I got one question, and believe me I am not as hard core about what food I use as some are I just want the best for my fish. I do feed variety but mostly for the enjoyment I get from it. I have been wanting to try NLS etc. but I have been a big vitamin, mineral etc supplement user myself in my own diet. Now all this news that the synthetic vitamins could do more harm then good. Cant this apply to the pellets that have them added after the cooking process?? I have almost completely stopped using them in my own diet and have just changed my diet to attain these vitamins etc in their natural state. Are the replacement vitamins etc synthetic man made?
Hikari vs. NLS
- Thread starter Biggfeast
- Start date
When it comes to fish food, vitamin supplementation does far more good than any possible type of potential harm from the use of synthetic supplements. Certainly the ideal situation is to have the vast majority of the vitamin & mineral content coming directly from the raw ingredients themselves, which in a quality food will be the case. The key factor regarding vitamins is their bio-availability to the fish, so a smart manufacturer will make sure that the raw ingredients themselves contain an ample amount of all of the various vitamins & minerals known to be required by all species of fish, and will supplement beyond that to maximize the total bio-availability to the fish. Think of it as a safety net.
Certainly mega doses of certain vitamins/minerals can be harmful to a fish, just as they can be to a human, but I don't know of any scientific documentation that has ever shown synthetic vitamin/mineral supplementation in proper amounts being harmful to a fish. Quite the opposite.
Below is a link to an interesting read regarding vitamin c supplementation, and just how important it can be to the overall health of a fish.
Just keep in mind that the vast majority of today's commercial foods no longer simply use ascorbic acid (a very unstable form of vitamin c) they now use a more expensive, but much more stable form of vitamin c to ensure that sufficient amounts are still present at post extrusion levels. It is a common misconception that the majority of vitamins are destroyed during processing, which simply is not true. Some certainly, which is why it's a good idea to have a safety net in place. As long as a manufacturer takes into account that a certain percentage of some vitamins will be lost during the extrusion process, and formulates their vitamin supplementation with this in mind, adjusting the ratios accordingly, there will be no problems. Personally I would be far more concerend about a lack of some of these key nutrients in a fish food, than whether they are synthetic based or not.
http://www.dsm.com/en_US/html/dnpna/anh_aqua_vit_c_health.htm
HTH
Certainly mega doses of certain vitamins/minerals can be harmful to a fish, just as they can be to a human, but I don't know of any scientific documentation that has ever shown synthetic vitamin/mineral supplementation in proper amounts being harmful to a fish. Quite the opposite.
Below is a link to an interesting read regarding vitamin c supplementation, and just how important it can be to the overall health of a fish.
Just keep in mind that the vast majority of today's commercial foods no longer simply use ascorbic acid (a very unstable form of vitamin c) they now use a more expensive, but much more stable form of vitamin c to ensure that sufficient amounts are still present at post extrusion levels. It is a common misconception that the majority of vitamins are destroyed during processing, which simply is not true. Some certainly, which is why it's a good idea to have a safety net in place. As long as a manufacturer takes into account that a certain percentage of some vitamins will be lost during the extrusion process, and formulates their vitamin supplementation with this in mind, adjusting the ratios accordingly, there will be no problems. Personally I would be far more concerend about a lack of some of these key nutrients in a fish food, than whether they are synthetic based or not.
http://www.dsm.com/en_US/html/dnpna/anh_aqua_vit_c_health.htm
HTH
Its amazing that some of us confuse preference with quality, NLS is clearly the superior product. A better comparison would be X-Treme or Omega One products in my opinion because they offer a better product then does Hikari, which in my opinion is a junk food that survives from flashy adds, nice packaging and a following that doesn't require a higher standard. In times past Hikari was a good product in comparison to what was available however they have chosen to make a larger profit vs supplying an improving product. Just my 2cents. Hikari doesnt even make my top 3 of high quality fish foods.
agree. I just did my own head to head between Hikari and Xtreme and was very surprised at how much better the fish looked after the 3 months on Xtreme. Both size and color.....Xtreme is better than Hikari in my opinion
I'm going to go on a 3 month exclusive of NLS next to see for myself, but I do think Xtreme is closer to NLS than Hikari is, as far as quality goes......just my experience here of course
X-Treme is nowhere near as dense as NLS and offers alot of different sizes therefore not nearly as hard to get fish to accept it. And is a quality staple Hakari can't compare. Now in saying this NLS is still the food of choice for me to supply to my fish butttttt for those singing the praises of Hakari should definitely consider X-Treme. I've never seen or heard of Fish rejecting X-Treme so the people saying that their fish rejects NLS but still desires to have a high quality staple food and you're hell bent against NLS, X-Treme is a good alternative.
I've been feeding NLS Thera A+ in .5mm, 1mm and 3mm from my fry to my juvies to my adult fish combined with Omega One freezed dried shrimp and bloodworms for a good 6 months now and I truly feel it's a huge part in why my fish look as beautiful as they do and are as healthy as they are. I love the results I get with the food and suggest it to anyone that is serious about fish keeping.
