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Inks in newsprint
>>... Ink from papers is poisonous...<<
Many, if not most of the newspapers in the US have switched to soy
based inks (produced from soy beans) because they're biodegradable.
Although this alone would not prove or disprove the toxicity of
newspaper bedding, it's most certainly better than the alternative. All
inks, I believe, have solvents in them. This is to help speed drying. There
may be residue left on the paper, but I'm not sure that those residues, if
any, are potentially harmful to the fish in the small quantities that may get
passed on through feeding.
Here in Chicago, we live on the shores of the beautiful Lake Michigan.
It's been decades since people have been warned against eating fresh
caught fish from the lake due to heavy metal poisoning, specifically
mercury. I'm not sure of the affect of mercury on the fish. They do
survive but there may be a higher mortality rate than normal. The real
concern was that man, at the top of the food chain, would continue to
consume the mercury, which the body does not process as waste.
After years of eating tainted fish, the level of mercury stored in the
brain's fat tissue reaches a point that may be harmful.
In the case of feeding possibly tainted worms, the fish would be the top
of the food chain and would accumulate metallic based atoms in its
tissue. However, I don't know if the fish live long enough for such
poisoning to be a factor in their overall health in the fishroom.
BTW, Lake Michigan is much cleaner now due to the environmental laws
that have been in place for about 20 years. Mercury poisoning is still an
issue however because the heavy metals lay in the lake bottom mud
undisturbed. If the mud is disturbed, the metals are re-released into the
ecosystem. Pregnant women and children are still advised to refrain
from eating lake fish, although I haven't heard such a warning in recent
memory.
I'm treading on thin ice here because I really don't know the specifics for
sure, on either the content of inks and papers nor the real effect of such
compounds on tropical fish. It would be interesting to find out for sure.
Bill Vannerson
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/william_vannerson