Sick RCS?!

[jeej]

One of my females died the other day. She seemed to bloat almost like she was blistering and was gonna burst out of her skin. Her colouring, although very red, went all patchy and she got a whitish pink line appear down her spine. Now this has happened to a second female (3 weeks after the other one). Does this sickness sound familiar to anyone and do you know what would cause it?

[Baby_Girl]

oh my, that sounds awful. Did that happen to them while they were still alive? Just making sure it wasn't bloating and color changing due to death (though I've not really seen dead shrimp bloat much either).

Shrimp-keeping, and therefore the diseases of shrimp especially in captivity, is still in its infancy. To be honest, I can't think of any diseases that are 'known' in our shrimp. There are a few parasites in shrimp (horsehair/nematode worms, and those things that make 'nectarine shrimp' have orange blobs inside them) which are somewhat better documented, but we certainly don't have the long history like fish-keeping where ich, velvet, etc. are well-known and treatments are readily available.

[jeej]

No, they get bigger before they die. Their colouring goes really weird and patchy, ends up being almost more pink than red. Then they stay very still a lot of the time - sometimes walking, but rarely swimming. Then they die.

I'm gonna test my water tonight and I'll come back with some readings. Might try and get some pics too.

The one that is ill at the moment looks like she is carrying eggs, but they aren't that normal orangey yellow colour, more a very pale yellow and they seem to be further inside her, rather than being held in place my the swimmerettes. Like I say, I'll try get some pics.

Cheers.

[Neonshrimp]

The pictures will be a big help to document/follow what is happening to them. Thanks for sharing this with us.

[Baby_Girl]

they seem to be further inside her, rather than being held in place my the swimmerettes.

ugh, that sounds awful. From your description, maybe she is just swelling PAST the eggs thus making them appear to be farther up? I don't know.

Blegh, there are parasites which will cause flesh to swell, like whatever one causes elephantiasis in humans. Perhaps it's a similar organism.

I'm sorry that whatever it is seems to be spreading to your other shrimp, instead of being contained to one individual. Yes, water parameters will help as will pictures. Even if nobody knows exactly the culprit, at least you've documented it for everyone in the future.

[Neonshrimp]

Blegh, there are parasites which will cause flesh to swell, like whatever one causes elephantiasis in humans. Perhaps it's a similar organism.

I know, this is when your lymph nodes are plugged by the parasites to the point they are no longer draining at all and you retain the fluid If the shrimp have anything close to lymph nodes this might be happening, still to early to know. One day there will be much more we know about the invertibrate physiology. If someone has more information please share.

[jeej]

Seems like the offending item may have been a green rock I had in the tank that was leaking copper into the water. Purely speculation of course, but I have removed the rock and now I'll monitor.

In brighter news, one of my females DEFINITELY is pregnant. Looking very healthy - must be at least 30 eggs. Fingers crossed!

[Baby_Girl]

Phew, glad you seem to have worked out the problem. 'Wild' or decorative rocks are not the best idea sometimes, especially if one doesn't know what they're made of before placing them in the tank. I'd personally test such rocks out in fish-only setups before trying it in a shrimp breeding tank

It's great to hear you got a berried female!!! They must be feeling better.

[Neonshrimp]

Good to hear this, best wishes with the berried female

[jeej]

Thanks guys.

I felt like such an idiot when I went back into the shop where I got the from and I was explaining to the guy bout the green rocks and the copper and he said "Ah yeah, were they swimming along and then all of a sudden they'd jerk harshly and flick across the tank?", so I was like "...yeah..." and he said "yeah, that'll be the copper from those rocks".

I am glad though to an extent, because at least I managed to find out what was harming my shrimp and do something about it.

To boost my colony I grabbed another female off him, already heavily berried, and she seems pretty happy in my tank - so hopefully I should fair a bit better now.

For those who don't know - don't put green rocks in your shrimp tank! And I don't mean green like kryptonite (although these rocks do have the same effect!), but these rocks are like a creamy white with a murky green tinge to them and sometimes small orange markings (this is the copper!). Some are more green than others.

[Guba]

When copper corrodes, and ALL metals corrode, some (zinc I think, no pun intended) more than others (gold the least, thats one reason its valuable). Copper corrodes into whats called verdigris, and its green in color. Iron , of course turns into rust. Small doses of the heavy metals are ESSENTIAL for life. Larger doses have the opposite effect. Baby_girl mentions that she tries out newly collected aquarium rocks on fish only tanks (if I remember right). I have to say, thats not always a good idea. Fish have a higher tolerance to heavy metals than shrimp. So a rock that did good in a fish tank may end up killing your shrimp tank. If you have doubts about the chemical makeup of a rock, try it in a tank with snails and see how they do after a couple of months (I'm sure the petsnail.com poeple won't be happy with that comment). Glad to see that you found your problem though. I had a similar experience with a rock that just made my water cloudy, didn't kill anything, just made it cloudy.