The Cruelty of Dyeing Fishes

[BaBiBuTa]

I think many of us, in our 1st visit to an aquarium, we would somehow get attracted by dyed fishes in their 'vibrant' flourenscent colours like green, purple etc. But the process of getting these end products is also cruel.
one example is the Parambassis ranga . they are often dipped in a caustic agent to remove/prevent regeneration of their stress coat, their number one line of defense against disease (getting rid of the stress coat makes them retain the irritating paint longer in their bodies, but it will eventually fade in time, if the fish don't die of disease first).
a dyed glassfish
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/painted2.jpg
a normal glassfish
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/glassfish1.jpg

pics from badsmantropicalfish.com

a quote from deathbydyeing.org,praticalfishkeeping.co.uk

How is the dye applied?

Intrigued as to how the dye was applied we decided to carry out a little research. A few coloured glassfish were sedated in MS222 anesthetic and observed under a binocular microscope. It became apparent that the dye is not on the surface of the fish, but lay under the epidermis.

Furthermore, the dye appeared fluid and could be moved slightly by gently squeezing the coloured area.

This suggested that it must have been injected into the fish at various sites over the body in order to form the distinctive colour patterns. Our fears were confirmed a few years later when we were shown photographs of the colouring process, revealing that each fish is individually injected using a syringe and needle.

The practice of dye injection is undertaken by fish farmers in some regions of Asia (but not Singapore as far as we know). Clearly, the common name “painted glassfish” is a cruelly misleading description.

If one considers the relative bore size of the injection needle with that of a glassfish, it would be the equivalent of us receiving several jabs using a needle of pencil-sized diameter - not a pleasant thought.

As experienced fish scientists, we would never dream of injecting fish of such small size. No wonder the injection process is alleged to cause high mortalities.

Quote from gpmu.co.uk

The Dyes are Deadly

Induline, Nigrosine, and Benzinide dyes, commonly used in printers, are also used in the dyeing of fish
more at http://www.gpmu.org.uk/hs/hsbladcanc.html

1 whole list of Dyed fish

from DeathByDyeing.org

http://www.deathbydyeing.org/colormedead.htm

Credits:
www.Badsmantropicalfish.com
www.deathbydyeing.org
www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk
www.gpmu.co.uk

hmmm, looking at organisations like deathbydyeing, maybe its time foor singapore to have 1, or we could persuade ACRES to expand into this?

note: most of this are just copy paste into the thread for your reading. Mods, if i have violated any copyrights law etc. please feel free to remove this thread. not really sure is doing this ok

[cloud79]

Great effort there.

More reading here

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/color_control.php

A discussion of enhancing colors of ornamental fish would be incomplete without mention of dyeing and painting fish, and feeds containing hormones. The practice of painting essentially colorless fish (e.g. glassfish) has become widespread. The neon colored paint is non-toxic, but the handling and painting, coupled with shipping stress often invites disease problems. These fish often contract ich (Ichthyophthirius multifilis) and fungal infections. The paint is shed in time and the fish returns to being colorless which may be more disturbing to someone paying a premium for "painted" fish. Dyeing colorless fish has recently become popular. The fish are immersed in water containing dye and the immersion and handling may lead to the aforementioned disease problems. Hormones may be used to enhance fish coloration by causing a false early maturity. Testosterone supplied in the diet likely allows a premature storage and expression of pigments in the chromatophores. Fish that often exhibit drab juvenile coloration may then show full adult coloration. Fish treated with hormones often become all male, sterile, and require a continuous dietary supply of hormones to maintain coloration. The sex of juvenile fish is often ambiguous and hormone diets, most often containing testosterone, create all male fish. Uncontrolled doses of testosterone sterilize fish. Endogenous production of hormones ceases, so coloration is not maintained when fish are taken off the hormone treated feed. Fish feeds containing hormones do have legitimate commercial uses in Tilapia (Oreochromis spp.) diets (Teichert-Coddington et al. 2000). Tilapia growers are hampered by the fact that this cichlid often matures prior to reaching market size. The fish farmer often ends up with mixed size classes and stunting of fish in growout ponds if the tilapia are allowed to mature and reproduce. Feed energy also goes into producing gametes instead of fish flesh. Feeds containing hormones have been used to provide all male groups of tilapia for growout. These diets contain testosterone since males grow faster. The feed is administered to juvenile fish prior to growout and is currently undergoing FDA approval for food fish. Given the current status, this feed is probably not widely available to ornamental fish growers and hobbyists and would be of little use enhancing color of fish already sold as adults which encompass most ornamental fish with the notable exception of cichlids. There is no specific way to tell if a fish has been fed a diet containing hormones except to be vigilant of the fish you purchase. If it looks to good to be true, it probably is!