[conjre]

Hi everybody. Just the other day I had a rep from Aqueon (formerly All-Glass) come into my store to let me know about some of their new products coming out. We went over some of the basics about their new filters and remedy products and what not. We then started discussing their line of fish foods and the rep brought up that they use whole fish (not just the leftovers like most companies) and they also don't use Ethoxyquin. I wasn't sure if many of you knew about Ethoxyquin and there aren't any posts on here about it so I thought I'd just put it up so hopefully we'll all be more educated.

Ethoxyquin is a preservative used in many pet foods including fish food. Almost every type of fish food uses it; even Ocean Nutrition (the makers of Formula One/Two), which are two foods I use religiously :-P. This preservative is actually a cancer causing agent!!! Now this is of course over time but I just found it interesting that some of the best store bought fish foods on the market carried Ethoxyquin in their recipe.

The only ones I could find without Ethoxyquin were Hikari and Aqueon. If anyone knows of any others please post it here.

Just one more reason to make your own fish food :-P

[dfurbee]

Thanks for the info. Will search it on the internet.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Ethoxyquin & Preservatives in Dog and Cat Foods

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Ethoxyquin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[NATIVEVAMAN]

I guess that makes grocery shopping for the wet pets a bit problematic.

[Sea in the City Orlando]

Hmmm...I'm not seeing that in the ingredients of Ocean Nutrition Frozen. Here's from their site:

Formula II:
Ingredients
  Plankton, gel binder, spinach, shrimp, krill, clams, krill hydrolysate, lettuce, peas, sardine meal, salmon egg oil, squid, kelp, lecithin, casein, spirulina, cod liver oil, paprika, vitamins (choline chloride, ascorbic acid including stabilized vitamin C, vitamin E supplement, niacin, thiamin mononitrate, folic acid, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, vitamin A acetate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, beta-carotene supplement, biotin), amino acids (dl-methionine, taurine, lysine) and trace elements of manganese sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate and sodium selenite.

Formula I:
Ingredients:
Shrimp, krill, gel binder, spinach, clams, krill hydrolysate, sardine meal, plankton, salmon egg oil, squid, kelp, lecithin, casein, paprika, canthaxanthin, cod liver oil, astaxanthin, vitamins (choline chloride, ascorbic acid including stabilized vitamin C, vitamin E supplement, niacin, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, menadione sodium bisulfite chloride, vitamin B-12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, beta-carotene supplement, biotin), amino acids (dl-methionine, taurine, lysine) and trace elements of manganese sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate and sodium selenite.


Am I missing something?

[wesley6610]

As we all know, the FDA and USDA isn't always on top of things and food labels are always enforced either. I would suggest due diligence when selecting all types of animals as we would with our own foods.

[Sea in the City Orlando]

I agree, but I sell this food in my store and it is by far, IMO, the best on the market. I have fish that are up to 30 years old...many of them have been eating this food for years, so I would like to be certain. I've emailed Ocean Nutrition for verification as I'd hate to stop using a product on hearsay from a competator...but if it's true, I also want to find a good alternative.

[conjre]

Originally Posted by Sea in the City Orlando

Hmmm...I'm not seeing that in the ingredients of Ocean Nutrition Frozen. Here's from their site:

Formula II:
Ingredients
  Plankton, gel binder, spinach, shrimp, krill, clams, krill hydrolysate, lettuce, peas, sardine meal, salmon egg oil, squid, kelp, lecithin, casein, spirulina, cod liver oil, paprika, vitamins (choline chloride, ascorbic acid including stabilized vitamin C, vitamin E supplement, niacin, thiamin mononitrate, folic acid, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, vitamin A acetate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, beta-carotene supplement, biotin), amino acids (dl-methionine, taurine, lysine) and trace elements of manganese sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate and sodium selenite.

Formula I:
Ingredients:
Shrimp, krill, gel binder, spinach, clams, krill hydrolysate, sardine meal, plankton, salmon egg oil, squid, kelp, lecithin, casein, paprika, canthaxanthin, cod liver oil, astaxanthin, vitamins (choline chloride, ascorbic acid including stabilized vitamin C, vitamin E supplement, niacin, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, menadione sodium bisulfite chloride, vitamin B-12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement, beta-carotene supplement, biotin), amino acids (dl-methionine, taurine, lysine) and trace elements of manganese sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate and sodium selenite.


Am I missing something?

Not the Frozen food but the Flakes and Pellets made by Ocean Nutrition. It's a preservative and as the food is frozen a preservative isn't neccessary.

[Sea in the City Orlando]

Yes, I just checked that out. I only really recommend and feed only frozen so I feel good about their ingredients in that.

[conjre]

I feed a mixture of the two, frozen and flakes, as I have 2 damsels that for some reason don't eat the frozen and will only good for the flakes. It's interesting that they can tell the difference between the two before injesting them.

[wesley6610]

Originally Posted by Sea in the City Orlando

Yes, I just checked that out. I only really recommend and feed only frozen so I feel good about their ingredients in that.

So it is confirmed that the dry food is tainted by Ocean Nutrition?

[conjre]

Tainted. I wouldn't say that. I just posted this because I felt people should be informed about the ingredients in their aquatic life's food instead of just which one is good from hearsay. Ethoxyquin is a preservative that has been known to cause cancer in animals. Most preservatives can do this, some more than others.

[wesley6610]

Okay, so is it one of the preservatives in Ocean Nutrition foods or do they use another kind for their dry vs. frozen?

[conjre]

Ethoxyquin is a preservative used in Ocean Nutritions DRY foods. No preservative is necessary in their frozen food.

Don't think though that this preservative is only in Ocean Nutritions Dry food because of the slight topic change. Ethoxyquin can be found in many different types of dry foods, from fish to dogs.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

I was in wal mart friday and every dry food they carry has it in them.

[wesley6610]

Very interesting, perhaps I will start to feed frozen more often now than dry. Good looking everyone.