Korallin S-Plus shelf life / refrigeration

[Crawdads57]

Long story short, long ago I was advised to use this product for keeping crustaceans as it contains iodine. I know I know. Recently I got back in the hobby and ordered this along with my basic supplements. I have been using it at half the recommended dose on a weekly basis and skipping it once a month out of my fear of overdoing it.

I must say that its my experience that I see exoskeltons of 2, 3 and sometimes 4 of my crustaceans a couple days after I add this product on appropriately a monthly basis. They all happen at once, its not exactly clockwork, but I really believe its not coincidental as many times as I've seen it happen. Take it for what its worth, but its one of the few things I ever actually see happen that I can correlate to a supplement.

But that's not my question. After having used this product for 4 months on my reboot, I finally realized that... it states it should be refrigerated after opening!!!! I have not done this, obviously. I emailed the company, but wanted to see if anyone here has specific information. I see very little in the way of threads on any of the forums on this product, but it is well reviewed everywhere its sold and has been around a long time - so I'm surprised I don't find at least a little more info on it.

Here is the message I sent the manufacturer: "Hello! I have been using S-Plus for 4 months. I did not realize that the product was supposed to be refrigerated after opening until now! It says it right on the bottle, but I totally missed it - I guess I just am not used to supplements requiring refrigeration, so I didn't even think about it.

The product has been kept in a box with my other supplements at 73-74* F for 4 months. Is it still good? Is it potentially harmful to my aquarium to continue to use it? I shook it up and smelled it, it has a faint smell of citrus, no off-putting odor. Last question, what is in the supplement that specifically requires the refrigeration? Thank you very much for your time!"

Anyone?

 

[bertoni]

Shrimp and crabs use their shells to isolate toxins. So when you dose iodine, which is toxic, it tends to cause them to molt. That's why they molt when you dose it.

I suspect the product is fine, as far as the iodine. Other ingredients might have degraded. I doubt that dosing it will be harmful, but it might not have the same effect as if it had been refrigerated. The manufacturers generally don't tell us what's in the supplements, so it's hard to be sure what might have changed.

 

[Crawdads57]

Thanks, Bertoni. I also got a reply from Korallin. The gist was that its the vitamin component that the refrigeration is aimed at, but that it is not required and that it extends the shelf life to keep it refrigerated. Which I will go ahead and do. I also asked what makes my skimmer go ape when I add this stuff and I was told that this is also the vitamin component. Direct quote from reply: "If you clean the skimmer cup before and you add the S Plus you have a smell of a vitaminbonbon." And who doesn't love the smell of "vitaminbonbon"? LOL. But seriously, you're supposed to turn off your skimmer for a while when you dose it, it has the almost instant affect of causing your skimmer to runneth over.

Any other advice or opinions on this supplement? I'm all ears.

 

[bertoni]

Personally, I wouldn't dose it. It contains a mix of a large number of trace elements, among other ingredients, and I'm skeptical about trace element supplements. There isn't any evidence that our tanks need extra trace elements. The iodine is causing molting, which is stressful for the animal, because it is toxic, not because they need it. The iron can be useful, but I'd just use Fergon tablets to make a supplement.

 

[Crawdads57]

Thanks, I see your point. Is there anyone else that uses the product that would like to tell me why, for how long, what their experience with it is? I still find it strange that its been around for so long and yet I see so little mention of it anywhere online.

I beleive I first bought a bottle in 1999-2000, so I really don't know how long its been around, but 15+ years and you would think someone would have something to say about it.

 

[bertoni]

There are a huge number of similar products. I suspect if you search around, you might find some reviews, but I don't remember any, personally.

 

[Crawdads57]

I guess I was going by that thing I've always been told that they need iodine in order to molt and that molting was healthy and part of their maturation and growth. Its not that I am trying to induce molting, I was just trying to allow for it. And its definitely not the case that they molt every time I dose, but more like over the past 3 months having dosed it approximately 9 times I've seen more than one exoskeleton 3 times, two times being like 3 or 4 exoskeletons all at once. I also remember this being the case back in the day when I used the product for a couple years. Of course I've seen other exoskeletons here and there too. I started with gulf rock and I got about 20-25 porcelain crabs and at least 3, I think 4 wild little pistol shrimps. Those pistol shrimps were tiny, it took me a long time to see them all, but amazingly I saw all 3 of them when feeding one night about a month after I set up the tank. They molt often, like I see at least one of their exoskeletons weekly. The porcelain crabs molt very rarely.

So like I said previously, dose 5mL once weekly and skip one week monthly. The directions call for 10mL, or 5mL if I'm not running a skimmer and carbon. But I am running a skimmer and carbon and I'm just dosing the 5mL. And I turn off my skimmer and the HOB that holds my carbon for about an hour after I dose it to minimize the overflow of my skimmer cup.

So not to beat a dead horse, but any reactions to this now that I have laid out all the details?

 

[bertoni]

It's probably safe enough to dose. A little extra molting is unlikely to harm the animals.

 

[Crawdads57]

Ok!