with the salt.  

[bpplatt]

This is great info Cecil. What does the salt do to the show side of the chromish fish?

[CrabCrazy]

yes you need to degrease fish before...soaking in preservative...DA,Borax or zinc sulfate  will work for preserving

[den007]

I have used zinc sulfate, but never really understood why. I don't see the chemistry behind it. I would like to know if anyone can explain it, or did you just use it on faith as I used to.

I do the 50/50 DA and borax solution, and see no redeeming need for zinc sulfate. If anyone can explain it and show me the difference, I might use it.

Role of zinc ions in the water??

Role of sulfate ions??? (you can get the same from sulfuric acid)


what is the magic of zinc?