Triton Says Iodine = 0....

[Horace]

So I have been fighting SPS giving me troubles for months. They are not dying instantly or anything, but seeing burnt tips, or minor tissue necrosis is becoming the norm. Colors have also faded on a few pieces, and zoox have been somewhat expelled. Overall, the SPS are just not growing, nor do about half of them have the same color they had when I added them to the tank.

So to try to track down what is going on, I finally got a Triton test done to see whats up. The short story is NOTHING major seemed out of whack at all! I only had a few very minor things not in line. Those being slightly elevated levels of Sulfur and Barium (Neither of which were just "yellow").

Calcium was a bit low at 409, but thats not enough to cause tissue necrosis in my experience. So the ONLY thing that really stood out to me was the fact that the Iodine was literally 0 ppm. I have NEVER tested nor dosed Iodine in any tank ive owned, and I have had some really nice SPS tanks in the past. But at this point I am at wits end.

Have any of you shown poor SPS health because of super low/0 iodine levels?

What concerns me the most is I have no idea what would be consuming all the iodine. I do have a couple Gorgonians, and apparently they do consume it, but i would think that WCs would keep the levels up to normal...apparently not!

To make matters worse, the reading I have done leads me to believe that there doesnt exist any hobby test kits that are accurate, and I pretty much NEVER add stuff to the tank I cant test for.....so now I have a dilemma...

 

[dubmaneh]

Have any of you shown poor SPS health because of super low/0 iodine levels?

YES! I was in virtually the same scenario a few weeks ago. Slow deaths of all sps. Slight bleaching, thinning of tissue followed by recession and STN. Other soft corals limping along at best.

Can't even begin to express how many corals I've introduced and lost this way. Beautiful healthy frags from reputable sources.

Did an IPC test with similar results. iodine came in at 0.02. That and potassium were the only elements not within ideal parameters.

Began dosing Red Sea trace elements according to calcium demand and started seeing improvements. Started testing iodine using Salifert kits. Iodine/iodate were undetectable. Iodide readings were stuck below 0.03ppm. Increased the dose of the iodide only based on Salifert results(currently dosing 5ml per day on 60gal net volume). And will continue to increase until I get to around 0.06-0.08ppm 12 hours after dosing.

Frags I put in and started to decline weeks ago have recovered and are starting to grow. Colour is showing vast improvement.

Iodine and trace element dosing is the ONLY change made to the system. Given the ideal parameters from the ICP results, i can only say that it is the iodine that is the difference.

I have been doing a ton of reading and almost everyone I speak with claims iodine is not the cause for my tanks turn around, but they also offer no other plausible explanation.

I can only speak to my observations and my answer is YES! Iodine deficiency can cause symptoms you are seeing.


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[mrg02d]

I’ve also read that it gets used up very quickly and that no one knows for sure if it actually does anything, but you have seen an obvious benefit. No reason to stop something if you are seeing results.

 

[sfdan]

I basically had the exact same experience as you, and I detailed it in this thread. Once I dosed Iodine back to normal levels everything got much healthier, like within days. Corals that were half dead from RTN started to recover. Corals with tissue loss regrew. The polyp extension on my Montis got much better.

I now dose Iodine every week. The amount is picked pretty randomly but I just assume all the Iodine gets depleted every month and I dose 1/4 of the amount per week. Next time I do an ICP test I'll see what the levels are, but I also will not monitor coral health and if I start to see the symptoms I saw before I'll dose more.

 

[mrg02d]

Anyone ever over dosed iodine? What are the symptoms?

 

[Ostentum]

Burnt tips in my experience is usually due to alk swings or changes in light intensity. I myself had very low iodine and never saw the effects you are describing. How are you controlling alk and temp swings?

 

[Horace]

my alk has barely moved....Every time I test its been between 8.0 and 8.5. All of my corals are just frags, and my 180 is not exactly packed full, so Alk and Ca are not moving a great deal at all. Temp swings maybe 2 deg F....between 78 - 80.

