Skunk cleaner shrimp/iodine question

[slam308]

Would weekly or biweekly water changes with Coralife saltwater keep the iodine levels high enough for the cleaner shrimp or should I add additional iodine? If I need to add the iodine, how do I know what's enough?
I'll only have the one shrimp, some snails and fish, so I believe he's the only one I need to worry about iodine for.

 

[greenbean36191]

Why would your shrimp need iodine?

 

[sasscuba]

molting

 

[graveyardworm]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9251767#post9251767 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by greenbean36191
Why would your shrimp need iodine?

molting

This what I've heard as well, whats your take on this greenbean?

sasscuba, regular water changes should provide enough iodine so that dosing isnt necessary unless your tank has a high demand for it. If in fact shrimps and other crustaceans for that matter need it then you would likely need alot of them to require dosing on top of regular water changes.

 

[graveyardworm]

I just did a search for an answer, here's a quote by Ron Shimek.

Molting in crustaceans has NOTHING to do with iodine concentrations, except that too much iodine will tend to force premature molting.

 

[graveyardworm]

Here's a good read if interested in iodine.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=633891&highlight=iodine+and+molting

Still working on i myself, and I'm gonna check out the links provided in there too.

 

[slam308]

Cool, one less thing to worry about. The LA website said something about iodine levels needing to be sufficient to keep a Skunk cleaner shrimp. It did refer to molting.

 

[slam308]

"It will not tolerate copper or high levels of nitrates in the aquarium, but will require correct levels of iodine in the water to promote proper molting."

^Copied and pasted from LiveAquaria.com

 

[graveyardworm]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9252057#post9252057 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by slam308
"It will not tolerate copper or high levels of nitrates in the aquarium, but will require correct levels of iodine in the water to promote proper molting."

^Copied and pasted from LiveAquaria.com

. If you read through the link provided there was a wonderful debate between Anthony Calfo, and Ron Shimek. You'll see that Ron states-

I have done extensive searches of the scientific literature (and the data relevent data bases will be BIOSIS and Zoological Record, not anything on the internet) and have found NO articles demonstrating any need for iodine supplementation in any marine arthropod.

The thread linked is relatively recent, things may ahve changed since then, but I find it unlikely.

 

[slam308]

Graveyard,
I wasn't doubting them, just thougt I'd post what I'd seen on LA.

Once again, WOW. I'm really trying to the best for these critters.

Although I have unopened bottles of Kent's Essential Elements and Marine SAT (don't know the brand), it seems they were a waste of money. So far, for a FOWLR tank, regular water changes seem to be enough. This coming from what I've read.
I'm just so scared of missing some important part of the equation and harming anything in my tank.

 

[graveyardworm]

I wasn't doubting them, just thougt I'd post what I'd seen on LA.

Didnt mean to be rude, if I came across that way, sorry.

LA does tend to list questionable info with their livestock. For FOWLR tank monitoring and maintaining a few key parameters plus regular water changes is all thats necessary.

 

[slam308]

So which are the few key parameters? Anything beside ammonia, pH, nitrates, KH, SG? I also have the Ca test, but don't know that I need that in a FOWLR.

(I'm at work, so I can't remember the other tests I have. It'll come to me as soon as I sign off.)

 

[graveyardworm]

You got em. Maintaining Ca would be for coraline mostly, but I believe the fish also need it to be available for bone growth, and inverts with hard bodies also need it for shell growth.

The only other one might Magnesium it would be good to atleast monitor it, although demand for Ca, and Mg is going to be low.

 

[greenbean36191]

I have done extensive searches of the scientific literature (and the data relevent data bases will be BIOSIS and Zoological Record, not anything on the internet) and have found NO articles demonstrating any need for iodine supplementation in any marine arthropod.



The thread linked is relatively recent, things may ahve changed since then, but I find it unlikely.

I did the same search some time around Christmas with the same results.

Also, most shrimp you find at the grocery store is aquacultured, some using NSW, but some using brine from inland wells (i.e. not seawater composition, and low turnover). The farmers don't worry about iodine depletion even though they keep their shrimp densities hundreds of times what a hobbyist would have and with growth rates many times greater than the shrimp in the hobby.

 

[slam308]

Ok, I don't have a Magnesium test, I'll pick one up this weekend and not worry about iodine. I'd rather not add anything unnecessarily.

Graveyard, you didn't come across as rude, I was just making sure I didn't! Sorry my answer this morning was so short. Lol, I heard the boss coming in the back door as I was typing.

One last question, I've seen some people say not to specifically feed the cleaner shrimp and some people say I should. What do you guys suggest?
I currently have flake food, two kinds of frozen food (Ocean Nutrition Formula One and Brine Shrimp Plus) and some pellets. Something about feeding shrimp to a shrimp seems a little "yuck", but....

 

[graveyardworm]

I would just let the shrimp pick up the scraps after the fish.

 

[slam308]

Ok, that I can do as I'm probably overfeeding a bit much anyway.

Man, do you guys ever run out of questions???