Melody
Apr 19th 2007, 06:12 PM
Vitamin C & Your Fish
Vitamin C is very important for fish and it is routinely added to most commercial foods, both as a supplement and as a preservative. It is a bit more tricky to include Vitamin C for those of us who make our own food, because from the moment the food is exposed to water, it is being lost. The same can be said for many vitamins, which is why the better foods add more than the fish actually need - it compensates for storage and water losses. Minerals are more stable. Vitamin C is also sensitive to heat and light.
Vitamin C builds immunity & speeds healing, facilitates iron absorption, assists in developing healthy bones, teeth and tissue, as well as improving digestion. It is also promoted as a vitamin for stressed fish.
Fish can begin to show major vitamin C deficiencies in a matter of weeks and be suffering from it in under a month. The damage can be permanent. This is where variety can protect you - if one food isn't the best source of Vitamin C, another can compensate. Again, the same can be said for most vitamins. To be certain that you are supplying enough Vitamin C in your homemade foods, I recommend a supplement.
Deficiencies have been linked to lateral line disease, injury complications, deformaties, increased susceptibility to infection and death.
In a study done to evaluate l-ascorbyl-2-glucose as the source of vitamin C for juvenile Korean rockfish Sebastes schlegeli (Hilgendorf), the effects of Vitamin C deficiency also became apparent:
"After 12 weeks of feeding, weight gain, feed efficiency ratio and survival of fish fed the vitamin C-free diet were significantly lower than those of fish fed the vitamin C-supplemented diets in either form. The hepatosomatic index, condition factor and survival of fish fed AMP-Na/Ca100, AMP-Na/Ca200, AA2G100 and AA2G200 diets were significantly higher than fish fed the vitamin C-free diet. After 9 weeks of feeding, fish fed the vitamin C-free diet began to show vitamin C deficiency signs such as anorexia and lethargy. At the end of the 12-week feeding trial, fish fed the vitamin C-free diet exhibited vitamin C deficiency signs, e.g., anorexia, scoliosis, exophthalmia and fin haemorrhage."
It is unfortunate that there is no real measurement of the vitamins in commercial fish foods. We know its in there or its not and that's it. Fortunately we have more information in regards to foods consumed by humans and can use this information when making our own foods.
Following is the Vitamin C content of some foods recommended for fish & other creatures. Most values are for raw items unless otherwise noted.
Chickweed - 375mg / 100g
Red & Brown Seaweed (dry) - 50-300 mg / 100g
Parsley - 133mg / 100g
Kale - 130mg / 100g
Broccoli - 89mg / 100g
Nettles - 83mg / 100g
Lambs Quarters - 80mg / 100g
Brussel Sprouts - 74mg / 100g
Paprika - 71mg / 100 grams
Mustard Greens - 70mg / 100g
Turnip Greens - 60mg / 100g
Halibut (cooked) - 60mg / 100g
Orange - 53mg / 100g
Dill Weed (dried) - 50mg / 100g
Dock - 48mg / 100g
Cauliflower - 46mg/ 100g
Chinese Cabbage - 45mg / 100g
Laver (Purple) Seaweed - 39mg / 100g
Zucchini - 34mg / 100g
Garlic - 31mg / 100g
Swiss Chard - 30mg / 100g
Chiccory Greens - 24mg / 100g
Romain Lettuce - 24mg / 100g
Clams - 22mg / 100g
Purslane - 21mg / 100g
Dandelion Greens (cooked) - 18mg / 100g
Peas (cooked) - 14mg / 100g
Spirulina (dried) - 10mg / 100g
Carrots - 6mg / 100g
Squid - 5mg / 100g
Duckweed - 5mg / 100g
Kelp - 3mg / 100g
Cod (cooked) - 3mg / 100g
Shrimp - 2mg / 100g
Vitamin C is a crucial component in the diet of your fish. Make it your business to know how much they are getting, and your mission to provide as many sources as possible.:smile:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sources:
Xiaojie Wang, Kang-Woong Kim, Gun-Jun Park, Se-Min Choi, Hong-ki Jun, Sungchul C Bai (2003)
Evaluation of l-ascorbyl-2-glucose as the source of vitamin C for juvenile Korean rockfish Sebastes schlegeli (Hilgendorf)
USDA National Nutrient Database
Mongabay
---------------------------------------------------------
© Please note: While you are welcome to link directly to this thread,
the contents are copyright Melody McKinnon and cannot be copied.
Thank you for respecting the effort that I have put into our content.
