Forums / TEAM Marine Depot / Disease, Health and Wellness - by Kelly Jedlicki / Beta Glucan / Latest Posts

RE: Beta Glucan

Puffer Queen — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 05:04:12 GMT

Thanks Deb for sharing!

RE: Beta Glucan

DJPReefers — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 20:11:55 GMT

Hi Kelly,

I meet you in Virginia Beach eariler this year. You were awsome!! My hubby and I talked to you about a puffer and we finaly have him! He is a 3" Spinny and cute as can be.

I read this thread and remembered what you had said and ran out to Vitiman Shop and picked up some Beta Glucan along with Vit B-12. I add it to the mysis shrimp along with garlic and vit C for both my tanks. I let the mixture soak in the fridge for about an hour covered.

In the one tank we have the puffer that has been eating slowly (Puffy is the only fish in the tank currently there is lr and fine sand) and I was worried about him... the other tank has a red sail tang that is a "stress-or" he will chase some of the other fish around and occasionally has a bite mark, barb or other scrapes on him. My Banded Butterfly fish was showing signs of stress as well.

Well, the puffer is happy and eating very well! His eyes are brighter than they were and his color is better. The Tang normally will take sometimes a week to heal up and in 3 days there is no sign of his injury. the Banded Butterfly fish now has no signs of stress on him either.

Thank you for all your advice! This thread is awsome!

Blessings,
Deb

RE: Beta Glucan

ToddLaCo — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 09:46:09 GMT

Can Beta Glucan have beneficial effects on Inverts, corals, anemons etc. I read through the entire thread and didn't see any remarks regarding it's effectiveness on these life forms.

I understand that most information regarding Beta Glucan is only anecdotal, but if it can benefit my brood stock and, or livestock I would like to give it a try.

Thanks

RE: Beta Glucan

Umm_fish — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 22:22:57 GMT

I crush mine with a mortar and pestle and then I just add it to the tank. The fish all eat it and I figure that the smaller life must, too, therefore eventually passing it back on up the food chain.

It's made from the cell walls of yeast and I figure that the big boy aquaculturers all grow a lot of their rotifers and copepods and whatnot on a yeast diet, so I might as well, too.

RE: Beta Glucan

Bingo — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 13:45:38 GMT

I finally found Beta Glucan at Whole Foods. I was under the impression that it was in liquid form.

So... if I was to add this to my tank... how AND how much is supposed to be given?

RE: Beta Glucan

Umm_fish — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 22:48:20 GMT

Point taken about the timespan. Would that be true for fish, too? How much of a rest period is needed to maintain effectiveness?

Thanks!

RE: Beta Glucan

Puffer Queen — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 08:50:13 GMT

The good thing about beta glucan - it can't hurt!

Make sure to only take it for a couple of weeks at a time or it will lose its "effectiveness"

I have been using it on several very sick cats and have noticed a definite benefit as well.

Thanks for sharing.

RE: Beta Glucan

Umm_fish — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 08:27:54 GMT

I've been adding beta glucans to my tanks for a couple of weeks after seeing this thread. I've been crushing my tablets to powder with mortar and pestle and adding portions of the powder straight to the tank. All of the fish I have that will eat flake food will respond eagerly and accept this powder as food.

On a side note, I've been taking them, too. While the rest of my household is down for the count with a nasty sinus infection, I just have the sniffles. It may not be the beta glucans, but I'm not about to stop taking them right now....

RE: Beta Glucan

Puffer Queen — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 21:35:44 GMT

Gary,

I dissolve it in dechlorinated water. I then run it through a micron sieve/plankton collector. A brine shrimp net or other fine material would also work.

Best of luck.

RE: Beta Glucan

captain nemo — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 20:22:46 GMT

Thanks again for your help. Do you disslove your beta glucan in tap water in a container and how do you remove the sediment before adding to the tank? Thanks.

Gary

RE: Beta Glucan

Puffer Queen — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 19:24:04 GMT

Gary,

Thanks for the update. Great news! I look forward to the pics.

If I am going to add the beta glucan to the tank - I dissolve mine in water for about a half an hour and get rid of the sediment before adding to the tank. The majority of time I add it to the food as anything ingested is usually better than adding it to the tank water.

The sediment in the tank should not hurt the water parameters - I would simply siphon it out.

Thanks again for sharing.

Best of luck.

RE: Beta Glucan

captain nemo — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 18:54:24 GMT

Hi Kelly,

Hope all is well with you and your fishy friends. I still intend to send you some pics of my baby as soon as I can figure out how to use my new digital camera. You'll be happy to know that my porc has made a full recovery from his lymphocystis. I just recently started administering beta glucan, the Solaray capsules. I've been dosing the quarantine tank with 1 capsule (3 mg) on a daily basis and have all been sprinkling it on his food. The only problem is that that it settles to the bottom of my tank. I'm not sure if this is the yeast or some of the other ingredients? Is this going to begin to have a negative impact on my water quality and parameters? I have just been emptying the powder from the capsule directly into the tank. Am I doing this right? Just need some guidance. Thanks!

