Something's not right...

ShrimpFan · Post by **ShrimpFan** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 10:42 am

Hello everyone,
Something seems to be wrong with some of my cherry shrimp. These shrimp have what looks like a white mass inside their tail areas. It is behind the stomach and other "guts" and runs down the inside of the tail. I don't think it is the "milky coloration" of sick shrimp--it looks solid. A small portion of my cherries in the tank have this, and the ones that do have had it for awhile (months). I mention it now because I recently changed my substrate, and the shrimp with the white thing seem to be more stressed from the change than the other shrimp. I have been doing daily 20%-30% water changes with Seachem Prime and my water is hard with a pH in the high 7's-low 8's. The substrate went from standard aquarium gravel to rinsed Tahitian Moon sand. I added two new plants--a "banana plant" and one that the LFS had labled as "green hedge." The tank has two soaked oak leaves in it and a small piece of driftwood that has been in there forever with no problems. I saw the picture of the ghost shrimp with the white worm in it, though I can't see anything coiled in the cherries--just looks like a solid lump. Unless it is coiled really tightly, I don't think it is a worm. Has anyone seen this? Any help would be greatly appreciated! I unfortunately cannot post a picture at this time. Someone please help my sweet shrimp

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 4:41 pm

Hi ShrimpFan

I had Snowballs, and a Wild Form with something like that.

It started out as a few white dots, just in front of the tail.
And the dots seem to multiply.

I tried to post pictures of this before, but I han no luck.
They really did not show up in the photo.

I pulled these Shrimp, and put them in a holding tank.
They lived for another 3 weeks, then they went to the big Shrimp tank in the Sky.

John

ToddnBecka · Post by **ToddnBecka** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 9:56 pm

Sounds like it could be a disease or a parasite. In any case, it would be best to remove the affected shrimp to prevent possible spreading to others. Better to lose some than all.

Post by **Mustafa** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:36 am

It's most likely not a disease. I've seen it happen in almost all dwarf shrimp species I keep. It happens when they get stressed out by poor water quality, i.e. high nitrates, phosphates or something entirely different about your water that the shrimp don't like.

Newjohn · Post by **Newjohn** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 7:09 pm

Mustafa
That is what was funny about my experience. There was only one at a time, with this.
And all the other Shrimp were fine and breeding. Female carring eggs, And little one hatching out.

Just My Observations.
John

ShrimpFan · Post by **ShrimpFan** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 7:10 pm

Okay, thanks for the replies! I live in an area where there are a lot of farms, so I got the water quality report and it said that average nitrates were 17 ppm, and the highest they measured were 47 ppm *cough*. I'll go buy some spring water tonight and put that in. The report didn't list nitrite or phosphate, but copper etc. seemed low. Hopefully the bottled water will help. Thanks again for the replies.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 7:22 pm

Look for an R/O water machine. many of the large chain grocery stores have them. Around 30 cents a gallon and better than their $1 a gallon distilled. I'd stay clear of spring water unless they have an analysis. Most is filtered tap water.

GunmetalBlue · Post by **GunmetalBlue** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 8:30 pm

ShrimpFan, sorry about the poor pic, but does it look anything like this?

Last year, when I was rearing a lot of RCS babies, three of them developed this white on their tail. It almost seemed as if the meat of their tail was white and possibly atrophying, though the shrimp themselves seemed fine and had full use of their body.

I made a mental note to myself to make sure they don't breed, however, they died very young and so it seems it was nature's way with the weaker animals. I looked at the carcass under magnification and didn't see anything moving or suspicious, like a parasite or anything. It really seemed that it was the meat of their flesh that had turned white. I'm not a scientist, so techically speaking, I don't really know what it was. And sorry to say, it wasn't something my shrimp were able to recover from; but who knows, maybe yours will; keep us updated.

Oh, one other item - I recall an earlier cautionary topic about green hedge plant - you can read it here: viewtopic.php?t=892&highlight=green+hedge

-GB

ShrimpFan · Post by **ShrimpFan** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 6:07 pm

GunmetalBlue,

Yes, that's it! This is exactly what my shrimp have...I thought it just looked like a malformed part of their body, too. They don't appear to be getting better, but as NewJohn said, only a small proportion of the shrimp are affected while the rest look healthy. It's a very nice picture, by the way, as usual.

Thanks for the article on the hedge, too.

ShrimpFan

Post by **Mustafa** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 9:27 pm

Yes, that's exactly what that condition looks like. Thanks for the picture GB!

wendyjo · Post by **wendyjo** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 5:06 am

Newbie questions here - my females looks like that, but in the top front of their bodies - like behind their head. Is that the ovary area and is it normal to look that way?

YuccaPatrol · Post by **YuccaPatrol** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 5:10 am

Wendy, that sounds like the ovaries filling with eggs.

wendyjo · Post by **wendyjo** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:14 am

Ok that's good to know - thanks!