What killed my Fire Shrimp?

S

SaltyDog52

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Sep 13, 2009
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I had a fire shrimp in my tank for a month, no issues. I introduced a skunk cleaner into the tank, and the fire shrimp seemed to have got a little upset and moved his location. After a week, the cleaner shrimp had killed the fire shrimp(at least i think he did).
The fire shrimp was alive, i went to get food for them, came back and the other shrimp was eating him. I also just found out that shrimp need iodine? If so, could that be why he died? no iodine? He was molting every 2 weeks and looked ok.
Any help appreciated. Also..will iodine hurt anything else in my tank
 
Iodine is like vitamin A. If not enough is present problems arise. If too much is present it's poison. Never add it unless you're testing for it. It's chemically related to chlorine and acts in the same manner.
 
Shrimp and crustaceans do not need any added iodine. They actually concentrate it in their exoskeleton to be shed from their body in an effort to get rid of it. They get all they need and then some from their diet.

I wouldn't add any iodine, not only because it can potentially be poisonous (actually, iodide, which is the most common additive, is much less toxic by comparison and it further speciates in seawater into iodate, which is even less toxic by far), but you can't keep track of what it does. That is, it tends to split up in different forms in seawater and you have no way of tracking down which forms it happens to be in. Beyond that, there really isn't a proven, established need for it to be added, at least for what we keep. Many things have been shown to incorporate lots of it (Xenia), but that doesn't suggest an actual need.
 
Thanks to you both....
I am new and I want to make sure I am going the right route.
I have other issues right now that I need to post in a different area.
Thank you!
 
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