Shrimp Worm Parasite

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Hello!

So, I had a ghost shrimp for about 2/3 months or so now. When I got him, he was completely see through, and as time went on, the inside core of him started to turn an off-white yellow. I checked online and everyone seem to be saying "hes just molting soon". However, a month later he is completely off white yellow... not cloudy, completely coloured. I then noticed a small black worm like thing between the eyes kind wiggling around. I looked everywhere online and can find anyone describing this... so I am thinking... maybe it is just one of its organs. Today, I get home and notice similar black worm like things sticking outside of its carapace underneith near the head. I decide that this shrimp clearly had something living inside of it and got rid of the shrimp. The weird part was, he was pretty lively, and seemed to act pretty normal despite there being something wrong with him.

Does anyone have any idea what the hell was wrong with my shrimp, and should I be concerned about the fish in the tank?!

Thanks!

 

[libertybelle]

Clearly some kind of parasite so it was a good move to remove, though I don’t know if I’ve heard of that particular kind described. The white body was likely a stress response or possibly muscle necrosis, I doubt the shrimp had long anyway.

Sometimes parasites are species specific so other shrimp in the tank would be at risk but not the fish. I’m not sure if that’s always the case though so I would increase gravel vacs for a while and keep a close eye on inhabitants in case it’s the kind of thing that might end up in the substrate (and as a bonus the water changes will make sure the fish are happy and give their immune system a little boost.) if you don’t have any more shrimp in the tank I would avoid adding any more for at least a few weeks

Ghost shrimp can be kind of a risk, they can come with all sorts of illnesses since they’re pretty poorly treated. I just had an unclear illness amongst my ghost shrimp as well and I stopped seeing die off in my RCS colony after I got them out. Very frustrating because they’re such fun critters!

 

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I only have a cherry shrimp left. He seems pretty normal, but it's not like I can see if a similar parasite is inside him, like I could with the ghost shrimp. Yeah, like I said, I could not find anyone else describing what I was seeing. Maybe he was stressed no idea, I also couldn't find any pictures of other people's shrimp changing colour like how mind did. Like I have seen a cloudy white colour, but not a full on yellowish white like mine. Very odd.

I will wait a couple weeks before introducing more shrimp back in, and keep an eye on my cherry shrimp too... tho, he tends to hide a lot.

Thanks! If anyone else has any idea as to what kind of parasite this was, it would be super helpful. I just want to look it up to understand what the hell was wrong with my shrimp...