Hikari 'Shrimp Cuisine' contains copper, why?

[tominator]

Ooh, they have the same "blood" as octopi, cool.

[oblongshrimp]

I looked in the ingredients that they have posted (see below) and I don't see any copper added so its probably just trace amounts in the other ingredients and it is probably fine.

From the Hikari website
"Fish meal, dehydrated alfalfa meal, cuttlefish meal, heat processed soybeans, flaked corn, dried seaweed meal, sodium alginate, brewers dried yeast, spirulina, wheat germ meal, cuttlefish oil, starch, lecithin, clam extract, DL-methionine, dried A. niger fermentation extract, astaxanthin, choline chloride, monosodium glutamate, vitamins and minerals including stabilized vitamin C."

[Dwarfpufferfish]

I am sure it is included in the "vitamins and minerals"

[jaidexl]

This thread should be stickied in the shrimp forum. Good info to address one of the most common thread subjects.

[dxiong5]

Very interesting. Please keep us shrimpies updated if anyone tries this food.

[bibbels]

Originally Posted by jaidexl

This thread should be stickied in the shrimp forum. Good info to address one of the most common thread subjects.

I agree

[dpuzdreac]

I've just tried this food on my Red Cherry Shrimp

The package comes with a very small plastic spoon, I've fed them one "portion" of what looks like very small green pellets.

The shrimps reacted immediately when the food was placed in the water

In 10 minutes, 4 out of my 12 shrimps were eating it, they came from all corners of the tank.

It seems that they really like it, but I'll feed them just once / week, they have plenty of green algae to eat, I'll use this food as supplement only.

[bklyndrvr]

My shrimp love Shrimp Cuisince. They go crazy for it. I have been feeding them it from over 3 weeks now (about once a week) and have not seen any issues so far.

[metageologist]

i also have been using the shrimp cuisine for about 3 weeks and they seem to swarm the stuff and since i have starter feeding them this they seam to be redder and growing faster. lots of molts in the tank were as before i only saw one a week at best.

[keitarosan]

this looks ok to me. no shrimp loss whatsoever (so far). the only thing i don't like about it is it floats and takes a while to sink. unlike the shirakura brand.

[bklyndrvr]

just tap them a little bit with your finger. Once you break the water tension, they drop down. funny thing is that my shrimp hang upside down under the floating plants, and I saw one grab it while still floating, and when it started to sink, the shrimp didn't let go and sank with it al the way to the bottom and still never let go.

[macclellan]

I've used that, their crab cuisine, and tetras food for years without issue. "Shrimp being sensitive" is a mostly hype. As stated more eloquently above it isn't "copper" per se that is deadly to shrimp and there are no issues with the kinds/amounts in shrimp food.

[A Hill]

Originally Posted by Veneer

To be a stickler for terminology, shrimp don't have blood or a closed circulatory system as in vertebrates; instead, a fluid called hemolymph sloshes about within the body cavity. The oxygen-carrying molecule in their hemolymph is hemocyanin, a respiratory protein which binds oxygen using two copper atoms.

According to this paper, decapod crustaceans (like shrimp) need around 31.3 to 38.1 μg (1 μg = 1/1,000,000 of a gram) of copper per gram of body mass "to meet the requirements of both copper-associated enzymes and the copper bearing respiratory pigment haemocyanin".

The line between need and toxicity can be fine (source), but copper is an essential trace metal required for copper-dependent enzymes in energy production, pigmentation, and so on.

We should distinguish this dietary requirement from the effects of the cupric ion (Cu+2). This is copper's major toxic species -- doing much damage to crustacean gills by inhibiting osmoregulation -- and results when copper sulfate medications are added to water (source).

Yet at those concentrations isn't all they need available in their water?

As a side note is that your website you've got linked?

-Andrew

[sandiegoryu]

Lol. Two years later and everyone's still wondering if copper in shrimp food is bad.

[ybrik]

Hello,

Sorry for the late response, but I am the southern california rep for Hikari USA.

Copper is used in the diet for shrimp because we found that a trace amount of copper helps the blood regeneration within the shrimp. Since we are using trace amounts of copper it is safe for the shrimp. Please do not pour a whole bag of shrimp cuisine into a small tank because that is just asking for trouble.

Kirby