Shrimp ID please :) Pics within

[pik01]

After coming back from holiday vacation I went on my usual rounds of the LFS. I chat it up with most of the LFS folks and the Petsmart fishkeeper pointed out a peculiar-looking shrimp that came in with today's shipment of ghost shrimp (I didn't think to ask for the scientific name of the ghost shrimp, as I know there are several species labeled "ghosts"). The little fella was hanging out in a guppy tank, no other shrimp with him. He's about 1" long. I figured I'd bring him home for ID since the ghost shrimp are $0.33. He's currently acclimating in the ole mixing cup.

There's a splash of red just above his tail on the left side and there are barely-visible bands of red on each of his two foremost claws.

 

[Dev]

Caridina cantonensis sp. possibly? You see them named all kinds of things in their white variety, most commonly I hear them called "snow white crystal red shrimp". Nice find.

 

[pik01]

if the little fella is indeed Caridina cantonensis then it's not good, I have very very very hard water here in socal and he might not last long. Probably longer than he would as a feeder shrimp in a Petsmart, though.

 

[Sounguru]

Not real sure but is the body white from the inside or white on the outside?

I white from the inside then that shrimp is sick either a fungal/bacterial infection or a parasite. I had some cherries develop the white body and die shortly after, and that guy looks exactly the same as they did before they kicked off.

Like this....

 

[pik01]

I don't honestly know what to say. As far as I can tell the white looks like it's on the outside since it's so evenly spread out. The white on your cherries look like they're very centered, if you know what I mean. On the other hand, the fact that this could be an infected ghost shrimp complicates things since ghost shrimp are clear and don't have the convenient red coloring of the cherries above. Isn't there anything else I can do?

 

[Sounguru]

Nothing I could find worked and the white slowly encompasses the whole shrimp... the pics I have are the early stages...

It is real tough to tell without a very high quality and very close image.... It could be a white shrimp of sometime also.

 

[pik01]

how long did your shrimp last and at what temp? I'm just glad this guy is still acclimating and didn't go into any tanks.

 

[saram521]

I recently had a sub-adult ghost shrimp die, and 3 weeks before he did, he turned white. He wasn't opaque, more translucent, but in comparison to the other ghost shrimp that was clear, this one was pretty white in color, on the outside I think. I agree with sounguru that it's a possible sign the shrimp is in poor health.

 

[Sounguru]

Some lasted a few days some a week or two at about 78

 

[pik01]

well i feel kinda sorry for the little guy now, should I euthanize him or wait?