Fish Immune Boosters

[leebca]

When a fish is recovering from a disease, malnutrition, poor water quality, injury or any ailment, it is a good idea to give the fish a boost to its immune system. This group of additives are properly known as immune-stimulants. The reader should understand what is known and unknown about these chemicals. This leads to a proper definition of what is an immune-stimulant:

Immune-stimulant: a chemical substance that activates white blood cells (leukocytes).

Seems reasonable, BUT that 'activation' was witnessed only during in vitro studies. That is, the 'activation' was observed in a test tube and not inside a living creature. Thus a true immune-stimulant can be found in the lab, but that chemical substance could be a poison to the animal. Is this clear?

It takes a lot of study and careful testing to verify that an immune-stimulant works inside of a living organism/animal.

Most aquarists don't realize that the fish coating (some call it a mucous, others a slime) contains bactericide and antibodies to pathogens as well as resisters to opportunistic organisms (e.g., molds). They may not also know that a fish under stress will lose a part or all of this coating. Another interesting fact is that while under stress, the fish internally releases hormones (e.g., corticosteroids and catecholamines) which actually suppress the immune system. This makes the fish quite defenseless at times of stress, thus leading to a variety of conditions secondary to the primary stressor. The reader may be interested in more technical information with regards to the effects of stress: Stress - A More Technical Discussion.

In future posts, I'll refer to this post for things an aquarist can do to boost the sick/injured marine fish's immune system. It should be noted that these boosters should not become a routine additive to foods. They are something intended for use only when conditions indicate they are needed. Most information seems to point to the fish getting used to these boosters to the point the booster may have no or little affect. So, use these guidelines only on special occasions when needed.

BETA GLUCAN

I use this for all recovering fish. I use it only for about 2 weeks maximum. It is easy to administer. It is added to the fish food. You estimate the weight of the fish; you estimate the amount of food it eats; then you make sure the fish eats the proper dose. What you add is 25mg/kg of fish. This isn't very much! Beta glucan is found in human health food stores.

VITAMIN C

Vitamin C has been shown to provide the fish with an improved immune response. It is a vitamin that should be provided in a general vitamin and fat supplement regime (See: Feeding Marine Fish and Fish Nutrition). There are more than 20 different kinds of Vitamin C. The common ones humans consume are not the right ones. Adding extra quantities of stabilized Vitamin C to the food, during a fish's recovery, will aid in a speedy recovery. The C must be stabilized to protect it from the high pH of sea water, OR it must be a C found in sea life.

LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDE and LEVAMISOLE

Although not readily available to the public under these names, the lipids come in fat additives. Thus, during recovery fat and vitamin supplements need to be increased. That is why in the above referenced post, my recommendation of how often to provide fat and vitamin supplements vary with the condition of the fish (recovering fish = more fat and vitamin supplements). Levamisole is a drug used for the cure of fishes with worms. Although it is also an immune booster, levamisole is not essential to find or administer during the time a fish is recovering. I would not recommend its use as an immune booster.

OTHERS

Mannan oligosaccharides have been investigated recently and show promise at boosting the immune system of the fish and providing some anti-microbial defense. This work is not as advanced as that for Beta Glucan and actual doses haven't been proposed for marine ornamentals. Most of this work is done on (human foods) marine shrimp and freshwater fish. This is typically derived from yeast and other plant products, including algae.

Peptidoglycans (also known as mureins) has been minimally investigated. It is found in a layer on most Gram Positive Bacteria (on Gram Negative Bacteria too, but much less). In fact, it is penicillin that interferes with this complexed sugar and peptide molecule that helps destroy the infection in humans. The peptidoglycan coats single cell bacteria and is a barrier to pathogen attack.

The toxicity of the two above chemicals is not well known when it comes to ornamental marine fishes, so although they have demonstrated immune stimulation (see above definition), they likely react differently when administered and may be a source of irritation to outright poison.

Most vitamins and enzymes facilitate the recovery, repair and replacement of damaged, injured, and/or disease cells. To not mention their need would be a big mistake. If it isn't clear from the writing above, then all sick fish, fish recovering, and fish needing help need fat and vitamin supplements more frequently than healthy fish do. This is one of the two essential requirements for a good recovery. The second essential is proper and sufficient nutrition. A fish can only recover when the proper kinds and amounts of nutrients are being provided. Those general guidelines are found in the above mentioned reference.

