poisoned feedstock

[brewmaster15]

Its a sad day when you go fishing and there are signs up everywhere warning you not to eat the fish or consume only 1 meaL a week or if pregnant, one meal a month or abstain. In connecticut thats the warning for most lakes and streams, and its happened everywhere as well. The toxins... pCB, mercury,lead and residual pesticides..They have accumulated to very high levels in many fishes. I'm amazed that it doesn't reeach the headlines, but thats the truth..a TV celebrity has an affairand its everywhere...widescale poisoning of the food we eat and it never makes it out of the environmentalist magazine.

It used to be that the farm raised fish were okay to eat because they did not absorb the toxins from the food chain as their wild cousins did. The trout from the hatcheries oin Connecticut are not mentioned on the warnings I see. Thats starting to change now. Researchers are now looking at the commercial feeds used at these hatcheries...and testing them for the toxins. Stands to reason that if the toxins are so wide spread these days in wild fishes, that it would also be found in the feeds made from the fish...and because of the processing, there is a good chance it could be there in even higher concentrations ( my guess).

want to get scared? do a search on Mercury or lead and Fish.


heres a link to a current research project on fish feeds....

http://wfrc.usgs.gov/research/contam.../STSeelye4.htm

It doesn't take much to get you wondering about your Discus Foods, does it? One thing I think it makes me realize is that a diverse diet is a good Idea..I always thought it from a nutritional point of view, but this is more reason as well...Multiple food sources..better chance to minimize any potential negatives in the food.


Just my thoughts on something that really worries me .

-al

[KIWI13]

Well I tell you it won't be long before we find some of Mr Burns 3 eyed fish in our water systems

[blaze]

one more reason i haven't eaten fish, for the past 18 years.

[sidra]

Please! I can't eat fish any more since I got my discus. I tried to eat a piece of flounder a couple months ago and all I could think of was my discus on a plate. LOL

It is sad, Al. Upstate NY (where I'm from and my parents still live) there is a beautiful lake at the top of a mountain you have to hike to get there. It's georgous, but the lake is dead. Almost nothing lives in it any more due to pollution, etc. Very sad.

Kristen

[KIWI13]

What about prawns and lobsters Sidra LOL ????

Or crayfish, or squid, LMAO

Oh I get the flounder discus relationship though but maybe sardines or tuna or salmon would be ok....

LOL I LOVE FISH IN MY TANKS AND IN MY BELLY

[brewmaster15]

Please! I can't eat fish any more since I got my discus. I tried to eat a piece of flounder a couple months ago and all I could think of was my discus on a plate. LOL

Lol Kristen!!!!

For years I looked for the magic bullet in getting a stubborn pair to breed. I went fishing the other day, caught some trout, and was cleaning them by the fishrooms shop sink... A look of what could only be terror came across the pairs that could see this... I turned around and pointed to the beheaded trout and told the discus they were next unless.... They all spawned that night! ,,j/k.....if only it were that simple

-al

[Evan]

same issue in Canada. In the fishing guides they have little symbols indicating if you should be eating fish from the lake/size/quantity.

Though I did see something that said groups that ate a lot of fish were not found to have higher levels of the toxins in their system. It seemed odd, I cannot remember where I saw it though.

[blaze]

i think the fattier/oiler the fishes are the more toxins they retain

[Spices]

It really is... I'm a part of the NRDC (natural reserve defense council, JFK, Jr.) and for years they have been fighting the House in ending the practice of allowing oil ridges/companies produce and store oils in areas of precious land (for the sake of the animals and us). Now a new fight continues with the current occupants who are mindless of the consequences of mercury escaping and leaking.

Sad for sure. --angie--

[RD.]

Old news for anyone that lived along side the Great Lakes 30 years ago. Yes, 30 years ago.

Stands to reason that if the toxins are so wide spread these days in wild fishes, that it would also be found in the feeds made from the fish...and because of the processing, there is a good chance it could be there in even higher concentrations ( my guess).