Gary

RE: Beta Glucan

Puffer Queen — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 17:59:52 GMT

Gary,

Great news on your new porcupine friend. Thanks for the update.

The brands and dose are on the first few pages of this thread.

Diodon holocanthus are not prone to teeth problems as they have two fused "beaks" versus the arothrons which have four fused beaks.

Your food selection/vitamins are good. Might try adding squid, scallops and shrimp. The more variety the better.

How is his lymphocystis?

RE: Beta Glucan

captain nemo — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 17:44:46 GMT

Hi Kelly,

Well, its going to be a week tomorrow since I brought my baby porc home and he's doing just great. He's doing swimmingly well so far. He has a great appetite and so far I've fed him mysis shrimp, prawn and silver sides. I think prawn is his favorite. Is this a good variety of food? Is the prawn good for helping to grind his teeth down? I also have been adding vita-chem and selcon to his food. I stopped at a local health food store to see if I could get some beta glucan. They had Solgar beta glucan 1, 3 and another brand with a similar name that came in capsule form. Would you recommend this brand/brands and wouldnt capsules be better than tablets? I saw dosages from 3 mg to 20 and even 100 mg per serving. What dosage would you recommend? Thanks in advance for answering so many questions.

Gary

RE: Beta Glucan

anela — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 11:24:30 GMT

i know very little about it and just found out it is available here in the U.S. it is rumored to be rather expensive but highly effective. i've contacted the manufacturer (zoolife) and they are sending me information on both the liquid and oral form. from what i understand the liquid form is used as a bath. they were very prompt and responded to my initial inquiry within 10 minutes. i will forward the information onto you when i receive it, dan's also in the loop

RE: Beta Glucan

Puffer Queen — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 17:28:32 GMT

Anela,

I am not familiar with imufin...any information you can share would greatly be appreciated!

Thanks.

RE: Beta Glucan

anela — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 17:06:20 GMT

thanks kelly,

the part about attacking yeast cell walls left me scratching my head. i did state that i believed beta glucan stimulated the production of macrophages and had never heard of that theory. i'll continue to use as well.

have you ever tried any of the liquid immunostimulants, i.e., imufin?

RE: Beta Glucan

Puffer Queen — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 16:58:30 GMT

Anela,

Beta glucan is a molecule that comes from a cell in the wall of brewer's yeast. It does not attack yeast cells. It works within hours by stimulating macrophages (white blood cells) to attack the foreign pathogen/bacteria. It is usually given during illness and for a short time after the illness to promote healing/recovery in a weakened animal/human.(2-3 week duration total).

Illness results in stress and stress affects the immune system (decreases/impairs). Often an illness is also associated with external factors (chronic stress, poor water quality, temp fluctuations, aggression, poor nutrition, etc) which impairs the immune system and leaves the fish vulnerable/open for illness. The illness occurs and the immune system is further impaired and the downward spiral begins.

It would be nice if immune systems could handle all illnesses - unfortunately this does not happen and if something doesn't stop the downward spiral, fragile animals such as seahorses may not be able to overcome many opportunistic pathogens. Seahorses have low circulating blood volume (low blood pressure) so antibiotics will take longer to take effect and reach therapeutic levels especially in the tail.

I have used beta glucan in my fish, cats, dogs and myself and have several success stories. I would encourage the use of beta glucan. I have no monetary interest or stock in beta glucan. I am not endorsing any company or vendor.

RE: Beta Glucan

anela — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 16:35:15 GMT

hi kelly,

i have advised someone treating their fish (seahorse, some white patches and now what appears to be tail rot) to gut load live feeder shrimp with beta glucan and feed to the fish. anyhow, received the following response to my post:

"I'm not sure using beta glucan on a sick fish is such a good idea. IIRC, the action of beta glucan is to stumulate the immune system to attack yeast cell walls, which leaves the immune system on high alert for the next time there is a foreign invader. I would suspect that diverting the immune systems attention the beta glucan would be a mistake and you would be better off letting the seahorse's immune system fight the current illness."

i always supplement with beta glucan when treating a sick fish and will continue to do so. does this post have any merit? i'm also going to ask my vet and see what his thoughts are, will post them when he responds to my e-mail.

RE: Beta Glucan

Puffer Queen — Tue, 16 May 2006 06:37:47 GMT

Just purchased a marine fish food - available in pellet & flake that has beta glucan listed in its ingredients (the 12th item of 15 listed).

It is made by Azoo & is called 9 in 1 Marine Fish Food.
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_fish_food_azoo.asp?CartId=

If anyone has any experience with this product - please share. I am going to try both the pellet and flake - will update.

RE: Beta Glucan

seahorsedreams — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 23:39:46 GMT

Puffer Queen (3/29/2006)

Renee,

What dose doyou use & do you give it daily?

I use a very little amount daily. The scoop I use is the one that came with a "Sea Monkey" play kit. It was used to measure food for them. You remember those kits? I then ordered a bunch more off the Sea Monkey official website and have found them to come in very handy.

RE: Beta Glucan

seahorsedreams — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 23:36:23 GMT

Man, I totally missed a couple of pages of reading before I posted. I didn't realize this topic had so many pages to it. I posted again not knowing I had just posted under this topic.... sometimes I'm such an airhead.

