My Red Discus - Before & After Carophyll Pink

TonyN

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Hi All,
Just wanted to share some before and after, Carophyll Pink, photos of my discus.

Regards
Tony Nguyen

Manderine Passion 1 (this one turned out the best)
Before

After


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Manderine Passion 2 (this one, the whole body turn red)
Before

After


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Manderine Passion 3 (this one is being bully and not eat as much)
Before

After



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Red Cover/Rose Red
Before

After


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Here's a short video clip (the stunted discus in the video was not treated and place in for comparison)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt2nvh1GocA[/youtube]
 

Chicklette

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Is it dyed?
 

TonyN

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Dec 3, 2009
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Chicklette;4657067; said:
Is it dyed?
Hi Chicklette,

It's a color enhancing food supplement, it's nature equivalent form of Astaxanthin.

"Most aquatic animal cannot synthesize Astaxanthin, thus it must be supplemented through food. In their natural habitat, carotenoids sources are plentiful, from plants and micro algae. However, in captive environment, such as an aquarium, these carotenoids sources are not available and must be supplemented."

Regards,
Tony
 

RD.

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A classic example of how even genetically inferior fish can be made to look good using artificial color enhancement.

Carophyll Pink is a synthetic color enhancing agent used by the salmon industry, which is why a farm raised salmon has pink flesh, instead of a bland grey.

It all depends on how much is added to the feed, you just have to pick a number from the slick little color chart & dial in what kind of unnatural color that you are seeking.







See page 2 of the following discussion to find out why I don't advise feeding this product to fish.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=370001
 

the_deeb

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Based on the way that you're contrasting genetics and food-induced color changes, all foods (even "natural" ones) induce "artificial" color changes (since they are not genetically encoded).

None of your links in the other thread provide any evidence of negative effects associated with feeding fish carophyll pink. The law suit refereed to in one of your links was based on a failure to disclose the use of coloration agents, not on negative outcomes of the agents themselves. The issues with canthaxanthin retinopathy is in humans who were taking the stuff as a tanning agent. It should be noted that this is primarily a disorder of retinal discoloration, not impaired vision. So unless you're really concerned about your fish developing yellower retina, this is also not really a concern.

Your general insinuation that something is bad just because it's "synthetic" is also unjustified - just because something is made from coal tar, it doesn't mean that it is coal tar. It is certainly feasible to synthesize chemicals from coal tar that are structurally indistinguishable from their equivalents isolated from other "natural" sources.

So far, all the negative effects that you are suggesting are just speculation. I'm not trying to say that carophyll pink is 100% safe, but you certainly haven't provided any solid proof that it's harmful, so I don't think it's really fair to be advising against it. If you are able to provide some evidence, I'm certainly willing to reconsider my view on the matter.

I've never used the stuff, but I do think that TonyN's discus look a lot nicer than they used to. I think the only real advice from the studies that RD linked to is that you might not want to eat them :)
 

mshill90

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RD.

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None of your links in the other thread provide any evidence of negative effects associated with feeding fish carophyll pink.
I never said that they did, nor was that the reason for posting them.
I also never insinuated that it was bad because it was synthetic, but yes I did point out the fact that it was synthetic for a reason, that being that there are natural non-synthetic products, that have a solid track record with tropical fish food.

My initial response was to the poster who felt that there was no "harm" in long term use of this product, or those similar to it.

Specifically this comment:

Its known to be harmless to the fish but will fade after disconintueing use.
To which I responded:

With regards to synthetic color enhancing agents, I don't believe that there is any scientific data available that demonstrates that all (or any?) of these petroleum based substances are harmless to tropical fish. (when used in excess, and/or used over an extended period of time)
I have no problem with synthetic ingredients, to a degree, but not if/when there are natural products that will get the same job done with no potential long term issues in the health of the fish. Why would anyone feed their fish a coal/tar derivative when there are natural ingredients such as haematococcus pluvialis and various other micro-algaes that will do the same thing, and possibly much better?

I don't need to have a PhD in biochemistry to understand that I prefer to eat a carrot, vs a man made fiber stick that's been dipped in Carophyll Pink, or FD&C Red dye #40.

The same applies to my fish. There are numerous natural sources for ALL of the various color enhancing agents that fish require to look & be their best in captivity, there's absolutely no need to be using synthetic products such as Carophyll Pink, other than to save $$$$.

Krill, shrimp, plankton, spirulina, marigold meal, haematococcus pluvialis, (and numerous other micro-algaes) will not only supply all the natural color enhancing agents that a fish in captivity requires, they will also supply powerful anti-oxidents to your fish. Ingredients such as Spirulina, Garlic, Seaweed, Micro-Algae, and even exotic ingredients such as Ginseng, all contain bioactive compounds, that have been proven to have a probiotic effect on fish. Some of these compounds have been shown to have biological effects in fish such as growth promotion, immunostimulation, anti-stress, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-virals, and appetite stimulators.

You won't find long term studies regarding Carophyll Pink & tropical fish, because quite frankly the people that use these types of products don't give a damn about potential health issues from long term use, or excessive use.

These types of cheap short cuts are used by breeders in SE Asia on Discus, Flowerhorns, etc for the sole purpose of artificially enhancing the appearance of their fish, in order to enhance the thickness of their wallet. SE Asia breeders are also well known for their use of hormones to artificially enhance fish, especially juvenile African cichlids. Another method of artificial color enhancement that I detest.

What I don't think is "fair", deeb, is when someone unknowingly buys fish that are enhanced using these types of methods, only to later find out that when the 'juice' wears off, or the Carophyll Pink is no longer fed, that their prize fish suddenly look like yesterdays pile of crap.

If you feel that this is a healthy way to supply nutrients & color enhancers to your fish, that's certainly your prerogative.
 

mshill90

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RD, If this was Facebook, I would so click the -Like- button on your reply.

you-like-this-button.jpg
 

the_deeb

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RD.;4658505; said:
Ingredients such as Spirulina, Garlic, Seaweed, Micro-Algae, and even exotic ingredients such as Ginseng, all contain bioactive compounds, that have been proven to have a probiotic effect on fish. Some of these compounds have been shown to have biological effects in fish such as growth promotion, immunostimulation, anti-stress, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-virals, and appetite stimulators.
Do you have any references for these statements (I'm not being combative, just curious)?

RD.;4658505; said:
You won't find long term studies regarding Carophyll Pink & tropical fish, because quite frankly the people that use these types of products don't give a damn about potential health issues from long term use, or excessive use.
This is a good point. True, but unfortunate.

RD.;4658505; said:
What I don't think is "fair", deeb, is when someone unknowingly buys fish that are enhanced using these types of methods, only to later find out that when the 'juice' wears off, or the Carophyll Pink is no longer fed, that their prize fish suddenly look like yesterdays pile of crap.
I hadn't really considered this issue because I don't think it has ever really been applicable to the kinds of fish I keep. While I see your point, isn't this a concern with any kind of fish diet? If I feed my fish a top-notch diet of wild krill and invertebrates and then sell it to a person who decides to feed it low grade catfish chow, the colors will inevitably get worse. Can the new owner really blame me for the fish's colors if they're not willing to feed the same diet that I was feeding? I guess it comes down to an issue of disclosure. If people are feeding color enhancers and claiming that they are not, then I can definitely see that as a problem.

There is a similar sort of issue with certain wild caught species of fish. For example, some rays, like "blue motoros" or "red reticulatas", have vibrant colors when they are first imported which seem to gradually wear off in captivity. It's been suggested that the colors are caused by something in the fish's diet in its original habitat, which we can't seem to replicate in captivity.
 
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