Fatty Liver Disease

[duberii]

I've been reading a lot about the prevalence of fatty liver disease in predators, but I can never seem to find what people think to be the cause. I have read that fish in general are unable to process fats very well. Many people recommend keeping the fat content of the diets of predators under 12% for adults, but that seems pretty hard to do. Also unsaturated fats seem to be far better than saturated fats, so lean fish like salmon are a pretty good choice for feeding.

My question is: Is fatty liver disease just a result of eating too much fat, or is it a nutrient deficiency that just pops up as fat deposits on the liver? Fatty liver disease in humans doesn't seem to be a result of eating too much fat, and I'm starting to think that the inability of many fish to properly process fats is just a coincidence. Now I'm considering using selcon or some type of vitamin supplement from time to time in feedings. I'm not sure if it would be appropriate to supplement vitamins in ever feeding, since that could result in an overdose of sorts, but I'm curious to hear about anybody elses experiences with fatty liver disease/the diet of predators/vitamin supplementation in search of a broader trend.

 

[lion king]

I'm no marine biologist and no self proclaimed internet expert of any kind, but here's my take. Fatty liver is caused by much more than just fat intake. The liver filters everything, so that means all foods, water additions, etc. Fatty liver is also a result of just overall poor nutrition and poor water quality.

I've cut open tons of fish that have died in my tanks, many lions. Lions as well as other preds are very prone to various liver diseases. I've gone into this in some of my other threads.

I recently posted pics of some of my lions I kept in captivity for over 8 years feeding a dominant diet of live ghosties, guppies, and mollies. The only dead food they got was fresh salmon or shrimp and hikari silversides. They died of a tank poisoning even though 8 years was still a long time for small lions.

The results of necropsy showed minimal fat deposits, much less than what I have seen with dissections of wild caught lions. This is some of the information I base my nutritional advice on, not unsubstantiated theories. So much of the feeding recommendations I read come from people with theories and not practical experience. From people who have never even successfully kept these species long term, some never at all.