Saltwater Aquarium Basics

- Basic to advanced information about marine fish & reef aquariums. A growing resource with set up, aquarium lighting, chemistry, filter information too.


Freshwater Aquarium Basics

- A growing resource with information from filtration to smelly water problems with links to more specific top notch information such as the Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle

Read this FIRST before treating any aquarium/pond fish for disease:
Fish Diseases | How to Treat Sick Fish


A Clear Pond: Information

- Proper pond filtration, cleaning, care, chemistry, & basics for maintaining a beautiful garden pond


Aquarium UV Sterilization

- Use of TRUE level one or higher UV Sterilizers in an aquarium or pond

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Pet Food Recall Ingredient Found In Fish Feed

Pet Food Recall Ingredient Found In Fish Feed - SALEM, Ore. -- The Food and Drug Administration has confirmed that a chemical that caused thousands of pets to become sick has been found in fish feed in Oregon.

Melamine was found in fish feed at the Marion Forks Hatchery in Idanha, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The feed is used as a starter diet for juvenile salmon and trout, the ODFW said. The distributors of the feed had also sent it to the Willamette, Gnat Creek, Big Creek, Cole Rivers, Butte Falls and Leaburg hatcheries, according to the ODFW.

For the full article, please click above.

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Comment:
Melamine is an organic base with the chemical formula C3H6N6. Melamine in wheat gluten added to mass-produced dog and cat foods has been associated with renal failure, which could be explained by the ammonia that may result from the digestion of the melamine.
The addition of "melamine scrap" into fish and livestock feed to give the false appearance of a higher level of protein (which is due to the urea contained there in), was an "open secret" in many parts of China, reporting that this melamine scrap was being produced at at least one plant processing coal into melamine.

Most fish foods do not use much Wheat Gluten and obtain their Gluten from within the USA. The amounts of potential contamination of most foods is low as the better fish foods have Wheat Gluten very low on their list of ingredients (unlike many pet foods), that even with contamination, the risks are very low. In fact the main food I feed is Spirulina 20 which has a small amount of Wheat Gluten and I have a VERY healthy tank(s).

I recommend reading this article about fish nutrition and being more concerned with the VERY poor quality of ingredients that go into many of the popular fish foods such as TetraMin rather than the Melamine scare: Quality Fish Food (Proper Aquatic Nutrition); What ingredients are needed for proper fish nutrition, growth and health.


Carl