Correct, New Life has never added any type of preservative to their products, other than ample amounts of tocopherols (vitamin E), and citric acid (vitamin C). Considering the fact that one can now source naturally preserved fish meal, there's nothing saying that their food contains any amount of artificial preservatives, but I honestly do not know as that would be information beyond my scope. I've been out of the fish food game for some time now and have no idea what each & every raw ingredient in NLS is or isn't preserved with. Honestly, I seriously doubt that many manufacturers would even know. This isn't dog food, where only 1 ingredient (fish meal, and/or salmon meal) is being used, and requires testing. Most quality fish foods contain a number of aquatic based raw ingredients that contain fatty acids, which all require some type of preservative in order to remain stable up to the pellet/flake processing stage. That, and in fish food, and feeding fish, there has never been any type of association with any type of preservative, and health issues in fish. As I explained in the MFK link posted previously, dogs are much more sensitive to certain artificial preservatives than rats, and I'm assuming fish. It doesn't mean that at extreme levels some of these substances can't be toxic to a fish, but that could be said about many things found in fish food, including certain vitamins.
But this thread isn't about NLS, it's about a relatively new food, one that hasn't withstood the test of time. One where the promoters would have you believing that chicken quills, corn, and soybeans contain nutrients superior to all those before them.
Betty - ouch! lol
While the waste produced by fish can generally be used as a guide to the overall digestibilty and/or quality of the food, this is NOT the case when probiotics are added to the food. If a fish feed company is using a stable form of probiotic, one that can handle the high heat of extrusion, and that is in high enough numbers of live spores that it will have an affect on the reduction of solid waste (the only fish waste that one can see with the naked eye) the waste produced by the fish will be less, and the waste produced will further break down in ones tank. BUT, that has nothing to do with digestibility, and/or quality of the feed. Bacillus sp spores that are used in fish food, are the same bacteria used in septic tank bacteria, and they produce the same results in both applications - the reduction of solid waste.
Certainly some of these bacteria have been shown in some studies and using certain species of fish that these bacteria can improve the overall feed conversion ratio ....... but of foods that mostly consist of wheat & soybeans. Of course that's a non issue for anyone that is NOT feeding large amounts of terrestrial based starch derived from wheat, soybeans, corn, etc to their fish.
But that's the part that Keita Harada, the top researcher at Hikari's Kyorin Research facility in Japan failed to mention when corresponding with me a few years back. (see below) Ditto to Cobalt Aquatics, Southern Delight, and every other company who will follow suit & jump on the latest
probiotic bandwagon, while using soybeans, corn, etc in their food -instead of simply using higher quality ingredients with greater overall digestibility.
From an organic reduction standpoint, this isn't exactly cutting edge technology. These exact same heterotrophic bacteria have been used to digest & remove waste from septic systems for decades, the only difference being that in the past no one referred to them as probiotics. In the aquarium trade they have been marketed and sold as sludge reducers, for decades.
With regards to Hikari, and their "probiotic" formula, the following was sent to me in 2010 regarding a question I had about this very subject. The person responding to that question was Mr. Keita Harada, one of the top researchers at Hikari's Kyorin Research facility in Japan.
Dear Neil,
Thanks for your understanding.
>Personally I believe that one can keep their tank water & filters clean
by simply performing regular maintenance.
Yes you are right, if koi are kept in good environment with proper filtering and maintenance, additional probiotics is not necessary.
But with help of probiotics, the frequency of maintenance, water change and filter cleaning can be reduced.
Please remember that Saki-Hikari, our probiotics added koi food, is originally developed for koi breeder. For professionals, reducing maintenance means less labor, which implies higher profit.
For this field probiotics is quite effective.
With best regards,
Regards,
Harada
This was designed to reduce waste, in what for many fish keepers would equate to a food that is being assimilated better by their fish. But it's not, it simply means less maintenance, and the potential reduction in pathogenic (bad) bacteria. I don't argue that fact which is why I add Baccillus sp. bacteria to my tank water on a regular basis, and pay a fraction of what it would cost for the exact same bacteria via the aquatic trade.
Anyone interested in this area might be interested in reading this.
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?536531-The-Use-of-Probiotics-in-Aquaculture
