Inexpensive vitamins to add to fish food

[seldin]

I have a 55 gallon, fowlr that I am converting to reef. I also have Arag Live sand. I have a Hippo tang and yellow tang, that I want to add vitamin supplements to their fish food.

I have started to make my own home made frozen fish food. I think that with my new frozen diet, that the fish diet will improve.

However, I want to add some vitamins like vitamin C to my fish food, to give a boost to my tangs, etc. However, when I saw the price on the fish web retailers, I was thinking that maybe some vitamins can be added that may be cheaper from the drug store.

Are there appropriate (and cheap vitamin C, etc.) that I can get from the drug store, etc., to dose some Vitamin C, etc. to my fish food. I was thinking of some liquid Vitamin C, however, I think there is a short shelf life on the liquid vitamins and that they may be expensive.

Your input is appreciated.

Thanks much,

[BangkokMatt]

A touch of fresh lemon juice provides vit C ans is very cheap

[seldin]

Matt,

So can I squirt 1 drop on each pinch of food daily, or is that too much.

Thank you,

[BangkokMatt]

I would add it to your food when you make it and mix it in. I haven't tried adding a drop to daily food but why not give it a go. Try the tiniest drop first with a few pinches of food

[seldin]

Matt,

That sounds great.

I am not trying to dose the food heavily for a disease, just trying to make sure my tangs get enough vegetables.

I also added this to my recipe in my log book.

Thanks much,

[tydtran]

Let's see if we can get a semiquantitative approach to dosing lemon juice. An 80 kg man requires about 200mg of Vitamin C per day. Let's assume that this scales for you tangs. A guess is that a 3inch tang weighs in at 0.085kg. Then his daily requirement of Vitamin C is about 0.25mg of Vitamin C.

Now a slice of lemon (1/8 of a 100mg lemon) would contain around 5.5 mg of Vitamin C. So you would need 1/20 of a slice of lemon per 3 in. fish. I estimated a 3in fish at 3oz based on the last time I caught my yellow tang, but this is speculative.

Adding lemon juice is a great idea as long as the fish eat it. Another thing you could consider is vitamin fortified orange juice. This would get you vitamin A and D and calcium as well. I think that products like Selcon are a rip off. With food for human consumption, at least you know the vitamin content has been accurately measured and that it is fresh. With Selcon, it's a guess as to what is in there and how long it's been sitting around. Good luck and update us if you see a difference in your fish.

[seldin]

Guys,

Glad I posted here. The fish web sites had vitamin C, etc., as a fortune in price.

Much appreciated for the good ideas.

Thank you.

[FishAreFriends2]

lemon juice thats pretty interseting

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Note that many commercial daily vitamins have a lot of phosphate in them. On the order of 150-600 mg phosphate per tablet. Centrum, 150 mg; Flintstones 300 mg; Natures Science 300 mg, etc.

300 mg phosphate will raise 300 L of water (about what's in a 100 gallon tank) to 1.0 ppm phosphate!

[Lucky-rc]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11426575#post11426575 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Randy Holmes-Farley
Note that many commercial daily vitamins have a lot of phosphate in them. On the order of 150-600 mg phosphate per tablet. Centrum, 150 mg; Flintstones 300 mg; Natures Science 300 mg, etc.

300 mg phosphate will raise 300 L of water (about what's in a 100 gallon tank) to 1.0 ppm phosphate!

Ha that would kinda suck huh?

I have read about people soaking their food in garlic? other than ick I'm not sure what the reason would be?.. I do know that most tangs really like it though.


Lucky

[MarkPo]

I'm going home to double check my Multivitamin now... I'm using Centrum Liquid- As I recall, it didn't show phosphate or copper on the back, and my precautionary polyfilter didn't turn green or other odd colors.

OTOH, my wife and mother-in-law independantly noticed brighter color from some fish about a week and a half after I started using it, without any knowledge or prompting that I had changed something. Purely ancedotal evidence though.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Centrum Liquid does contain phosphate. It also has zinc that I might not want to be dosing. Different places give slightly different ingredient lists for it, but this is from the Centrum site:

http://www.centrum.com/product_detail.aspx?productid=CENTRUM&panel=liquid

INGREDIENTS:
Purified Water, Sucrose, Ethyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Polysorbate 80, Ascorbic Acid (Vit. C), Ferrous Gluconate, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Citric Acid, dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate (Vit. E), Niacinamide, Zinc Gluconate, Sodium Benzoate (preservative), Dexpanthenol, PEG Ether of Castor Oil, Manganese Chloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vit. B6), Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vit. B1), BHA, Riboflavin (Vit. B2), Vitamin A Palmitate, Starch, Edetic Acid (preservative), Biotin, Potassium Iodide, Chromium Chloride, Sodium Citrate, Dibasic Sodium Phosphate , Disodium Molybdate, Cyanocobalamin (Vit. B12), BHT (preservative), Cholecalciferol (Vit. D), Silicon Dioxide, Sorbic Acid

[AD87]

I use freshly minced garlic with zoe and zoecon by kent let soak for couple of hours. Brand of food I use is formula one and two small pellets. Fresh garlic is cheap 1.25 for 2 whole bulbs.

