I think we’ve all lost bettas to something miserable at some point - tumours, infections, dropsy, etc.
We often hear that feeding them garlic or something will ‘build up’ or ‘enhance’ their immune response, and there may well be truth in the garlic idea but it won’t help once a fish has become sick.
‘Building immunity’ is something that takes time and largely depends on a healthy diet that supplies enough of all the nutrients, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and so on from the day we get the fish. Then it’s got a shot at having the best possible immune response when bacteria or fungi or tumours challenge it.
I have often wondered if there’s a way to get probiotic organisms into fish - some foods include what the labels call ‘probiotic substances’ but no explanation of just what those are or their potential benefits. So far, I’ve no idea how it would be done.
But as it happens, today I ran across this study, where it was found that supplementing the diets of fish with carotenoid pigments has some significant benefits and this study was done on betta fish, which often seem to be the victims of assorted illnesses more so than many other fish appear to be.
Carotenoid pigments serve several functions and vertebrates must get them from food, none can be synthesized in the body. They are antioxidants, colourants and part of the immune system as well. Where the quantity of various carotenoids is limited in the diet, fish must choose where to use them. I am not sure if this choice is under the control of the fish or not.
Many fish foods will list astaxanthin on the label - usually well down the list as it is concentrated and also very expensive. For sure, astaxanthin is no doubt the best known member of one group of carotenoids.
Suspicious type that I am, I often wonder just how much astaxanthin is present - I wonder if it’s just there to make the ingredient list look good, not in a quantity sufficient to benefit the fish, in other words.
And that is assuming that it’s actually there at all. We really don’t know if any ingredients listed are actually used unless we can analyze the food, which is beyond most of us. There are next to no laws nor enforcement for the contents of or claims made by pet food labels and feed grade is a very different thing from human grade.
Regardless of all that, astaxanthin isn’t the only carotenoid - there are loads of them and of them all beta carotene is one you’d surely recognize or have heard of because we can use it too. It’s clear from all sorts of studies that carotenoids are an important component in a competent immune system for vertebrate species.
Red fish, blue fish: trade-offs between pigmentation and immunity in Betta splendens
Quote” a key prediction for the carotenoid trade-off hypothesis would be that individuals that lack or have reduced carotenoid coloration should allocate relatively more dietary carotenoids to their immune system. Moreover, animals with extensive carotenoid coloration should suffer decreased immunocompetence compared with less carotenoid-colored animals given the same level of carotenoid uptake, due to increased allocation to coloration. Therefore, the goal of this study was to test whether genetically based intraspecific differences in body coloration affect relative allocation of carotenoids to coloration versus immune system. _________________________________
We did so by examining the effect of dietary carotenoid supplementation on a range of color phenotypes in the Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens). Artificial selection on B. splendens has produced a range of color morphs, particularly reds and blues, which provides a powerful tool for examining intraspecific carotenoid allocation goal of this study was to test whether genetically based intraspecific differences in body coloration affect relative allocation of carotenoids to coloration versus immune system. We did so by examining the effect of dietary carotenoid supplementation on a range of color phenotypes in the Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens). Artificial selection on B. splendens has produced a range of color morphs, particularly reds and blues, which provides a powerful tool for examining intraspecific carotenoid allocation strategies.”Unquote
The whole study is well worth a read - it’s not all that long.
Quote”” We first found support for 3 key assumptions of the carotenoid trade-off hypothesis in B. splendens: that carotenoid pigments 1) are used for coloration, 2) are a predictor of female preference, and 3) boost both immunity and coloration when in abundance. We found that coloration in B. splendens is underlain by both carotenoids and pteridines, as is true for many other red or orange color patches in fish (Henze et al. 1977) and lizards (Macedonia et al. 2000).”Unquote
My take from this is that we would be wise to make sure our betta pets ( in fact, all of our fish) are eating a diet that’s well supplied with not only astaxanthin but also beta carotene.
Beta carotene and astaxanthin are both useful to supplement but the beta carotene is of greater benefit to the immunity of the fish. You can get it in capsules so you might consider adding it to homemade fish foods or mix it into commercial foods. It’s not soluble in water and you don’t want to overdose it but so far as I am able to determine it is not toxic even when overdosed to the point it turns skin orange. So you are unlikely to poison your fish if you use a little too much.
Or you could just buy and use fish vitamins. Boyd’s Vita Chem does not list beta carotene or astaxanthin on the label but it is made with kelp and ulva, both of which are rich sources of cartenoids including beta carotene from kelp.
Kent Marine’s Zoe appears to be similar.
So you have a few options if you want to try to use diet to help enhance the immunity of your betta fish - use Vita Chem Fresh or Zoe or maybe take a shot at adding beta carotene in pure form.
Even if your fish aren’t red or blue, they’ll still benefit and most fish would benefit - not just bettas.