It's actually closer to 2 years than 3 that I have been using it. I use it daily by soaking the thawing mysis. I've used it as an enrichment for adult brine shrimp and have injected it into ghost shrimp when I've had a sick horse.

RE: Beta Glucan

Puffer Queen — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 16:28:10 GMT

Renee,

What dose doyou use & do you give it daily?

RE: Beta Glucan

seahorsedreams — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 14:26:29 GMT

Kirbster (1/12/2006)

and I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night

LOL... I cracked over the Holiday Inn comment.

Okay, seriously though, I use Beta Glucan on my seahorses and have been doing it for about 3 years. I totally believe it brought my sick horse, a few years back, to a full recovery when everyone thought he was going die.

RE: Beta Glucan

aquafarmer — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 19:22:17 GMT

Renee,

how do you add the beta glucan to your seahorse tanks? Do you just sprinkle it in or do you enrich mysis with it?

Christine

RE: Beta Glucan

Puffer Queen — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 02:21:02 GMT

Renee,

Welcome to this forum.

Glad to have another seahorse person.

Thanks for sharing.

Again welcome.

RE: Beta Glucan

seahorsedreams — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 23:35:12 GMT

Oops... double post.

RE: Beta Glucan

Puffer Queen — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 18:19:34 GMT

Christine,

That is great!

I have found the powder to dissolve better than the capsule form.

Thanks for the update.

RE: Beta Glucan

aquafarmer — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 17:36:03 GMT

An update on my seahorse fry that received beta glucan enriched Artemia. I have been adding beta glucan to my enrichment protocol for a few weeks now because I have had some impressive results with the trial batch of fry. I started off with 300 fry and currently have 269 left, one of my best survival rates to date. These guys are now in 20 and 30 gallon tanks for growout since they are around 1 inch in length now at 5 weeks old. They have been eating cyclopeeze for almost 3 weeks in addition to the Artemia. I love the beta glucan but I gotta get the capsules next time because it's getting old having to crush them.

Christine

RE: Beta Glucan

ReefNut — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 07:40:36 GMT

Oh, yea, and thanks everyone.
I did my best, maybe it was just her time...

RE: Beta Glucan

ReefNut — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 07:38:48 GMT

The Norwegian is 375 MG for the 26 dollar bottle

RE: Beta Glucan

Puffer Queen — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 07:23:23 GMT

Rothie,

I too use Puritan but am disappointed that they don't carry beta glucan either.

Let us know your experiences with your mail order and the product.

Thanks for sharing/contributing.

RE: Beta Glucan

Rothie — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 07:13:58 GMT

Guy-

I am sorry to hear about your wrasse.

Kelly-

Thanks for the reply.I'll look thru the capsules again.I prefer the powdered form.I have never seen a product with such diversity in potency.I reread some of your earlier posts about dosage,so I have a better idea what to look for.I order all my vitamins from Puritans Pride,but they don't carry any Beta Glucan.

RE: Beta Glucan

Puffer Queen — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 00:49:10 GMT

Rothie,

Thanks for the link - they have a lot to chose from.

I have only used the Solgar & Solaray brands as they are at a store less than 2 miles from my house. May be mail ordering soon

The American' Finest brand does have 500 mg per capsule. This is more mg than you would need at one time. Recapping the capsule is an option but, I prefer not to open/reopen capsules multiple times.

The Vitamin Shoppe brands look good. They are tablets so they will need to be crushed into a powder to be used - not as convenient as capsules but for the mg and the price factor, it may be worth it for you.

Norwegian brand capsule without the "stuff that settles" that Guy (Reefnut) sounds good but does cost more. I can't get the product information on it to come up on my screen so I don't know mg.

Best of luck.

RE: Beta Glucan

Puffer Queen — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 00:33:41 GMT

Guy,

Sorry to hear about your wrasse.

You certainly gave your fish the best possible care/treatment.

Again, sorry for your loss.

RE: Beta Glucan

ReefNut — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 20:52:30 GMT

One thing I noticed is the Norwegian Beta 1 3-1 6 Glucan Flora has none of the Rice Flour and stearic acid. All the stuff left undisolved at the bottom of my hospital tank.

Other Ingredients:
Gelatin, water.

By the way, my wrasse did not make it. I finally put her down.

RE: Beta Glucan

Rothie — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 18:13:19 GMT

Sorry Kelly,I forgot to add the link

http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/search/en/query.jsp?q=glucan&intsource=main

RE: Beta Glucan

Puffer Queen — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 16:02:49 GMT

Rothie,

I'm not sure what you are asking - Pick a brand of beta glucan?

RE: Beta Glucan

Rothie — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 15:18:54 GMT

Kelly-

Could you help me pick one?

RE: Beta Glucan

ReefNut — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 07:52:47 GMT

Thanks Kelly,
I am amazed at how much does not disolve from these tablets and capsules. I put the "Nature Made" B12 in a glass of RO/DI water and there is a pile of undisolved material on the bottom of the glass now. I will just pour off the liquid into the Hospital Tank.