Vitamin C

[nick1912]

I wanted to hear from people on their thoughts and experinces with dosing vitamin c.

 

Tell me what additonal things you dose other than vitamin c.

 

Do you pour in tank or do you mix it in food?

 

How long have you dosed for and finally what's your take.

[nano-reefer1]

not sure man is that for the fish ?? im sure someone does

[nick1912]

Hey thanks for posting. I have since found a thread on RC about vitamin C. I will post it up when I get home. Vitamin C is ffish health as well as for coral growth and coloring.

 

Also I have read it removes nitrates and P04. Act like a vodka dose but with more possitive affects.

 

I have to now find out what my brightwell bottle is exactly because I have read it has to be pure vitamin C buffered.

 

Will let you know asap tonight.

[PIPS]

in for later.

[MSunkin23]

Just a note that Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) will bring the pH down. It is probably good for corals and all living cells, as a reducing agent to prevent oxidation, and to promote cellular activity. This will bring your pH down for sure though, if its exposed to high pH it will oxidize to dehydro ascorbic acid (not very useful to cellular growth).

 

 

Despite the good effects from vitamin C, it is very toxic at certain concentrations, so be careful if you are going to dose with this. I know from my experience that 0.18g/L can kill some cells

 

-Mike

[Amphiprion1]

Just a note that Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) will bring the pH down. It is probably good for corals and all living cells, as a reducing agent to prevent oxidation, and to promote cellular activity. This will bring your pH down for sure though, if its exposed to high pH it will oxidize to dehydro ascorbic acid (not very useful to cellular growth).

 

 

Despite the good effects from vitamin C, it is very toxic at certain concentrations, so be careful if you are going to dose with this. I know from my experience that 0.18g/L can kill some cells

 

-Mike

 

There are buffered forms available that will not lower pH, but they can gradually raise alkalinity over time. The oxidized state is actually still readily absorbed (and subsequently reduced) and may be absorbed more readily than the reduced form. I agree that cytotoxicity will also vary quite a bit between various organisms, so what is fine for one may be absolutely toxic for another--but toxic concentrations are *usually* really high.

 

Another effect is that it is readily metabolized by bacteria, making it a viable organic carbon source to boost C ratios, driving enhanced uptake of N and P.

[onthefly]

viable organic carbon source to boost C ratios, driving enhanced uptake of N and P.

 

Viable...yes, Practical..no!

 

When someone shows me the data showing the bioavailability of Vitamin C added in trans...I'll add it to my tank. Otherwise, I'll go by the "tried and true" method..."if you don't test for it, don't add it"

[Bio-Reef]

Actually, I had sick zoas and I dosed vitamin c mixed with photoplankton and my zoa is back healthy again! But, if dose it every week, make sure that you are careful because then your tank depends on the vitamin c.

[onthefly]

Glad they pulled thru Bio-reef!

 

My point though, is this....your experience cannot be attributed to the Vitamin C. Maybe it was the phyto, maybe it was the moon phase, or maybe some other stressor not controlled for. If you had only added Vit.C, then it makes a stronger argument, but still, in as complex a system as a reef environment is, we can't make direct statements like that.

 

I had a clown once with fin rot...I put him in a 10ga with 35ppm IO, 75F pH8.0, and antibiotic. It went away....Given that the antibiotic was the only additive, it's a stronger case that it was the antibiotic that reversed the fin rot, but still not concrete.

[C.ton9187]

i ran a trial period of 4 months, i saw a lot more skimmate but really nothing else. I've stopped for 3 weeks since then and haven't seen much difference other then less skimmate. I'm looking into vodka dosing now but still haven't tried it yet. HTH

[cruiZe]

i just drop a vitamin C pill in my fuge every day, lol.

 

(not really) this is interesting.

[Amphiprion1]

Viable...yes, Practical..no!