We often hear that feeding them garlic or something will ‘build up’ or ‘enhance’ their immune response, and there may well be truth in the garlic idea but it won’t help once a fish has become sick.
‘Building immunity’ is something that takes time and largely depends on a healthy diet that supplies enough of all the nutrients, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and so on from the day we get the fish. Then it’s got a shot at having the best possible immune response when bacteria or fungi or tumours challenge it.
I have often wondered if there’s a way to get probiotic organisms into fish - some foods include what the labels call ‘probiotic substances’ but no explanation of just what those are or their potential benefits. So far, I’ve no idea how it would be done.
But as it happens, today I ran across this study, where it was found that supplementing the diets of fish with carotenoid pigments has some significant benefits and this study was done on betta fish, which often seem to be the victims of assorted illnesses more so than many other fish appear to be.
Carotenoid pigments serve several functions and vertebrates must get them from food, none can be synthesized in the body. They are antioxidants, colourants and part of the immune system as well. Where the quantity of various carotenoids is limited in the diet, fish must choose where to use them. I am not sure if this choice is under the control of the fish or not.
Many fish foods will list astaxanthin on the label - usually well down the list as it is concentrated and also very expensive. For sure, astaxanthin is no doubt the best known member of one group of carotenoids.
Suspicious type that I am, I often wonder just how much astaxanthin is present - I wonder if it’s just there to make the ingredient list look good, not in a quantity sufficient to benefit the fish, in other words.
And that is assuming that it’s actually there at all. We really don’t know if any ingredients listed are actually used unless we can analyze the food, which is beyond most of us. There are next to no laws nor enforcement for the contents of or claims made by pet food labels and feed grade is a very different thing from human grade.
Regardless of all that, astaxanthin isn’t the only carotenoid - there are loads of them and of them all beta carotene is one you’d surely recognize or have heard of because we can use it too. It’s clear from all sorts of studies that carotenoids are an important component in a competent immune system for vertebrate species.
Red fish, blue fish: trade-offs between pigmentation and immunity in Betta splendens
Quote” a key prediction for the carotenoid trade-off hypothesis would be that individuals that lack or have reduced carotenoid coloration should allocate relatively more dietary carotenoids to their immune system. Moreover, animals with extensive carotenoid coloration should suffer decreased immunocompetence compared with less carotenoid-colored animals given the same level of carotenoid uptake, due to increased allocation to coloration. Therefore, the goal of this study was to test whether genetically based intraspecific differences in body coloration affect relative allocation of carotenoids to coloration versus immune system. _________________________________
We did so by examining the effect of dietary carotenoid supplementation on a range of color phenotypes in the Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens). Artificial selection on B. splendens has produced a range of color morphs, particularly reds and blues, which provides a powerful tool for examining intraspecific carotenoid allocation goal of this study was to test whether genetically based intraspecific differences in body coloration affect relative allocation of carotenoids to coloration versus immune system. We did so by examining the effect of dietary carotenoid supplementation on a range of color phenotypes in the Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens). Artificial selection on B. splendens has produced a range of color morphs, particularly reds and blues, which provides a powerful tool for examining intraspecific carotenoid allocation strategies.”Unquote
The whole study is well worth a read - it’s not all that long.
Quote”” We first found support for 3 key assumptions of the carotenoid trade-off hypothesis in B. splendens: that carotenoid pigments 1) are used for coloration, 2) are a predictor of female preference, and 3) boost both immunity and coloration when in abundance. We found that coloration in B. splendens is underlain by both carotenoids and pteridines, as is true for many other red or orange color patches in fish (Henze et al. 1977) and lizards (Macedonia et al. 2000).”Unquote
My take from this is that we would be wise to make sure our betta pets ( in fact, all of our fish) are eating a diet that’s well supplied with not only astaxanthin but also beta carotene.
Beta carotene and astaxanthin are both useful to supplement but the beta carotene is of greater benefit to the immunity of the fish. You can get it in capsules so you might consider adding it to homemade fish foods or mix it into commercial foods. It’s not soluble in water and you don’t want to overdose it but so far as I am able to determine it is not toxic even when overdosed to the point it turns skin orange. So you are unlikely to poison your fish if you use a little too much.
Or you could just buy and use fish vitamins. Boyd’s Vita Chem does not list beta carotene or astaxanthin on the label but it is made with kelp and ulva, both of which are rich sources of cartenoids including beta carotene from kelp.
Kent Marine’s Zoe appears to be similar.
So you have a few options if you want to try to use diet to help enhance the immunity of your betta fish - use Vita Chem Fresh or Zoe or maybe take a shot at adding beta carotene in pure form.
Even if your fish aren’t red or blue, they’ll still benefit and most fish would benefit - not just bettas.
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