[gary faulkner]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11431489#post11431489 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Randy Holmes-Farley
Centrum Liquid does contain phosphate. It also has zinc that I might not want to be dosing. Different places give slightly different ingredient lists for it, but this is from the Centrum site:

http://www.centrum.com/product_detail.aspx?productid=CENTRUM&panel=liquid

INGREDIENTS:
Purified Water, Sucrose, Ethyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Polysorbate 80, Ascorbic Acid (Vit. C), Ferrous Gluconate, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Citric Acid, dl-Alpha Tocopheryl Acetate (Vit. E), Niacinamide, Zinc Gluconate, Sodium Benzoate (preservative), Dexpanthenol, PEG Ether of Castor Oil, Manganese Chloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vit. B6), Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vit. B1), BHA, Riboflavin (Vit. B2), Vitamin A Palmitate, Starch, Edetic Acid (preservative), Biotin, Potassium Iodide, Chromium Chloride, Sodium Citrate, Dibasic Sodium Phosphate , Disodium Molybdate, Cyanocobalamin (Vit. B12), BHT (preservative), Cholecalciferol (Vit. D), Silicon Dioxide, Sorbic Acid


What would you recommend for homemade food or for just soaking nori in.

TIA

[GMaquarium]

I use fishtamin liquid or activant tablets, both multivitamin for fish. Normally twice a week or so, mix it up with some food along with garlic guard and sometimes I add some fish oil omega3. Have worked for a years.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What would you recommend for homemade food or for just soaking nori in.

It isn't cheap, but Selcon may be a good choice. :)

[AquaReeferMan]

Selcon works for me. I soak all my food in that.

[James983]

When you consider the cost of our fish, the price of Selcon is well worth it.

[Snowboarda42]

+1 on selcon

It seems to last a long time for me

[seldin]

Guys,

You have provided a bunch of good stuff.

Much appreciated.

[Runfrumu]

I've had good results with Kent Zoa.

[BangkokMatt]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11436087#post11436087 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Snowboarda42
+1 on selcon

It seems to last a long time for me
Selcon is good but really screws your skimmer up

[tydtran]

Question, how do you know that Selcon is good? What's in it? What is different comparing the period where you use to when you don't use it?

Not trying to be antagonistic. I am always on the lookout for things that would benefit my fish, and would love to hear what people have to say about this product.

[BangkokMatt]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11444769#post11444769 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tydtran
Question, how do you know that Selcon is good? What's in it? What is different comparing the period where you use to when you don't use it?

Not trying to be antagonistic. I am always on the lookout for things that would benefit my fish, and would love to hear what people have to say about this product.
If you have a healthy tank it is difficult to see the benefits of additives. You have healthy fish - then give them selcon or vits - you still have healthy fish.
Selcon contains alot of protein which, of course, can only be good. Whether it actually shows visible signs of its worth is a different matter.
I use selcon at the moment. Whether I will use it when it is gone - I don't know. Probably not to be honest.

[gary faulkner]

What about vita chem?

[Vinnie71975]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11424860#post11424860 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by seldin
I have a 55 gallon, fowlr that I am converting to reef. I also have Arag Live sand. I have a Hippo tang and yellow tang, that I want to add vitamin supplements to their fish food.

I have started to make my own home made frozen fish food. I think that with my new frozen diet, that the fish diet will improve.

However, I want to add some vitamins like vitamin C to my fish food, to give a boost to my tangs, etc. However, when I saw the price on the fish web retailers, I was thinking that maybe some vitamins can be added that may be cheaper from the drug store.

Are there appropriate (and cheap vitamin C, etc.) that I can get from the drug store, etc., to dose some Vitamin C, etc. to my fish food. I was thinking of some liquid Vitamin C, however, I think there is a short shelf life on the liquid vitamins and that they may be expensive.

Your input is appreciated.

Thanks much,

You could also try some Lightly Blanched fresh Spinach on a Seaweed clip, loaded with good stuff!

[Gdevine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11436034#post11436034 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by James983
When you consider the cost of our fish, the price of Selcon is well worth it.

EXACTLY!

[merle mitchell]

I did a lot of reading regarding the use of garlic. I have not found any scientific research to show that it will help cure ick. However, I bought a bottle of Kent Xtream Garlic and am happy that I did! When I put a couple drops in the tank before feeding, and a couple drops to soak in the food I was pleasantly surprised: The fish went nuts! When I put the drops in the tank, the fish forgot any dislikes or past transgressions (blue/green chromis will fight themselves for food) and fed together voraciously! I typically spent 10 to 15 minutes feeding slowly, so none would be missed. I still feed the same amount (frozen mysis, brine shrimp, squid) but it takes less time and they still don't miss any. Even my finicky fish ate their fill. For this use alone (getting fish to eat) it was worth the cost. As far as "curing" ick goes; I think it acts to fortify the fish, to help them to fight off infections. I have no proof of this, it is my opinion only.

I too am interested in new dietary ideas so if you have any, please share them!

[cherubfish pair]

I use Selcon and it recommends refrigeration. Anyone know if Elos liquid vitamins require refrigeration?

[Nina51]

What about vita chem?

i alternative between selcon and vita-chem. i also add about a teaspoon of vita-chem to my tank once a week.