Newspaper ink

[chlorophyll]

How safe is newspaper ink for shrimp?
I know people use newspaper for various things in the aquarium hobby - both wet and dry jobs. For example, some plant dealers basically wrap their plants in newspaper, dampen it and seal it in the plastic bag. This seems to work, but there's no doubt the ink leaches out.

Though ink on the plant may not be apparent, even a good rinsing of the plant may not remove the ink that may be on there... Because I notice when that ink from those damp newspapers gets on my fingers, I need to scrub with soap to get it off.

Also, even if the newspaper is only used as padding in shipping, it's quite possible the fish bags could get newspaper ink smeared on them. Then if these bags are ever floated in the aquarium, some of the ink could dissolve into the water.

So is residual ink probably harmless to shrimp, or what?

[badflash]

Most newspaper inks are Soy based. I'm pretty sure the black pigment is simply carbon, so I think the black should be pretty safe. I was told that colored pages could post a hazzard, but I'm finding no data to support that as a current issue. Most US newpapers have been pushed into "earth friendly" inks and the heavy metals once used in colored ink are banned in most countries.

The only objections I've seen to black newspaper is that the soy used is genetically engineered or not organically grown, so the purists in the organic gardening world don't want to use it.

I found these old articles:
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF8/823.html
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/ ... i_11235436