Korallin S-Plus - shelf life / refrigeration

[crawdads57]

Long story short, long ago I was advised to use this product for keeping crustaceans as it contains iodine. I know I know. Recently I got back in the hobby and ordered this along with my basic supplements. I have been using it at half the recommended dose on a weekly basis and skipping it once a month out of my fear of overdoing it.

I must say that its my experience that I see exoskeltons of 2, 3 and sometimes 4 of my crustaceans a couple days after I add this product on appropriately a monthly basis. They all happen at once, its not exactly clockwork, but I really believe its not coincidental as many times as I've seen it happen. Take it for what its worth, but its one of the few things I ever actually see happen that I can correlate to a supplement.

But that's not my question. After having used this product for 4 months on my reboot, I finally realized that... it states it should be refrigerated after opening!!!! I have not done this, obviously. I emailed the company, but wanted to see if anyone here has specific information. I see very little in the way of threads on any of the forums on this product, but it is well reviewed everywhere its sold and has been around a long time - so I'm surprised I don't find at least a little more info on it.

Here is the message I sent the manufacturer: "Hello! I have been using S-Plus for 4 months. I did not realize that the product was supposed to be refrigerated after opening until now! It says it right on the bottle, but I totally missed it - I guess I just am not used to supplements requiring refrigeration, so I didn't even think about it.

The product has been kept in a box with my other supplements at 73-74* F for 4 months. Is it still good? Is it potentially harmful to my aquarium to continue to use it? I shook it up and smelled it, it has a faint smell of citrus, no off-putting odor. Last question, what is in the supplement that specifically requires the refrigeration? Thank you very much for your time!"

Anyone?

[crawdads57]

Ha, well I got a reply from Korallin in record time. Replied to me inside of 12 minutes. The gist is that its the vitamin component that the refrigeration is aimed at, but that it is not required and that it extends the shelf life to keep it refrigerated. Which I will go ahead and do. I also asked what makes my skimmer go ape when I add this stuff and I was told that this is also the vitamin component. Direct quote from reply: "If you clean the skimmer cup before and you add the S Plus you have a smell of a vitaminbonbon." And who doesn't love the smell of "vitaminbonbon"? LOL. But seriously, you're supposed to turn off your skimmer for a while when you dose it, it has the almost instant affect of causing your skimmer to runneth over.

Any opinions on this supplement? I'm all ears.