Not enough iodine?

[neoreef]

Hi,
Over the summer I've lost 2 shrimp and 2 crabs. The cleaner shrimp were pretty big, so they might have died of old age. But the crabs died mysteriously. In addition, my xenia have been declining, getting smaller and smaller. My clowns keep trying to be hosted by them, and that is getting harder to do.
The guy at the LFS thinks my iodine may be low, and so when I measured it this evening, it was on the low side.
I feed frozen food and change 10% a week of my saltwater, so I thought that would take care of my iodine needs.
Do you think it's the lack of iodine that got my inverts and is shrinking my xenia?

 

[dskidmore]

They do require iodine for thier health.
You could look at diffrent brands of salt. Some have more iodine than others.

 

[squidd]

What's your Iodine level at...??

 

[neoreef]

0.03 ppm for both iodide and iodate, salifert test kit.

 

[squidd]

NSW is 0.06 mg/l
0.03 is a little low, Iodide is what you want to raise...
What kind of supplement are you/were you going to use...?

 

[neoreef]

Kent Marine Tech-I. Says here it provides free iodine, iodide, and timed release iodide.
Think this stuff's any good?

 

[squidd]

That's what I use as well...
Did you read the caution about test kits "may not" be able to read concentrations of the "time released" iodide in the water...just the free form...
That's why I asked about your "testing"... If you have a heavy concentration of the unrelease iodide "hiding" in your water and then dose extra "free" iodide/iodine you may OD...
I let it run a "little" low before adding and then dose light anyway...
It seems to hold a bit more "stable" level than the Julian Sprung iodine I was using (up, down, up, too much damn it, down, etc...)

 

[neoreef]

When I was a newbe neoreef, I dosed this stuff every week. then I read a thread on this board that most tanks get enough iodine in saltwater changes and food, that you don't have to supplement. So I quit. Everything was fine for a long time. Then stuff happened as you read in previous post.
After reading the test results, I did give the tank the recommended dose tonight.
I still don't know if it was the iodine that did it. Many bad things happened to my tank over the summer, most coinciding with vacations. Bad overheating without the house AC on one time, and another, the auto topoff didn't, so salinity rose to 39!!! Other stuff happened too, mostly with my fiddling with the tank. Sometimes I do not improve things, though that is my intention. I am training my son's young friend, who is getting my help setting up a reef tank of his own, to look after my tank when I am on vacation. Next year will be better.
Thanks fro the help and cautions.
Kathy

 

[jdm_ae86]

I would just change to a different brand of salt and do the regular water changes whichll replenish your iodine.

 

[crm13]

I actually read an article that stated that the iodine necessity of saltwater inverts were kind of over rated. I am not sure to what degree. The article went on to state that the iodine level in freshly mixed saltwater done with regular water changes were enough to allow for growth and sustainance of the inverts, as already mentioned. If I can find the article, I can let you know so that you can read it, but it's actually very interesting. I kinda got the impression that this guy was anti-iodide supplemention unless you had a very mature, somewhat self-sustaining reef setup. Oh, and he also mentioned that overdosing iodide is a very, very bad thing. Again, this is just from memory.

 

[squidd]

All of this...ie:
"Is my Salt providing enough Iodine"...
"Are my coral selection consuming Iodine faster than WCs can replace it"...and...
"How much iodine do you actually Have in your tank today"...?
Are all questions that can be answered by TESTING ...to determine if you actually Have a need and if regular partial WCs with your particular salt are meeting those needs...
I do not recommend dosing ANYTHING if you cannot test and track it...

 

[bang guy]

Shrimp and crabs have no need for Iodine. That's just a myth. They actually do better at levels lower than NSW.
You'll need to look elsewhere for the cause of death.

 

[bang guy]

I just wanted to add that this isn't just my opinion. This is well documented fact.

 

[dskidmore]

Thanks for that info Bang Guy! Most sites selling them recomend Iodine supplimentation, I had no idea. Don't suppose you could provide some search keywords to help me read up on that? Most people seem to think iodine is neccacary for molting shrimp.

 

[dskidmore]

Hrm... I just spent the last two and a half hours looking through the top 100 Google responses to "iodine crab". I find many recomendations for supplementing iodine in crustation diet. Many instances of shellfish being good for the human diet because they are rich in iodine. (Other than thyroid disease sites where people are avoiding iodine intake.) Many Land Hermit Crab sites. One mention that iodine is poisonous to Land Hermit Crabs, in refrence to the use of iodized salt, although all other sites suggested using a small ammount of iodine suppliment with non-iodized salt. Several sites recomending iodine for sterilization of seafood handling procedures, one for sterilization of sick corals. One site recomended iodine supplement for Xenia that were pulsing more slowly. (This recomendation was from some site's tank of the month, where the owner uses responses of specific organisims instead of test kits to stay in balance.)
So, my conculsion without further evidence, is that iodine is a good thing, but overdose (such as that contained in iodized table salt) would be toxic to invertabrates. Sounds like every suppliment, if you add it, you have to test for it.

 

[squidd]

Originally posted by DSkidmore
Sounds like every suppliment, if you add it, you have to test for it.
The neat thing about testing is...
You may find out you don't even need it...

 

[dskidmore]

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention that came up on the search. Kelp and other seaweeds were often noted for being really high in iodine. Could having too many macros deplete your iodine? You could feed them to your herbavorus invertabrates, to take care of thier iodine needs, but other critters may get shorted.

 

[neoreef]

I have no macros, sorry Bob, wherever you are...

 

[squidd]

Originally posted by DSkidmore
... Kelp and other seaweeds were often noted for being really high in iodine. Could having too many macros deplete your iodine?
Interesting...:thinking: Maybe that's where all my iodine is going...
All this time I was blaming it on the Xenia and Clam...

 

[bang guy]

Many macro algae sequester Iodate at a very quick rate. It is though that they use the Iodine compound to deter herbivores by making them taste bad. I've seen the proof that Caulerpa racemosa adsords Iodine but I've never seen studies indicating as to why.