Iodine for Florida Blues   1/29/13
Hello. Sorry for bothering you people with so many questions regarding my Florida Electric Blue Crayfish! But they are my boys, and I want them to live in the best possible condition! An update: Orion, the egg carrier who lost a claw due to aggression from the large alpha Boris, now I know the reason for the aggression. Boris, a few days later, was also carrying eggs, the same day I found that Godfather was hiding so much in his tower because he, too, was carrying a large batch of eggs!! So I will have my hands (and tanks) full in about 2 to 3 weeks, when I find the hatchlings. I am already preparing a good environment for the hatchlings, hoping to grow at least a few young crayfish from the 3 batches of eggs. I'm glad that the three Crays lay eggs approximately the same time, so the hatchlings should be ok, if they're the same size and have a lot of hiding places, to avoid too much cannibalism which I know is unavoidable.
<Indeed.>
My first question: When I place my hatchlings in their temporary home, what is the best material for the bottom of the aquarium?
<Best: nothing at all but bare glass. Easiest to clean, and the silt and detritus is the stuff that promotes fungus on eggs and bacterial infections on very young livestock. If plain glass doesn't suit, then something easy to clean would be fine. A very thin (1-2 mm) bed of soft silica ("pool filter") sand for example or very fine pea gravel.>
I don't trust the sources I have read from. One said that soil/peat moss, preferably from a local pond, with some dead leaves is the best for hatchlings. I think this is a terrible suggestion, mixing outside materials into an aquarium of hatchlings. Another suggestion was leaving the bottom of the aquarium empty till the young Cray are about an inch in size. Is this appropriate, having nothing for the little guys to walk around and dig in?
<Is fine.>
Another said aquarium sand. This seems more believable, but with the frequent water changes required, I'm unsure of how the sand could be kept clean of uneaten food and Cray feces.
<If very thin, as stated above, there won't be any anaerobic decay (you need a few cm for that to happen). In any case, faeces tend to sit on top of sand, rather than sink into the gaps between gravel particles.>
Would the coral/gravel mix I use in both of my crayfish tanks be find for the hatchlings as long as they have a lot of plants and hideouts?
<Yes.>
My second question is the use of Iodine. I went to four different LFS and none of them had any idea or knew about any form of iodine/iodate salt for use in aquariums. All of them sent me to the pharmacy to pick up Iodine Tincture BP 2.5% (25ml bottle) with a mix of Iodine 25mg/ml and Potassium Iodide 25mg/ml, with non medical ingredients of Ethyl Alcohol and Purified Water.
<Doesn't sound safe.>
Without thinking much about it, I put 3 tiny drops in some water from the aquarium and mixed it into my 10 gallon, and 5 diluted drops into my 20 gallon. Only now am I in fear that my Crays, Zebra Danios, Yoyo Botias, and two young Gyrinocheilus Aymonieri in terrible toxic danger!! Two hours have passed since the iodine drops, all the creatures are acting normal, no red gills or panicked stress, Crays are fine too. Is it possible that they will all survive my ignorant toxication of the aquariums? Please help me, I am afraid of what I will find in the morning, whether there will still be life in my tanks!
<Iodine is readily removed by carbon, so you could always choose that. In any case, if the animals are fine a few days later, they're probably haven't been harmed.>
If anything happens to my beloved aquarium friends, I will have some visits to the four LFS to do, and some strangling and beatings to hand out to those "fish experts" and myself for being stupid enough to buy and add the pharmacy Iodine to my Aquariums.
<You're looking for products such as Salifert Natural Iodine, Kent Marine Iodide, Seachem Reef Iodide, etc. Typically inexpensive products, $5-10 a bottle, and you can use them at half the dose stated on the bottle.>
Thank you, as always, to your time and support, and priceless help and advice!!
Much appreciated. ~Sylvia
<Glad to help, Neale.>