Astaxanthin VS Cyclop-eeze

[r0cksteady]

Hi All,

I went in today to purchase some Cyclop-eeze but was surprised by its expensive price when it is primarily 'Astaxanthin'. Instead I did a bit of googling around and it seems that you can use any Astaxanthin food supplement designed for human consumption (Natural Astaxanthin as opposed to Synthetic Astaxanthin).

What Im wondering is if Cyclop-eeze contains 3K-7.5K PPM then how do I gauge how much is to be ground up and mixed into my DIY seafood mix?

I was looking at purchasing something like this:
http://www.rejuvehealth.com/All-Products/BioAstin-Astaxanthin.html

Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions etc would be greatly appreciated.

 

[KarlBob]

I've never heard that Cyclop-eeze is primarily astaxanthin. As far as I know, Cyclop-eeze is frozen blocks of decapods, and the astaxanthin/astaxanthene is just one of the nutrients found in the decapods. In your home-made fish food, some of the other critters you're using may contribute astaxanthin to the mix.

 

[r0cksteady]

Hi KarlBob,

Im not saying that Cyclop-eeze isnt a good product, I would prefer to just use it if it was about half the price.
Your right in saying that there are other sources of it. Ie. Brine Shrimp, Mysis, Pellets, Flakes etc. I do not believe though that they are as highly concentrated as they are in Cyclop-eeze hence its success. This is why im wondering if anyone had guidance on adding it manually to the mix?

 

[Luis A M]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15743299#post15743299 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by KarlBob
I've never heard that Cyclop-eeze is primarily astaxanthin. As far as I know, Cyclop-eeze is frozen blocks of decapods, and the astaxanthin/astaxanthene is just one of the nutrients found in the decapods. In your home-made fish food, some of the other critters you're using may contribute astaxanthin to the mix.

Copepods
Decapods are shrimps,crabs and lobsters

 

[tor101898]

cyclopeze is a food source made up of copepods,just like brineshrimp and mysis are a food source. check with brineshrimpdirect.com they have many food products like what you are looking for. On a side note, the benefits that cyclopeze provides as a food source far out way the cost of $9.99 for a small can. All you need to feed is a small amount.

 

[r0cksteady]

Thanks for the replies guys but Im specifically wanting to know about manually adding Astaxanthin and the best way to go about it other than Cyclop-eeze

 

[greenbean36191]

Unless you're trying to give your fish that pretty salmon color to their flesh then there's really very little use for adding astaxanthin to their food. It's an antioxidant, but not a major nutrient, which is why there are basically no guidelines for adding it to fish food, except for salmon feed, where it is added as a colorant.

 

[r0cksteady]

Yes but ive read that dottybacks greatly improve when eating it. And as im heavily angelfish I would think it would help enhance their color also.

 

[KarlBob]

From the CYCLOP-EEZE Web site:
CYCLOP-EEZE® are a selectively bred, biologically engineered microorganism which are cultured in a pristine arctic lake. The CYCLOP-EEZE® are a decapod (10 legged) microscopic crustacean that are instantly characterized by their intense blood-orange coloration.

From a Rainbowfish page:
The copepod, Diaptomus connexus (sold freeze-dried under the commercial name of Cyclop-eeze) is considered to be another excellent food for juvenile rainbowfishes by many aquarists.

From the Wikipedia Diaptomus page:
Diaptomus is a genus of copepods with a single eye spot. It is superficially similar in size and appearance to Cyclops.

And from the Wikipedia Cyclops page:
Although they may be difficult to observe, Cyclops has five pairs of legs.

Thus, if Diaptomus has the same number of legs as Cyclops, either could be correctly referred to as decapods (critters with 10 legs), even though they are not members of the Order Decapoda.

 

[r0cksteady]

Though I do appreciate the replies, at the end of this all I still havent gotten then answer to which I was specifically asking.

Using Cyclop-eeze wasnt the option I was inquiring about.

 

[KarlBob]

Ok, Cyclop-Eeze contains 3,000 to 7,500 ppm astaxanthin.
For the sake of this calculation, let's assume that the BioAstin product is 80% astaxanthin, and that you're making 100 grams of fish food.

3,000 ppm is 0.3%. (3,000 / 1,000,000 = 0.003)
0.3% of 100g is 0.3g. (0.003 X 100g = 0.3g)

7,500 ppm is 0.75%. (7,500 / 1,000,000 = 0.0075)
0.75% of 100g is 0.75g. (0.0075 X 100g = 0.75g)

So we want to add 0.3 to 0.75 gram of astaxanthin.

Only 80% of each pill is astaxanthin, so the total weight we need to add will be bigger than 0.3 to 0.75 gram, to account for the 20% of each tablet that isn't astaxanthin.

100% - 80% = 20%. We need to add 20% more than we'd originally calculated.
120% of 0.3g is 0.36g (1.2 X 0.3 = 0.36)
120% of 0.8g is 0.96g (1.2 X 0.8 = 0.96)

So, to make 100g of home-made food with the same astaxanthin concentration range as Cyclop-Eeze, add 0.36 to 0.96 gram of ground up BioAstin tablets.

If you have a larger amount of homemade food, weigh it and substitute that amount wherever you see 100g in the calculations. If the purity of the BioAstin tablets is not 80%, but it is given as a percentage, substitute that percentage wherever you see 80% in the calculations. Note: This will also change the 120%. If the purity of the BioAstin tablets is not given as a percentage, let me know, and I'll show you how to adjust that part of the calculations.

Can anyone tell I taught 8th grade math for a year?

Another thing to check on: What's in the BioAstin tablets other than astaxanthin? The inactive ingredients might be harmless to us, but not harmless to something living in your tank.

 

[r0cksteady]

Thanks KarlBob greatly appreciated once again.

Now I just need to find others who have done so previously to see what product they used successfully. As you said you dont want to put anything in there which maybe harmful for our inhabitants.

I was hoping adding Astaxanthin would have been as simple and easy and adding spirulina to my DIY mix where I just crush up a few tablets and mix it in with the rest of the seafood.

 

[suta4242]

Hi Jason,

Not sure if it helps, but I add spirulina & cyclopeeze to a DIY mix. Together they account for 10% volume. Remainder of the mix includes urchin, cunjevoi, whole fish, crab, calamari, various macro etc... mainly harvested by myself.

I haven't investigated a more affordable substitute for the cyclopeeze.

cheers
angie

 

[r0cksteady]

Hi Angie,

Thanks for the reply. I do the same myself but I think its always good to consider cheaper and even more efficient methods. Really I would rather not use flake\pellets and use only all organic, natural, fresh, known\accounted for ingredients but it seems to be like KFC secret 11 herbs and spices with there being grey areas to each product on the marget like your vitamin & coral foods for examples.

Angie do you also post on the Australian forums? www.masa.asn.au

 

[suta4242]

Yep, thats me.

I agree about the natural, organic ingredients if possible and its one of the reasons I'd never buy a marinara mix from a seafood store to use in a DIY mix. I also understand wanting to maintain maximum colouration for the fish, but I think achieving that involves many factors, not just the use of astaxanthin. JMO of course.