---------------------------------------------------------
Vitamin C is very important for fish and it is routinely added to most commercial foods, both as a supplement and as a preservative. It is a bit more tricky to include Vitamin C for those of us who make our own food, because from the moment the food is exposed to water, it is being lost. The same can be said for many vitamins, which is why the better foods add more than the fish actually need - it compensates for storage and water losses. Minerals are more stable. Vitamin C is also sensitive to heat and light.
Vitamin C builds immunity & speeds healing, facilitates iron absorption, assists in developing healthy bones, teeth and tissue, as well as improving digestion. It is also promoted as a vitamin for stressed fish.
Fish can begin to show major vitamin C deficiencies in a matter of weeks and be suffering from it in under a month. The damage can be permanent. This is where variety can protect you - if one food isn't the best source of Vitamin C, another can compensate. Again, the same can be said for most vitamins. To be certain that you are supplying enough Vitamin C in your homemade foods, I recommend a supplement.
Deficiencies have been linked to lateral line disease, injury complications, deformaties, increased susceptibility to infection and death.
In a study done to evaluate l-ascorbyl-2-glucose as the source of vitamin C for juvenile Korean rockfish Sebastes schlegeli (Hilgendorf), the effects of Vitamin C deficiency also became apparent:
"After 12 weeks of feeding, weight gain, feed efficiency ratio and survival of fish fed the vitamin C-free diet were significantly lower than those of fish fed the vitamin C-supplemented diets in either form. The hepatosomatic index, condition factor and survival of fish fed AMP-Na/Ca100, AMP-Na/Ca200, AA2G100 and AA2G200 diets were significantly higher than fish fed the vitamin C-free diet. After 9 weeks of feeding, fish fed the vitamin C-free diet began to show vitamin C deficiency signs such as anorexia and lethargy. At the end of the 12-week feeding trial, fish fed the vitamin C-free diet exhibited vitamin C deficiency signs, e.g., anorexia, scoliosis, exophthalmia and fin haemorrhage."
It is unfortunate that there is no real measurement of the vitamins in commercial fish foods. We know its in there or its not and that's it. Fortunately we have more information in regards to foods consumed by humans and can use this information when making our own foods.
Following is the Vitamin C content of some foods recommended for fish & other creatures. Most values are for raw items unless otherwise noted.
Chickweed - 375mg / 100g
Red & Brown Seaweed (dry) - 50-300 mg / 100g
Parsley - 133mg / 100g
Kale - 130mg / 100g
Broccoli - 89mg / 100g
Nettles - 83mg / 100g
Lambs Quarters - 80mg / 100g
Brussel Sprouts - 74mg / 100g
Paprika - 71mg / 100 grams
Mustard Greens - 70mg / 100g
Turnip Greens - 60mg / 100g
Halibut (cooked) - 60mg / 100g
Orange - 53mg / 100g
Dill Weed (dried) - 50mg / 100g
Dock - 48mg / 100g
Cauliflower - 46mg/ 100g
Chinese Cabbage - 45mg / 100g
Laver (Purple) Seaweed - 39mg / 100g
Zucchini - 34mg / 100g
Garlic - 31mg / 100g
Swiss Chard - 30mg / 100g
Chiccory Greens - 24mg / 100g
Romain Lettuce - 24mg / 100g
Clams - 22mg / 100g
Purslane - 21mg / 100g
Dandelion Greens (cooked) - 18mg / 100g
Peas (cooked) - 14mg / 100g
Spirulina (dried) - 10mg / 100g
Carrots - 6mg / 100g
Squid - 5mg / 100g
Duckweed - 5mg / 100g
Kelp - 3mg / 100g
Cod (cooked) - 3mg / 100g
Shrimp - 2mg / 100g
Vitamin C is a crucial component in the diet of your fish. Make it your business to know how much they are getting, and your mission to provide as many sources as possible.:smile:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sources:
Xiaojie Wang, Kang-Woong Kim, Gun-Jun Park, Se-Min Choi, Hong-ki Jun, Sungchul C Bai (2003)
Evaluation of l-ascorbyl-2-glucose as the source of vitamin C for juvenile Korean rockfish Sebastes schlegeli (Hilgendorf)
USDA National Nutrient Database
Mongabay
---------------------------------------------------------
© Please note: While you are welcome to link directly to this thread,
the contents are copyright Melody McKinnon and cannot be copied.
Thank you for respecting the effort that I have put into our content.
---------------------------------------------------------