how much iodine for ghost shrimp

daveedka

daveedka

Purple is the color of Royalty
Jan 30, 2004
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Columbus, ohio
I picked up some kent Iodine since my last batch of ghost shrimp died a few days after they turned white and none of them ever did molt. Now since this is a saltwater product, It doesn't list any instructions for freshwater use. Do I use the reccomended dosage for saltwater tanks, or something different for my shrimp? also does the iodine have any effect on my plants and guppies?
Dave
 
I was just searching for this very same thing earlier today. I bought the product, but I don't have an eye dropper to put the drops in. Some of the threads said that you should monitor your iodine levels, but never specified how or what levels should be achieved. Others have said 1 drop per 5g of water.
 
I cannot swear that it is really even needed, but I use it, and at about the 1 drop per 5 gallons already mentioned. For my shrimp-only tanks I tend to add iodine only for the amount of water removed/replaced by the weekly partials. For my planted fish tanks with shrimp I do less, adding only once per month, based on total volume.

Quite some time ago I had some problems with Macrobrachium species dying in molt, and quit keeping them for that reason. Later when I heard about the supposed benefits of iodide (not really iodine, but salts containing iodine), I tried it with other shrimp and then with Macrobrachium. I do not now have any issues with molt or molt deaths which I am aware of. But that is anecdotal evidence only - I have not tried controlled trials with and without.
 
Thanks RTR, I couldn't imagine that it took a lot, but needed (In my mind) to do something different. I purchased 18 feeder shrimp, and put them in my Q tank, all lived for abuot 3 weeks give or take. all parrameters were excellent, but each and every shrimp turned white and died within a few days of changing color, none molted at all. After reading of other people that had similar problems, and solved them with Iodine, I figured it was worth a shot. Do you suppose the differnces in water hardness contribute to this effect ? My water is reasonabley soft with a tap KH of 2-3 ppm and GH of < 12.

Snake Eyes, Let me know how you fare as well, I'll probably pick up a few more shrimp and try things at 1 drop per 5 gallons each month. The tank I put the shrimp in is now loaded with plants guppies and snails so I'll be conservative until I get the rest of my tanks in operation and have a shrimp only tank.
Dave
 
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I'm not accustomed to water with that low alkalinity. For snails it would make me uneasy, so for shrimp it would be the same. Both can extract carbonates/bicarbonate from the water, and the shrimp do largely recycle the cast-off molts.

Do your snails show erosion of their shells? If they do, then I would supplement calcium and carbonate for both. Perhaps rubberband a piece of cuttlebone to a rock? It works for snails, but I haven't tried it for shrimp as my water has plenty.
 
Thus far I have only used Baking soda to raise Kh, my snails seem O.K. but in the same respect, My snail production is still low, (guppies don't leave much food) and since my fish are small, I've been feeding out everything that gets to 1/4" I bit the bullet and purchased a 20 lb bag of crushed coral yesterday (nobody sells small quantities), I plan to experiment with it in my water aging tanks, to see if I can use it rather than Baking soda to increase Kh. I've had good results with the baking soda, but Would prefer the Ca to the Na building up in my tank Especially with snails. When I finish getting everything set-up this fall (have to finish the basement first) I'll have a couple of snail only tanks as well as the guppy tanks and a shrimp breeding tank. I'll probably try the cuttlebone as soon as I can locate some though. how much if any significant effect will it have on the rest of the tank. I'm guessing it would be an extremely slow way to raise Kh in the water.
Dave
 
Correct. The cuttlebone is direct feeding by the critters - snails do graze it readily, but I have not tested shrimp. The soft side of cuttlebone doubtless will dissolve to some degree, at a low rate - it would an expensive treatment for water, but not bad for direct grazing*.

The crushed coral will do the job nicely. It takes a bit if fiddling to get the right quantity, but thenyou can coast with periodic rinsing (to abrade some to the biofilm that forms on anything).

*It is excellent for land snails as well, they have a harder time getting the needed dietary minerals. The big african ones (really cool critters) are now banned - among other things they were eating the stucco houses in the area of Florida where they were introduced.
 
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among other things they were eating the stucco houses in the area of Florida where they were introduced.
Click to expand...

You mean they actually found something that likes a stucco house in Florida :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:


As soon as I do my water changes today and refill my aging barrel, I'm going to hang some crushed coral in the barrel right above the airstone that provides circulation. After a few days i'll retest the kh and see what I've got. the nice thing about adding it to the barrel, is that I can cut it with tap water or distilled water if it goes too quickly, or add a little baking soda untill I find out what is enough. I'm hesitant to use crushed coral in my tanks directly, I played the PH swing game with commercial buffers years ago, and quite simply don't want the worry ever again. Despite the fact that crushed coral is slow acting, it's still a balance game between using buffer and replacing it.
 
Likewise here, I added one large drop (don't have a small eyedropper only a vitamin dropper) to my 15g, My shrimp pop is low right now, but will be going up if the ones I do have make it for a few more weeks.
 
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