Post if you have questions or wish to comment.

[vaporize]

I add human "fish oil" pills to the food for additional nutrient, does it help?

[leebca]

Fish oils contain a group of vitamins and fat nutrients. It's a good addition, especially considering it is usually the correct lipid (fat) source.

However, each fish oil has its own chemical breakdown. There are, in essence, better fish oils than others. Whereas humans can intake a large range of lipids, the marine fish should have the fish oils with the proper content.

[vaporize]

I guess it might be okay that I only feed 1 meal per week, that I mix it with the NLS pellets and let them soak in.

[vaporize]

BETA GLUCAN

I use this for all recovering fish. I use it only for about 2 weeks maximum. It is easy to administer. It is added to the fish food. You estimate the weight of the fish; you estimate the amount of food it eats; then you make sure the fish eats the proper dose. What you add is 25mg/kg of fish. This isn't very much! Beta glucan is found in human health food stores.

I finally get a hold of the vitamin shoppe's beta glucan thru a recent trip to the US It listed as 200 mg Beta 1,3, glucan per pill. Just wondering if it is any useful in adding to the QT tank water if the fish does not show any feeding responses?

[leebca]

Not to my knowledge. Beta Glucan works from inside after it is ingested.

[vaporize]

I am jsut thinking fish does ingest water since they are in it, so wondering if that's acceptable way of delivery too?

[leebca]

The water that the fish swallows is 'filtered' to remove ingredients so the fish can drink fresh water. The fish doesn't ingest in this way.

You can think of it in these terms too: If the fish did ingest/take in nutrients from the water, then why do they need to be fed?

[Derrick Gavin]

Hello Lee and others...

I have been reading through columns and topics here and learning a lot.

Now I've leraned that "human" fish oil can be used... how about for Vitamins? Can we actually get to:

1. Crush some Vitamin C tablets and mix it to their food?

2. Is it ok to crush Vitamin C tablets and add it onto the tank directly?

Sorry for my very "newbie" questions.

Thanks.

Derrick XXX

[leebca]

All questions are welcomed and these in particular are good questions. The short answer is, "No." Human vitamins are not to be used as fish vitamins.

Understanding the reasoning behind this is not hard, but it requires that the reader open their mind to things they may never have heard or understood before. That simply is this: all vitamins are not created equal.

You chose to ask about Vitamin C for instance. There are in fact at least 6 different chemical formulas available, all of which are categorized as "Vitamin C" but which chemically, are different. Human Vitamin C that most people are familiar with is Ascorbic Acid. It is as its name implies, an acidic chemical. This means in water its pH is below 7.

The marine system as you also know is alkaline. That is, the pH is above 7 (about 8 as a matter of fact). Putting a little acidic chemical into a a large quantity of alkaline solution alters the acid. Thus, adding Ascorbic Acid to the marine water would be in effective.

What marine fishes need is a complexed form of Vitamin C that is not affected by the water's pH so that when ingested, the fish gets the full benefit of the vitamin. This Vitamin C (you may read the labels of some marine fish vitamins and/or vitamin enriched foods and find these words there) is generically known as "stabilized Vitamin C." It is one of the other Vitamin C chemical formulas.

So, the optimum Vitamin C formula is stabilized Vitamin C for our marine fishes. An acidic Vitamin C would have to get by the higher pH of the water and into the fish to be effective and, little does.

The above scenario is similar for other nutrients and vitamins. An example is land products like wheat. Wheat and wheat products are used to hold pellet food together. When the pellet is analyzed for protein, the wheat protein is added into that analysis. But does the fish use wheat or wheat protein? No. Wheat products pass through the fish and into the marine system to pollute the water and feed microbes. I bring this up to show that "protein" is not always a "protein." Only some kinds of proteins are usable by our marine fishes.

The reader wants to get around all these kinds of questions, wondering which are right and which are wrong simply by purchasing vitamin supplements specifically made for Marine fish. There are several on the market. If you read the ingredients list carefully, you are likely to read that the marine vitamins contains vitamins derived from marine sources. Those are the right vitamins.

[Derrick Gavin]

Pristine and very clear! Thanks again Lee! This is definitely noted!

Derrick XXX