Paul E. Morphius
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I've kept some pale-blue freshwater shrimp (don't know what kind) for some time now and ever-since I bought them, they came along with strange white worms clinging onto their bodies. I only noticed the worms after a few days of keeping the shrimp after one of them died with a bunch of them escaping from the dead body.
I have dealt with the problem before by bathing my shrimps in saltwater for one minute and thirty seconds. The worms appear to squirm then roll into a ball then change from white to reddish-pink. The shrimps, however, did fine. No shrimp deaths after that. I also evacuated all of the shrimps from their tank, treated them then bombed the tank with boiling-hot saltwater (OVER-KILL!!!).
It may have been a glorious victory having pink fleshy pebbles littering the tank... but now the worms are back!
I can't get any screenshots I can show anyone that may help me help you help me out (sorry for the headache =P), but I can try to make a description as thorough as possible. The worms are thin-bodied, the largest I found was about a centimeter long, and white in color as I have mentioned earlier. They cling onto the glass walls of the tank and some of them appear to corkscrew to get around open water. They seem to like to attack the carapace membrane of the shrimps then detach from the host until it is dead (or bathed in salt water =P).
Incidentally, I have discovered some white web-like slim clinging onto the water plants (also can't get a clear shot with my camera). Possibly related to the worms.
This is pretty much all I can say about the worms so please share some info that might help me deal with them once and for all without another tedious tank-shift.
Thanks in advance.
I have dealt with the problem before by bathing my shrimps in saltwater for one minute and thirty seconds. The worms appear to squirm then roll into a ball then change from white to reddish-pink. The shrimps, however, did fine. No shrimp deaths after that. I also evacuated all of the shrimps from their tank, treated them then bombed the tank with boiling-hot saltwater (OVER-KILL!!!).
It may have been a glorious victory having pink fleshy pebbles littering the tank... but now the worms are back!
I can't get any screenshots I can show anyone that may help me help you help me out (sorry for the headache =P), but I can try to make a description as thorough as possible. The worms are thin-bodied, the largest I found was about a centimeter long, and white in color as I have mentioned earlier. They cling onto the glass walls of the tank and some of them appear to corkscrew to get around open water. They seem to like to attack the carapace membrane of the shrimps then detach from the host until it is dead (or bathed in salt water =P).
Incidentally, I have discovered some white web-like slim clinging onto the water plants (also can't get a clear shot with my camera). Possibly related to the worms.
This is pretty much all I can say about the worms so please share some info that might help me deal with them once and for all without another tedious tank-shift.
Thanks in advance.