Fish Get Yellow Fat Disease

By Atom Bergstrom

Atom’s Blog

Did you know I’m the Sunnier Semmelweis of Holistic Health?

Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865) was considered insane for promoting antiseptic procedures.

He denounced doctors who didn’t wash their hands as “irresponsible murderers.”

He was rewarded for his efforts by being beaten to death by guards in an asylum.

He was vindicated years after his death, and became widely known as the “Savior of Mothers.”

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Fortunately, my disposition is seriously sunnier than that of Semmelweis.

I won’t be beaten to a pulp by asylum goons for writing e-books about Yellow Fat Disease.

Doctors will be doctors because that’s who and what they are and do.

Many a physician is like the scorpion that convinced the frog to carry it across the river.

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My laid-back George Carlin-like attitude is a gift from my spiritual teachers.

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According to Adano Ley (Swami Nitty-Gritty) …

“Never stop a dog from chasing its own tail.”

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According to Adnan Sarhan …

“Every carcass hangs from its own leg.”

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According to Wu Dang Chen (Yun Xiang Tseng) …

“Why you try to explain the whole to people who have only narrow window? I dry all my saliva still talking to a cow.”

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According to Robert Greene …

“An emotional response to a situation is the single greatest barrier to power, a mistake that will cost you a lot more than any temporary satisfaction you might gain by expressing your feelings.”

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So I don’t rant, and I don’t rave, and I don’t throw tea cups.

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Viruses, bacteria, and fungi often accompany Yellow Fat Disease in millions of species of animals, including fish and humans.

You can skip the following two quotes, and get right down to the real nitty-gritty.

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David J. Pasnik, Robert B. Duncan Jr., & Stephen A. Smith (“Granulomatous Steatitis Affecting Cultured Yellow Perch, Perca flavescens,” International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine Conference Proceedings, 2003) wrote …

“Steatitis has been widely observed in mammals and only sporadically reported in fish. This condition has been attributed to improper nutrition, and its incidence in fish may increase because cultured foodfish are increasingly maintained on a single-source diet. Thus, fish become more susceptible to the effects of food oxidation and dietary insufficiencies.”

According to the same source …

“Adult yellow perch from an indoor recirculation aquaculture facility were submitted to the Aquatic Medicine Laboratory with chief complaints of chronic mortalities, external lesions, and abdominal distension. Fish exhibited diffuse petechiae and ulcerations on the skin. Skin and fin scrapes demonstrated mixed bacterial populations and rare fungal hyphae, while gill clips showed moderate telangiectasia and moderate mucus production. Internal examination exhibited over-inflated swim bladders and excessive amounts of firm, mottled reddish-brown-to-white adipose tissue filling the abdominal cavity.”

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A.E. Goodwin (“Steatitis, fin loss and skin ulcers of channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque), fingerlings fed salmonid diets,” Journal of Fish Diseases, Dec. 12, 2005) wrote …

“Steatitis, often called by the more descriptive name ‘yellow fat disease’ is an inflammation of the adipose tissue. Steatitis is most often attributed to lipid peroxidation and is a common finding in domestic cats fed diets high in fish oils and low in vitamin E (Niza, Vilela & Ferreira 2003). Steatitis also occurs in cultured fish. In Sunapee trout, Salvelinus alpinus Girard, steatitis was associated with a diet of liver and increased fish mortality during handling. Adipose tissue in these fish was influenced by macrophages that formed giant cells and granulomas (Herman & Kircheis 1985). Cases occurring in cultured striped jack, Caranx vinctus Jordan & Gilbert, guppies Poecilia reticulata Peters, and rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), produced similar lesions in association with muscle atrophy and necrosis typical of vitamin E deficiency (Roberts & Richards 1978; Helder 1979; Wada, Hatai & Kubota 1991). Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L.), fed diets containing rancid fats developed steatitis of the peritoneal adipose tissues (Soliman, Roberts, Jauncey, Fishelson & Yaron 1983). In sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus Richardson, steatitis of epicardial adipose tissue was attributed to an excessive intake of oxidized fats (Guarda, Bertoja, Zoccarato, Tartari & Biolatti 1997). In wild common dab, Limanda limanda (L.), steatitis with a granulomatous infiltrate was present between pterygophores and the inflammation described as secondary to necrosis of adipose cells (Begg, Bruno & McVicar 2000). In this report, an atypical case of steatitis associated with unique lesions in channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque), is described.”

According to the same source …

“Whilst no mortality was noted before or during harvest, the fish had a number of unusual grossly visible lesions. Many fish were missing segments of anal fins and most of all of their adipose fins. In areas where anal fins were missing, pterygiophores protruded from the fish and both the former site of the fin attachment and the rest of the fin base were red. At the bases of the dorsal, pelvic, anal and pectoral fins there were subcutaneous deposits of yellow material that caused a swelling of the fin bases. In the hypodermis of the fish, especially in areas overlying the cranium, there were additional patches of this yellow material. Some of these areas were associated with shallow ulcers. Necropsy revealed the same yellow material surrounding the brain, but no other grossly visible lesions were noted in the internal organs and the visceral fat appeared normal.”

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Why is Yellow Fat Disease an “atypical” circumstance in catfish?

Catfish are warm-water fish.

The catfish in this “atypical” case were fed “salmonid diets.”

What is a salmonid diet?

A salmonid is a fish of the salmon family.

Salmon are cold-water fish.

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It’s been known for over a hundred years that cold-water fish are prone to Yellow Fat Disease.

Omega 3 fatty acids turn rancid very quickly — including the omega 3s in the soybean-corn meal used by fish farmers who don’t feed their product small fish such as herring and menhaden.

But, not to worry, three giant corporations are “protecting” (lol) “we the public” from omega 3 fatty acids.

Monsanto, DuPont/Bunge, and Asoya are providing fish farmers with low linolenic Roundup Ready soybeans.

The soybeans in the soybean-corn meal are hydrogenated to “protect” (lol) “we the public” since trans-fats are less harmful than omega-3s.

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How are fish farmers dealing with vitamin E deficiencies?

What kind of vitamin E are they using?

They’re definitely not using the kind of vitamin E “we the public” buy in health food stores.

They’re using another Monsanto creation — ethoxyquin — to “protect” (lol) “we the public” from Yellow Fat Disease.

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WARNING — Yellow Fat Disease is VIRULENT when passed on from one animal to another.

Take a lesson from what’s happening to the Nile crocodiles in sub-Saharan Africa.
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