# Dead shrimp - half red ... does that mean anything?



## Alyssa (Sep 16, 2011)

Okay so I've been mulling around what could have been the cause of my OBETs and BTOEs dying ... and on thinking back, one of the things they all had in common was most of them had their head piece turn BRIGHT red.

I'm wondering if that could be an indication of anything?

The tail part was the regular "cooked shrimp pink" or the color it would be if they had been alive, and my first oebts that got hit with the bacterial infection when I changed over their entire substrate on them all turned the "cooked shrimp pink" all over.

So it seems odd that the other obets and the btoes would all have the head piece turn bright fire red while the tails either never changed color or turned the "cooked shrimp pink" color.

Anyone ever seen this and know what it might indicate?

Could that be a sign of molting issues maybe?


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## Alaizabelle (Apr 7, 2011)

I have no idea, but I hope you can figure it out soon! Dead shrimp are no fun.

I had a snowball die once, and it's body above the legs turned neon orange. That was strange :|


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Um.. I know shrimp will turn pink when they die, regardless of what color they were before. They all end up looking like mini cocktail shrimp upon death.

You'd have to list your tank parameters if you want us to be able to give you some ideas about their deaths. Right now, it could be hundreds of cases.


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## Kyguylal (Jan 21, 2012)

Yep. Normal shrimp from the grocery store are grey then cook up pink.


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## Quiet Professional (Feb 2, 2011)

Do you dose with Excel?


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## azjenny (Dec 2, 2011)

I have no idea what it is, and I'm on my phone right now, but I know I've read something about a shrimp disease called redhead or something. And I feel like it was either only, or usually, found in tiger shrimp.


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## Buff Daddy (Oct 19, 2010)

I'm sorry, Alyssa, but like all of the above posts, I have no idea what could have cased this kind of death in your shrimp... 

Except, my ex and her mother live in Sacramento. 

They used to make my head turn red and almost explode from hypertension. 

It could just be a coincidence.


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## Alyssa (Sep 16, 2011)

LOL Buff.

I'll test again today but the last tests had the water parameters at;

ph: 7
NH3: .25
NO2: 0
NO3: 5.0
GH: 7
KH: 5
TDS: 205
Temp: 72-76 range

RO/DI water. Heavy on the plants. A HOB filter, a sponge filter, and a whisper internal filter with a bunch of purigen in it.

I do not dose any ferts. At all. I am now bringing my GH up with "Gh Up" - I am fully ditching all fluval products for shrimp water and substrate at this time.

At this time it has no substrate because after the last death, I vacc'ed all the fluval stratum out. But when the last shrimp died, it had stratum. I would feed for like 8 shrimp one to two hikari shrimp cuisine pellets every couple of days. 

Haven't had a death in a while ... but it bugs me and I am sure the odd coloration was a clue ... but can't find anything via google on it.

I mean even the BTOEs had a fire engine red head piece, whereas the rest of the body was the normal color ... just the more I think about it the more bizarre that seems.


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## azjenny (Dec 2, 2011)

Now that I'm not on my phone I could google a bit and don't have time to do a good search, but they do reference a tiger shrimp disease called "red head disease" on this thread.
http://www.shrimpnow.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-5697.html


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## Geniusdudekiran (Dec 6, 2010)

IME they always do that.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

The red head is from the internal organs being liquified. The internal organs are all in the "head". Any kind of pathogen that causes organ damage will cause this "red head", but leave the rest of the body unaffected. I had this happen to me with some BTOE a few years ago, and lost the whole tank of them. I don't think it's bacterial, I think it's probably viral (hence the organ damage). So treating with antibiotic never worked for me. If I were to face the problem again, I'd treat with beta glucan, since it is used in aquaculture to fight disease.


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## Alyssa (Sep 16, 2011)

Well that might explain why maracyn and paraguard seemed to hold it off, but not resolve it.

How are viral pathogens introduced into tanks ... I mean, we know bacterial is related most often to water quality, or at least it's a blaring red flag to look into that area ... but what should I be addressing or looking at to prevent it from continuing to the new stock?

I just bought a bunch of bornewild products, shield, vigor, stout, gh up hoping to maybe be able to better bolster the new inhabitants so if anything is lurking, they are at least getting everything they might need to better handle it.

I hate the bare bottomed look, but at least I can be sure there isnt a build up of organic matter.

What is beta glucan, how is it administered, where can you find it/buy it, and when would you treat? After a death?

I just want to be as prepared as I can beforehand! 

Sorry to fire so many questions at you but you're the first person to say they've seen it and have an idea of what it was and have a course of action you've decided you'd take, so now I want to pick your brain! (if that is okay that is! LOL!)


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

Well, I couldn't tell you how they catch a pathogen like that, I'm not a scientist! I can tell you in my case, they came in infected. I know this because each shrimp was bagged separately, and when I received the box, there was 2 DOA with guess what... a bright red head. At the time I didn't think much of it, especially since they had been dead for a while, and I know decay can do goofy things to a body. But I'd say the incubation period for whatever virus mine had was between 2 and 4 weeks, they would act normal, and then all of a sudden go catatonic and I'd come home from work to a red headed corpse. The deaths just trickled, one here, one there, then one day the last 4 were all dead on the same day. I had them in their own tank the entire time, but I made the stupid mistake of netting out the dead bodies with my good shrimp net, and I infected my OEBT as well, and lost them all in a separate tank.

Lesson learned!

Beta glucan is one of the main ingredients in BorneoWild shield. It's not a "one-and-done" treatment though, it should be dosed daily. Even then, I'm not positive it will cure infected shrimp, but it seems the closest to an actual treatment you can get. I don't know if any of the fish/shrimp antivirals work, but they are out there. Here is one if you wanted to go the medicine route:
http://www.pataquatic.com/pat-antiviral.htm

Hope that helps!


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## Alyssa (Sep 16, 2011)

Oh for crying out loud! I need to get more nets then! I've only been using one!

And then YAY that I got the Shield! Do you dose Shield daily as a rule or just when you see issues or with water changes?

Now I need to get more nets so I don't keep risking cross contamination!

Do the shrimp mineral blocks help with any of that do you think?


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