# Weird white growth on cherry shrimp head



## water hyacinth (Mar 3, 2013)

iv'e noticed quite alot of my cherry shrimp (atleast half of them) have a weird white growth on their heads just infront of their eyes i swear it moves independently to the shrimp it's almost like those tiny tiny white worms that crawl on the glass when you turn the lights off. Doesn't seem to be effecting the cherry shrimp, they're still breeding and acting normal. The only thing i can think of is the little white worms on the glass are hitching a ride on the the shrimp and stealing scraps from the edge of their "mouth" any idea's as to what it is?.


----------



## DKShrimporium (Nov 23, 2004)

Could be vorticella. Like this?


----------



## water hyacinth (Mar 3, 2013)

DKShrimporium said:


> Could be vorticella. Like this?


no it's not even near that far spread out, it's just concentrated to the infront of the eyes and the growth appears to move in a kind of "wormy" motion.


----------



## ravensgate (May 24, 2012)

The pics in that link is a bad infestation, there just just be a few of them on there, not necessarily widespread. Sounds exactly like vorticella to me.


----------



## water hyacinth (Mar 3, 2013)

ravensgate said:


> The pics in that link is a bad infestation, there just just be a few of them on there, not necessarily widespread. Sounds exactly like vorticella to me.


great not what i wanted to find out today, thanks for the link.


----------



## water hyacinth (Mar 3, 2013)

just found this http://www.forumaquario.org/t73678-parasites-scutariella im almost positive this is what is on the cherry shrimp.


----------



## NebelGeîst (Jul 2, 2013)

Hi,

may be some Scutariella or Vorticella as DKShrimporium mentioned. If you speak of wormlike species, I´d have a closer look at Scutariella (they also appear bigger than Vorticella).


----------



## water hyacinth (Mar 3, 2013)

anyone any suggestions for treating them in the main tank (with guppy's oto's and pygmy corys and guppy fry and shrimplets and java moss) they'res loads of them and it will take so long to catch them and put them in a salt dip not to mention i would presume they would just get re infected once put into the main tank again?


----------



## NebelGeîst (Jul 2, 2013)

Praziquantel would work and should be safe for shrimp and snails.


----------



## water-kitties (Mar 19, 2013)

water hyacinth said:


> anyone any suggestions for treating them in the main tank (with guppy's oto's and pygmy corys and guppy fry and shrimplets and java moss) they'res loads of them and it will take so long to catch them and put them in a salt dip not to mention i would presume they would just get re infected once put into the main tank again?



You could try a tank wide medication but they seem to have hit or miss results that I saw the last time there was a big thread about this. You might want to bite the bullet and start dipping and putting them in a breeder box or quarantine tank. Reinfection is not that quick though since I think it was spread from eating molts?


----------



## mjbn (Dec 14, 2011)

You could try a salt bath for a couple minutes on one shrimp. If you see results, you can start catching them as you see the ones "infected" by it and salt bath them.


----------



## NebelGeîst (Jul 2, 2013)

I haven´t read the thread. The medication needs to be done twice because the eggs of Scutariella do not seem to be effected. This may be a reason for reinfection, if only treated once.
They spread through moving from indívidual to individual, from exuvia to living shrimp or from dead shrimp to living shrimp.


----------



## water hyacinth (Mar 3, 2013)

NebelGeîst said:


> Praziquantel would work and should be safe for shrimp and snails.


where could i get this from in the UK? iv'e never heard of it before. And_ should_ be lol :biggrin:


----------



## NebelGeîst (Jul 2, 2013)

If dosed right, it is safe, I could post you some links where people had absolutely no problems with it, but as all of them are German, you won´t get much information from them I guess.  
But some manufacturers warned not to use it with invertebrates (which is often done if they had no studies done for invertebrate and only wanr to be sure noone can blame them. Or they use other agents as well that aren´t compatible for shrimp. But in this case these agents must be declared).
In Germany there are several meds available, e.g. Sera Tremazol, don´t know if it´s available in the UK, but google told me this:



> Sources of Praziquatel:
> 
> Hikari PraziPro
> 
> ...


Source: http://www.aquarium-medications.com/


----------



## water hyacinth (Mar 3, 2013)

NebelGeîst said:


> If dosed right, it is safe, I could post you some links where people had absolutely no problems with it, but as all of them are German, you won´t get much information from them I guess.
> But some manufacturers warned not to use it with invertebrates (which is often done if they had no studies done for invertebrate and only wanr to be sure noone can blame them. Or they use other agents as well that aren´t compatible for shrimp. But in this case these agents must be declared).
> In Germany there are several meds available, e.g. Sera Tremazol, don´t know if it´s available in the UK, but google told me this:
> 
> ...


excellent thanks very much nebel you've been a great help i'll let you know how i get on .


----------



## NebelGeîst (Jul 2, 2013)

All of them are combined with other active agents, so check them first, if thay are safe for shrimp! I´m not used to them, we got different brands and formulas here in Germany.
Good luck!


----------

