Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

In a previous thread, Mustafa mentioned something about how some store-bought shrimp can have contagious diseases. Does anybody out there know about the sorts of diseases and parasites that attack freshwater shrimp in the aquarium trade?

Because of the aquaculture of Macrobrachium, there has been some research on diseases of freshwater shrimp, and I got the following source from Wikipedia: http://www.fisheries.go.th/aahri/Health ... r/art6.htm
Are any of the diseases mentioned here ones that attack freshwater shrimp in the aquarium?

Check out this thread re: ghost shrimp parasites
http://aquariumboard.com/forums/general ... -more.html

This is the original thread to which the above refers:
http://www.plantgeek.net/forum/viewtopi ... highlight=

Thanks!

The sight of a ghost shrimp with a horsehair worm coiled up inside of it is not soon forgotten. I hope these parasites don't attack other types of freshwater shrimp.

you're welcome.

I am also interested in contagious diseases among FW shrimp because my thread about ghost shrimp dying was the one in which Mustafa refers to those. I certainly hope I don't have something like that which, even though it may not affect my fish, is not a good thing to have living in my tank.

There is really very little known, if anything at all, about diseases in aquarium shrimp as the hobby is still brand new. As was correctly pointed out, pretty much all information about diseases comes from food shrimp cultured in farms.

I only know about contagious diseases and the fact that they do exist, because I've had a whole population of captive-bred shrimp die off after I introduced some wild-caught shrimp into their tank without quarantining them. So, although I do not know *what* pathogen causes the disease I surely observed the effects of the disease. I'm sure as the hobby grows we'll find out more about diseases and what to do about them, if anything at all (as shrimp usually don't seem to recover from physical stress all that easily if at all). Until then, quarantining any store-bought shrimp, before introducing them to exisiting, healthy populations is the way to go if you don't want to take any risks. Store-bought shrimp are mostly wild-caught imports, (some like imported red cherries are bred in farms) and thus can carry pathogens. Tank-bred shrimp don't usually have that problem.

Refering to the Ghost Shrimp parasites mentioned above, there are many shrimp like this in Walmart especially. Maybe 1 out of 25 shrimp i buy from walmart have these worm things. I never knew what they were until i read this. Could it be contagious through excrement or a dead shrimp?

this is the last post in the Plantgeek thread by someone calling herself "Shrimpfreek":
"They lay eggs in feces, the eggs hatch with the help of light, and the larvae swim til they find a host snail or invert that eats feces. Treating the tank would most likely harm your inverts. Parasites are "inverts", the medication is designed to kill any kind of invert. Although, I know that pet shrimp can handle it , at low doses. Treating with something ingested is a good idea, there are certain substances that worms can't handle and it will cause them to vacate the host. But remember, if you find one the size like you found, then there are eggs. You need to retreat weekly, because the medication will not effect eggs, and they will reinfect the inhabitants of your tank."

hope that helps! And I hope no one here has to deal with those horrible worms...

FWIW, I think that Shrimpfreek was mistakenly referring to another type of worm parasite of shrimp, which forms small cysts in the tail muscle of infected animals:
http://www.bio.georgiasouthern.edu/Bio- ... arch4.html
Luckily, I have never heard of this particular parasite affecting ghost shrimp in aquarium stores.

One thing I can report, although I don't know if it will help anyone much.

I have used bloodworms soaked in Gel-Tek Ultra Cure PX (for internal parasites) medication, without any harm to Amano shrimp. The active ingredients are:
Praziquantel 0.0057%
Flubenol 0.03%
Metronidazole 0.30%

Praziquantel and metronidazole are both recommended for fish internal parasites.

I was treating my dwarf puffers, who share a tank with two Amano shrimp. The Amanos eat mostly bloodworms that the puffers don't eat, and I did see them eating the med-soaked food. Both shrimp are still alive and well 6 or 8 months after the treatment. Neither of the shrimp had parasites, but as it didn't harm them. I guess it might be worth a try if you have infected wild-caught shrimp.

I have used Flubenol and Metronidazole in tanks with shrimp and it seems to do no harm. I heard that Levamisole is safe to shrimp, however, I have not checked this myself.

But in case of worms, Metronidazole is useless.