# iodine suppliment



## Tricolor (Jun 12, 2009)

Have always been getting mostly spindle legs out of my orange bi colors.
want to try iodine supplement. Has anybody done this and have had success. also anybody know where I can find some of this that can be used for frogs. Thanks John


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

are you making sure the parents are getting enough retinol? I had SLS with my mantellas for a while until I tried retinol and it went away for good.


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## Tricolor (Jun 12, 2009)

ok, i have heard of that. What exactly is it and where can I get some
? Thanks John


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## Tricolor (Jun 12, 2009)

doing a yahoo search. Its a creme but how do you give it to frogs?


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## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

I believe spindly leg (SLS) is mostly due to insufficient vitamin A supplementation of the parents (retinol is a form of vitamin A). If the parents aren't getting enough vitamin A in a form that they can use (such as retinol, which some supplements like herptivite lack), this deficiency can often manifest itself in breeding through bad eggs, tads with spindly leg, and short tongue syndrome.

I would recommend putting the parents on regimen of repashy vitamin A+ supplementation:
Repashy Superfoods :: RETAIL SALES :: By Product Name :: Vitamin A Plus :: Vitamin A Plus 4 oz BAG - Repashy Ventures - Distributor Center

Read more about the issue here:
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/general-health-disease-treatment/76179-spindly-leg-syndrome-2.html
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/general-discussion/72193-how-vit-important-pdfs.html

EDIT:
And in case you want to supplement Retinol directly, I found this product using google, in the form of drops (which is how I'd imagine you'd administer it)
http://www.naturalhealthyconcepts.c...tamin-a.html?gclid=CPuI94Ox-LgCFUui4Aod9ioAGA
But I should mention that I have no idea if this could harm your frogs or not


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## fishieness (Jun 26, 2009)

Repashy Ca plus has a usable form of vitamin A via retinol in it. What Ca/Vit supplement are you currently using?
They also have a concentrated Vt A supplement that can be used at most, once a week. Too much can be just as bad, if not worse, than too little.

Hypostatic beat me to it. And is much more helpful. Haha


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## Tricolor (Jun 12, 2009)

I have used all the vitamins for reptiles and even birds to figure this out Going as far as making my own with human grade vitamin A.
Nothing works and they do not lay egg at a rapid pace just a batch every few weeks / months. 
I read lack of iodine is one cause so that was my quest was to find info on and to see if anybody was doing iodine. 
Thanks for responding if you guys thinks of anything else please let me know. John


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## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

Tricolor said:


> I have used all the vitamins for reptiles and even birds to figure this out Going as far as making my own with human grade vitamin A.


So what, exactly are you supplementing with? How often are you supplementing? How often are you feeding?


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## JL-Exotics (Nov 10, 2005)

We have used liquid iodine/iodide supplements used in salt water tanks in tadpole water in the past. I can't say for sure it helped resolved SLS for us, but it didn't appear to hurt anything either when used at the manufacturer's dosing schedule. I think using vitamin A (retinol) for the adults was what really helped eliminate SLS from our froglets.

Are your bicolor fairly new to breeding?


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## Tricolor (Jun 12, 2009)

I feed my orange bi-colors every 3 to 5 days with bean beetles and occasionally crickets. They are dusted everytime they are fed. I use rapashy calcium + along with my own human grade vitamin a that I add to all my vitamins. I also have used repcal and Netcong bird vitamins. spelling might be off on that one. I do occasionally get a batch that do not have spindle legs. They do take long breaks after a 3-4 batches of eggs. I have been breeding yellow, oranges ts for many years and just recently mints. Thanks John


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

So you are adding more vitamin A to the supplement at each feeding? 

FWIW, the original reference for "using" iodine was based on a person using a bird supplement that contained whole seaweed as the source of iodine... This makes the linkage a little suspect as this resulted in a wide variety of nutrients being made available not just the iodine. The idea was that the disruptions in development were due to thyroid disfunction(s) brought about by iodine insufficiency... Iodine is only needed in trace amounts and is toxic to the tadpoles and frogs if that threshold is crossed. A surprisingly small amount of iodine can result in death... It should not be needed if you are 
1) using a dusting supplement for the adults and metamorphs that is complete, has not been improperly stored, has not been open for more than six months
2) using a balanced tadpole food... 

Some comments 

Ed


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## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

Tricolor said:


> They are dusted every time they are fed. I use rapashy calcium + along with my own human grade vitamin a that I add to all my vitamins.


Do you know what form of vitamin A is in the human vitamin A that you are using? If it's alpha/beta-carotene then your frogs might not be getting enough useable vitamin A


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## Manuran (Aug 28, 2007)

Using Iodine was the first method used to correct spindly legs in tadpoles years ago. The idea was adopted from much earlier studies of amphibian metamorphosis. The idea (simplified) is that the iodine is needed for the thyroid to to produce Thyroid hormones (T3 and T4) which are important for metamorphosis. So adding drops of potassium iodide during prometamorphosis usually did the trick. 

While even early vitamin supplements used in the hobby had vitamin A, more recent supplements use more useful forms of the vitamin. If I remember correctly, Vit. A increases the efficacy of iodine. So you are getting at the same problem from a different direction. 
So in the long run it might make things easier to just follow everyones suggestion of increasing your Vit. A supplements to your breeders. In the interim, you can try sourcing the potassium iodide from bird supplements or reef supplements. 

I haven't needed to turn to iodine in many many years, so I'm not up on how to use the current sources.


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## Tricolor (Jun 12, 2009)

Ok thanks everybody, the frogs are not young and have been breeding off and on for several years. I add the human grade Vit A to there normal vitamins probably 2 times a month. will have to ck on type of A. Its strange because when they start breeding again first batch and second batch usually will have spindle legs. then I will get a couple batches of good froglets then back to spindle and at this point I usually discourage more breeding. So I had read about the iodine working and wanted to see if anybody else was doing this. Thanks again for your input. John


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## joel grassmann (Apr 26, 2012)

so vitamin a is important I was reading earlier that it is also needed to help produce healthy eggs.good post


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

John do yourself a favor and get the repashy vitamin a plus.This way there is no question that you are getting a usable source of vitamin a (retinol).You just have to be careful not to use too much or it can be toxic.Once a week for extreme deficiency then every other week,to third week.


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## Tricolor (Jun 12, 2009)

Hi Lou, Have used it without any success with these guys.


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## chuckpowell (May 12, 2004)

I used it in the 90's without success. After some experimentation I concluded that the problem was with the lack of supplementation of the parents and wrote the whole thing up in one of the early ADG Newsletters. I can send you pdf's of the early issues of the ADG if your interested. 

Best,

Chuck


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## Manuran (Aug 28, 2007)

chuckpowell said:


> I used it in the 90's without success. After some experimentation I concluded that the problem was with the lack of supplementation of the parents and wrote the whole thing up in one of the early ADG Newsletters. I can send you pdf's of the early issues of the ADG if your interested.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Chuck


While I agree that supplementation of the breeders is the way to go. I found that iodine worked quite well to get around a spindly leg problem.


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## Tricolor (Jun 12, 2009)

Hi Chuck, I have the news letters I used to belong. will go back and ck.
I do not want to use anything that will harm the little guys.


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## Tricolor (Jun 12, 2009)

Hi Manuran, How did you use it. Will continue with suppliments. I would not use it if unsafe for frogs but would be interested in its use. John


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