gutted but important lesson learned, i would never have known that about the shrimp. Now i know something to look out for at least.
Shrimp ID please :) Pics within
- Thread starter pik01
- Start date
agreed, I'm just glad I didn't put him in with any other critters. Quarantine, quarantine, quarantine
What makes you think it was a fungal infection? Was there any clear indications that a fungus was indeed the cause of death and not old age or something else? I always wondered what a fungal infection looked like on shrimp.
I've had that happen to a few of my shrimp and they all died except one. My biggest ghost got all white and I was upset because it was such a nice big one, but then it just randomly got better. Just something to think about. Sorry about your shrimp =(
Sounguru
Guru at being an expert
I have had this happen on old and young shrimp..... and once in a population even if it seems gone do not spread those shrimp around. I have seen it come back without warning.
Not sure if I agree that it's 100% a bacteria, fungus or parasite that is contagious, but I'll deffinately look out for white shrimp. Good thing I read this, too, because I think I'll get some green shrimp (and a couple nice big red female cherries) when I go up to the LFS's this weekend. Thanks for the warning 
Sounguru
Guru at being an expert
Some people have attributed it to overfeeding which I do not think is the case. I have 3 tanks of shrimp all from the same 20 parents.
1 tank I have white bodied shrimp that appear on occassion usually after one dies and is consumed by others. This is the main way it spreads, I have tracked it to know that much, that is why I'm leaning towards some sort of pathogen. This all started after I had a crash on that tank and an outbreak of a lot of other critters that are normally under control. The other factor is that the colony that gets the outbreak is also the only one where I introduced untreated wood and plants from the local enviroment. If I catch the white bodied shrimps before they die and move them it seems to slow down the spread. Before I started to remove the infected shrimp I would loose 5 to 10 a week all with white bodies. Now I may loose 1 every 2 weeks and I do not see as many shrimp that are infected.
The other 2 colonies that were split off before the problem ocured have not had a single outbreak and all are on the same feeding schedule and amounts.
The other thing that rules out the overfeeding theory is the fact that 90% of the time only shrimp that fed on an infected shrimp that died became infected. So if it was a feeding issue then it would appear in shrimp that had not fed on infected shrimp more often.
1 tank I have white bodied shrimp that appear on occassion usually after one dies and is consumed by others. This is the main way it spreads, I have tracked it to know that much, that is why I'm leaning towards some sort of pathogen. This all started after I had a crash on that tank and an outbreak of a lot of other critters that are normally under control. The other factor is that the colony that gets the outbreak is also the only one where I introduced untreated wood and plants from the local enviroment. If I catch the white bodied shrimps before they die and move them it seems to slow down the spread. Before I started to remove the infected shrimp I would loose 5 to 10 a week all with white bodies. Now I may loose 1 every 2 weeks and I do not see as many shrimp that are infected.
The other 2 colonies that were split off before the problem ocured have not had a single outbreak and all are on the same feeding schedule and amounts.
The other thing that rules out the overfeeding theory is the fact that 90% of the time only shrimp that fed on an infected shrimp that died became infected. So if it was a feeding issue then it would appear in shrimp that had not fed on infected shrimp more often.
There are many different illnesses that can plague aquarium housed shrimp. Without sophisticated testing, and or intimate knowledge of the illnesses and diagnoses, it's impossible to determine the cause of death.
Shrimp that display milky white tissue are stressed. That stress can be from anything, such as; predator aggression (or the perception of aggressive predators), capture & handling, poor housing, over population, illness, etc...
Best practices for introducing anything new to an aquarium is to quarantine or sterilize, and TEST first. That includes rocks, wood, plants, tanks, used filter housings, tubes and animals. It is easy to make a seemingly harmless decision that can decimate a tanks population. I know someone who found a river rock that he liked, boiled it for 20 minutes or so, and then put it in his tank. Over the next week all of his shrimp died off. I helped him determine the problem by asking about any changes to the tank. I took the rock and put it in a bucket of R/O water and let it soak for a few days. I then tested the water and found that the rock was leaching nitrates into the water.
Shrimp that display milky white tissue are stressed. That stress can be from anything, such as; predator aggression (or the perception of aggressive predators), capture & handling, poor housing, over population, illness, etc...
Best practices for introducing anything new to an aquarium is to quarantine or sterilize, and TEST first. That includes rocks, wood, plants, tanks, used filter housings, tubes and animals. It is easy to make a seemingly harmless decision that can decimate a tanks population. I know someone who found a river rock that he liked, boiled it for 20 minutes or so, and then put it in his tank. Over the next week all of his shrimp died off. I helped him determine the problem by asking about any changes to the tank. I took the rock and put it in a bucket of R/O water and let it soak for a few days. I then tested the water and found that the rock was leaching nitrates into the water.
Indeed the "white" flesh is a sign of stress in most Dwarf Shrimp and the actual cause may indeed vary from shrimp to shrimp or colony to colony. In other words sadly trying to nail down what actually is causing this in ones tank can be quite difficult and deciding if the cause was water pollution, or other is very difficult as well.
I have seen issues where is seemed the problem spread from shrimp to shrimp and had a couple episodes of this in my Blue Tiger tank and never was able to figure out why. I have also seen these symptoms in over fed populations and was able to stop it's progression by stopping feeding for a while. This tactic did not work with the BT, but moving them to another tank stopped the problem indicating a water pollution problem in that tank as well.
One thing that is indeed a fact is that "white" milky body tissue shows a sick or highly stressed shrimp in most cases and the more info is shared among other hobbyists the more we learn about keeping thes little animals that are still fairly new to the hobby.
I have seen issues where is seemed the problem spread from shrimp to shrimp and had a couple episodes of this in my Blue Tiger tank and never was able to figure out why. I have also seen these symptoms in over fed populations and was able to stop it's progression by stopping feeding for a while. This tactic did not work with the BT, but moving them to another tank stopped the problem indicating a water pollution problem in that tank as well.
One thing that is indeed a fact is that "white" milky body tissue shows a sick or highly stressed shrimp in most cases and the more info is shared among other hobbyists the more we learn about keeping thes little animals that are still fairly new to the hobby.