 

[dubmaneh]

my alk has barely moved....Every time I test its been between 8.0 and 8.5. All of my corals are just frags, and my 180 is not exactly packed full, so Alk and Ca are not moving a great deal at all. Temp swings maybe 2 deg F....between 78 - 80.

If everything else is stable (sounds like it is) then I would entirely suspect the iodine. I'll try and get some before and after pictures of my corals so you can compare what I saw to what you are experiencing.

If you decide to dose for the deficiency start low and go slow if you are nervous of an overdose. Also use something that is iodide (Red Sea, aquavitro etc) and not iodine. I suspect a lot of the people who overdosed used iodine.



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[dubmaneh]

This was a few weeks ago before dosing iodide:

This is today:

The only thing I did different was start dosing iodide.


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[murphreef]

Good info I should check for Iodine as well. I don't seem to have an issue now but would rather be safe than sorry!

 

[codydemmel4]

what product do you guys dose?

 

[Piper27]

Iodine is depleted from the water very quickly from what I have read and experienced. Dose well today and in a few days it will be back to 0. I would guess most reefers who don't dose or test for this will show it is zero in their tanks, unless tested after a waterchange.

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[dubmaneh]

Triton Says Iodine = 0....

what product do you guys dose?

Red Sea Iodine+ (part A of the trace-colors). Changing to aquavitro vibrance though as it is half the price.


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[steallife904]

any use aquavitro vibrance??? It is supposed to keep iodine levels good? Says its actually iodide. Im now considering dosing a low amount of something to see what happens.

 

[dubmaneh]

any use aquavitro vibrance??? It is supposed to keep iodine levels good? Says its actually iodide. Im now considering dosing a low amount of something to see what happens.

My bottle of Red Sea iodine (they call it iodine but the ingredient is listed as iodide) is just about done. Will be trying my bottle of vibrance shortly and will let you know.

FWIW I'm dosing 5ml of Red Sea iodine in 60 net gallons daily. I believe Vibrance is stronger so I'll start with 1.5ml.

When I started with Red Sea I was very cautious and began with 0.15ml per day. Didn't see much benefit until I bought an iodine test kit, made some larger correction doses and started daily dosing upwards of 3.5ml per day. Suspect the depletion rate was too great at the lower doses.

Corals showed visible improvement once I was able to get measurable iodide readings on my Salifert test kit.

Not that I'm chasing numbers but I'm trying to get to Aquavitros recommendation of 0.06-0.08ppm of iodide 6-12hrs after dosing. Currently I test at 0.03ppm 6hrs after dosing.


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[steallife904]

So is iodine something that needs to be dosed daily? is it a waste to do it say weekly?

 

[Piper27]

I wouldn't say a waste but if anyone is thinking it is necessary for health in their tanks then I would use it daily at the correct dose. I haven't found it necessary though but have seen it help when corals are stressed from something.

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[dubmaneh]

So is iodine something that needs to be dosed daily? is it a waste to do it say weekly?

Not sure, but I suspect that if levels are more or less ok and if doing regular water changes, weekIy dosing would be sufficient. For chronically low systems (what I experienced) I think it takes a while of daily dosing to establish proper levels and then you can back off on frequency.

I have been dosing daily for the past few weeks while testing results remained stubbornly low ( <0.03ppm) Over the weekend levels have risen to around 0.1ppm iodide so I have stopped daily dosing. Will test levels again in a few days and see how much gets depleted.


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[jabel]

I battled these issues for years. Could never figure out what the problem was. I found a thread a few years ago about iodine, started dosing and within 3 days all of my coral looked much better. I now dose a few drops of lugols 1 x per week (250 g system). I have tried testing, but the kits are not very good/accurate. I have since found out that iodine is quickly removed by skimming. The heavier the skim, the faster it disappears. Its been about 3 yrs now and my coral have never had this issue of tip burning and everything else mention above.

I think iodine is a critical addition to every tank. But it must be done in very small additions. Its easy to overdose with terrible consequences.

Jeff

 

[Piper27]

Can you explain the symptoms your corals showed before you dosed?

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