That would depend on the source of the raw ingredients, fish foods that contain large amounts of South Antarctic Krill Meal (Euphausia superba) naturally contain much smaller amounts of these pollutants. I know of only one company that uses Euphausia superba as its main ingredient.

http://www.aquafeed.com/article.php?id=439&sectionid=5

Krill Meal shows a remarkably low content of undesirable substances such as heavy metals and dioxins, closely related to the unpolluted waters where it is captured and processed (Dimitri Sclabos & Raul Toro Aquafeed report June 2003; Dimitri Sclabos & Raul Toro Intrafish & Fis.com report June 2003). South Antarctic krill fishing grounds has its own natural barriers such as sea current activity, circumpolar atmospheric winds and a limited human intervention. Industrial contamination is at a minimum level - if any. Heavy metals found in this area come primarily from volcanic activity, the main estimated pollutant source for Antarctic marine species (Knox, 1970; Beckman, 1992).

No need to feed a diverse diet to your fish, just one that is very high quality.

[brewmaster15]

Neil,

I know of only one company that uses Euphausia superba as its main ingredient.

Let me guess Ocean Nutrition? Just kidding.

Seriously though can you provide a percentage comparison between NLS and Ocean Nutrition for krill content. many here use Ocean nutrition formula one flakes and some use the pellets (like me)

thanks,
al

[RD.]

ON makes a lot of formulas, which one are you referring to?

[brewmaster15]

http://www.oceannutrition.com/produc.../formula1.html

http://www.oceannutrition.com/produc.../formula1.html

-al

[RD.]

Al, do you realize that the shrimp used in those pellets come from shrimp farms in Ecuador? In the aquaculture circles these shrimp are typically referred to as "white shrimp", and for the most part are raised on what's known as "intensive farms", where the conditions are extremely crowded, with many of the farms requiring the use of hormones & antibiotics to keep disease outbreaks from occurring. Also, take a guess as to the quality of feed used on these "intensive shrimp farms" based in a 3rd world country such as Ecuador.


As far as their flake labels ...... IMO they are such a jumbled up mess that it's difficult to tell what ingredient is where on the list, and I suppose they bank on that fact. They clump several "fish" ingredients together to make a loooooooong list of their "fresh fish", then slip wheat flour in waaaaaaaaaaay down the list hoping by then most people have quit reading. Hey, it obviously works, right? In this companies case, they actually call it "wheat flower", as though it grows in your garden. Smoke & mirrors ......

Kind of makes it difficult to compare ingredients, and as far as the pellets go, I don't see 'any' mention of Euphausia superba.


For the most part freshwater fish are a snap to keep alive, and even on only so-so foods will show decent color (sometimes), breed, and live for several years. I suspect that most could be kept alive on nothing more than crumbled up supermarket dog chow.

But ..... try doing that with some of the more sensitive marine species, such as Rock Beauty, Moorish Idol and Achilles Tang. Most commercial foods won't even keep them alive, let alone thriving. This is exactly the reason that marine people tend to feed a wide 'variety' of food to their fish, because in the past, if they didn't, their prized specimens would waste away within a few months. Freshwater fishkeepers followed the same path, sort of a hit & miss type of feeding in the hopes that all of the fishes dietary requirements are being met.
What's lacking in one formula, will hopefully be found in the next container on the shelf.

The true acid test of any fish food is with some of these hyper sensitive marine species, not with fresh water fish.

Show me another manufacturer that has maintained some of the delicate marine species that Pablo has in his show tank (shown in the link below), for several years, on an exclusive diet of their commercial 'dry pellet or flake' formula.
http://forums.spectrumfishfood.com/viewtopic.php?t=66

I suspect that we will be waiting a very long time for another company to make a claim such as that. Most companies will instruct you to feed a 'wide variety' of their products, in order to have the best success with your fish. I wonder why that is?

Pablo maintains ...... 120 ponds (approximately 30,000 gal. each), 1500 concrete vats (250gal.-500gal. each) and 1,000 40 gal. aquariums on 2 five acre farms, and has been for going on 30 years now. I seriously doubt that you'll find any other fish food manufacturers that have the 'hands on' experience with raising & breeding fish as Pablo Tepoot.

[raglanroad]

My reading on the shrimp farms showed the major difficulties they experience with disease outbreaks. This is not restricted to poorer countries only. They are usually applying the max amount of whatever they are allowed , in order to control infections, and probably more than that if they can get away with it, depending on where they sell the product to. They have to do a remarkable balancing act to not have wipeouts, and are cautious of introducing disease to the facility.
Many refuse to get new stock for fear of upsetting the apple cart.
The addition of pigmenting or colour enhancing food products is often done to colour them up, as they do with salmon.