 

When someone shows me the data showing the bioavailability of Vitamin C added in trans...I'll add it to my tank. Otherwise, I'll go by the "tried and true" method..."if you don't test for it, don't add it"

 

The forms added via these supplements are already bioavailable as I pointed out above. Bioavailable to what else other than bacteria while in the water column is a better question. I don't personally add it, though, nor do I add any form of organic carbon short of food. They wouldn't really get vitamin C delivered in water column normally, since it would be dietary in the wild.

 

And really, if you want to be completely technical, there's no evidence of bacterial use of vitamin C--but there's little work on that, too. I've learned very quickly, biologically speaking, to give bacteria the benefit of the doubt, though. There's something going on with tanks that add vitamin C and there is more than likely bacteria associated with it, either directly or indirectly. Not only that, what occurs is closely mirrored by other forms of organic carbon dosing. For certain, no, but fairly probable, yes.

[systemtool]

Fish and invertebrates can't synthesize their own Vit C, I don't think I would go so far as to supplement it all the time, because some organisms can "recycle" it, but it has to come from somewhere. I wonder if any of the food manufacturers do an analysis on it.

[Apoptosis]

Tropicana is on sale this week, I think i'll pick some up and start dosing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

j/k!

[lakshwadeep]

Does anyone have links for the idea that fish/invertebrates can't synthesize their own vitamin C? The article on wikipedia says an overwhelming majority of animals and plants can synthesize it.

[systemtool]

I can post the link later.. I don't have the subscription for the journal on my home computer.. its from a peer reviewed journal I was reading at work. A lot of vitamins are purely dietary in fish, vitamin E is another dietary one. Not water soluble though like vit C.

[systemtool]

lakshwadeep, sorry for the incredibly delayed response. I couldn't find the paper I was reading earlier, but here is a quote from a book called "Nutrition and feeding of fish" by Tom Lovell (Page 54)

 

"most animals can synthesize vitamin C in sufficient quantity for normal growth and function, but a few, such as primates, guinea pigs, some birds and many fishes, cannot because they lack the enzyme L-gulonolactone oxidase for synthesis of vitamin C from glucose."

 

link: http://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=...20c&f=false

 

There are tons tons of papers exploring Vitamin C deficiency in fish (which further speaks to the fact that they cannot synthesize it themselves.)

 

The more I read, the more I am considering dosing vitamin c. If weighed out properly, and mixed in with food, it shouldn't be dangerous.

[udayavani]

i dose vit c when my zoos are sick or when i change new lights but dosing every day is same as any carbon dosing . i recommend to dose when u have sick zoos it really really works for zoos

[lakshwadeep]

Thanks for the info. I also looked at some other articles (there is apparently a whole book on ascorbic acid and aquatic organisms). It appears vitamin C is most important for young (quickly growing) fish and that algae is one natural source. I guess for nano fish, that will graze on (herbivorous) pods, this is not as big a problem as it is for larger fish.

[systemtool]

There is an aquarium formulated version of Vitamin C done by Brightwell Aquatics.. I haven't used any of their products yet, but I want to try them soon. Their site seems pretty legit, they pride themselves on the quality of their raw materials, which I like.

Has anyone heard of this or tried it?

[nick1912]

I have the BA Vitamin C bottle here.

[imagex]

becareful look on the breakdown of the contents of the bottle... see if sodium is on the back... if it is then it will raise your salinity pretty quick... there was a post about it awhile back and people suggested a certain brand and it had sodium in it.. and it crashed the tank cause i didnt realize the salinity was rising that fast(especially if it's a nano tank)... so check for that on the bottle before purchasing..

 

also disolve it in a container and then put it in your tank.. do not dump the powder or pill straight in...

[lakshwadeep]

Sodium is in a lot of supplements, and since it's found in such a huge concentration in saltwater already, it would take a lot of dosing to significantly raise the salinity. The same is true for supplements that have chloride (i.e. calcium chloride used to raise calcium). Taking into account how much is added should be enough to avoid huge changes.