Am I paranoid or do my inverts have parasites?

[Chikadee]

I got a bunch of ghost shrimp which were originally for my puffers as food, but they've kinda grown on me. I think I'll just keep them around in my snail tank. One of them has this weird long stringy thing that loops around inside his entire body. It is white and looks very long, it starts at his head and goes all the way down to his tail and loops back up several times, it looks kind of tangled inside his head. It almost looks as if he swallowed a long piece of white thread. Is this normal?? None of the other ghost shrimp seem to have it. I'm afraid it might be a parasite/worm of some sort. On that note, I also have one snail which I can sorta see through the shell and on its back there is a tiny piece of cream colored wormy looking thing. It is inside its shell and way in the back, I can see it when the snail is facing away from me. It looks sort of like a mealworm, but it's much shorter. Is THAT a parasite?? I don't want to feed my puffers anything that could be harmful, and if they do have parasites, I don't want them to spread to the other food animals. I'll try to get a picture of both of them.

 

[QTOFFER]

I remember seeing something like this posted on another board, but I can't remember where - very high quality pics were attached to the post. There was a ghost shrimp with something coiled inside its body. It turned out to be a parasitic worm - the pictures of it wound up inside were spooky.

I would quarrantine the shrimp immediately before the parasite has a chance to move on. If I am able to find that post, I'll post a link here.

I wonder how you treat parasites in inverts...copper-based meds are toxic. Hmmm.

 

[Chikadee]

Ewwww... yes, it definitely looks like a coiled piece of string all wound up in its body. Ok, I have since put the shrimp out of its misery... What about the snail??

 

[William]

You sure it wasn't his guts you were seeing?

 

[Allivymar]

Twas Madame_X and TankGirl; heres the post: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=12333&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=10 and heres her pic: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=1854&password=&sort=1&cat=500&page=1

 

[TankGirl]

Oh yes, I remember this well! 8O

 

[Allivymar]

Actually, most of my ghost shrimp have em. I'm not too worried; I figure they are specific shrimp parasites, and so far the shrimp haven't seemed to mind. I may change my mind if the ones with the rope/wormy thing start dying off tho. Thing is, none of them had the white ropy thing when I bought them; its likely something they picked up in my tank...and yeah, I'll skeeve if I see one crawling around my tank LOL

I grabbed a pic *not for the faint of heart*

 

[Chikadee]

Ewwwww!! That is EXACTLY what I have!! 8O May my parasite infested shrimp rest in peace...

 

[Sati]

Why do I open these posts?

To quote myself from a few months ago

Thanks, I'm going to go and vomit now. Bye

lol, ayayay...

 

[Allivymar]

**Definitely not for those with weak constitutions**

So I left my shrimp with the nematode alone, and this morning it came out. Ewwww. And I grabbed a pic for future reference LOL Its pretty disgusting, but might help others in the future if they see one cruising around the tank. Do know it had NO interest in the fish; in fact it was laying on the sand near the ram and their eggs, and never bothered em (although the rams were pretty bothered LOL). I don't see any dead shrimp yet, but I'll keep my eyes open just in case.

Oh and btw, its been flushed.

 

[Sati]

Oh, Alli, lol.... that's freakin sick.

 

[TankGirl]

Yep, I plucked mine out of the sand where it was waving its body around menacingly (or, grossing me out, whichever..) and saved it in a jar until my 10-year-old got home, and we checked it out under the microscope. Then we saved it for my husband to see, and then I got to dispose of it. It looks much worse than what it actually is, but I made a frantic post here and Allivymar posted some links about it, and I calmed down. I knew about nematodes, but was accustomed to the tiny, barely visible ones that you sometimes get in the gravel or on the glass, not the 4-inch monster. Alas, it is the same animal, basically! I have not purchased any ghost shrimp since, for some strange reason...

 

[Allivymar]

I'm just glad none of the fish found it appetizing...I'd have been doubly grossed out to find one of these wiggly things hanging out of my little ram's mouth!

 

[TankGirl]

I think your loaches would have been up to the challenge!! They rock for snapping up loathesome morsels. 8)

 

[Allivymar]

LOL You know, I was so skeeved I didn't even think of it! And me, who actually asked the guys at Petsmart for some free nuisance snails for loach treats today *shiver*

 

[Allivymar]

Yay! Frank, from www.franksaquarium.com and the shrimp guru has solved the mystery.

The parasites are horsehair worms; not exactly nematodes but closely related. He said they are common in glass shrimp, but isn't sure if the Panacur will kill em. Said Levamisole would, but would likely kill the shrimp as well, and that Praziquantel might work, but don't use em as feeders after (not sure why).

 

[mrzap]

That is horrible. I have some ghost shrimp being delivered thursday. I hope they are parasite clear. Luckily since they see through it should be easy to check

Anyone discovered a way to treat for this?

 

[Guest]

All I know is, that is disgusting!!!

Ain't nature great?

 

[Allivymar]

Nature is amazing! Just someone tell it to stay out of my fishtanks

None of mine had visible worms when I got em mrzap; no idea how to tell if they are carrying them until they are big enough to see (there is very little research or info on them out there).

 

[TankGirl]

The way I found out was my shrimp were dying, and none of the fish were eating the dead ones. I then saw what I thought was a long plant root waving around in the current. Closer inspection revealed....EEWWW!

I don't think it is something to be particularly worried about, and it will not keep me from purchasing shrimp again, in spite of my previous comment. It is a good reason to spend even more time staring closely at all of the inhabitants of your tank. If you see a shrimp with the telltale signs, just remove it (easier said than done, I know). At least the worms, once they are out, do not try to get away.