# Seed shrimp (?) attached to my Oto



## Duffmanj (Jun 20, 2013)

A couple of pictures (before the problem) but hopefully might give you an idea of what they are, I've highlighted the culprits...


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

they could be parastic isopods. i know there are marine ones, not sure if freshwater ones exist, but its something to look into.


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## Orangespotted (Oct 14, 2013)

They aren't scuds? They aren't afraid of fish that don't try to eat them, and I could imagine them picking at fish slime. A clearer picture might help identify them. Any other fish in the tank?


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## Duffmanj (Jun 20, 2013)

Unfortunately my Oto died night before last 










I've had them in this tank for around 5 months and no problems. Only inhabitants have (ever) been 3 Oto's and numerous RCS.

I've not really lost many fish before like this so can I ask if the yellow belly is normal?










I've also tried to get better pictures of the bugs:



















Thanks all.


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## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

they look like seed shrimp to me.

if they are clustering around objects, watch the spot they cluster at. i used to raise them for fish food by the millions, and every time i saw them cluster up, they would leave a little patch of eggs behind. 

i have seen them cluster on fairy shrimp before, but not fish. i cant say that i could rule that out, however...

usually, when they clustered on a fairy shrimp, they ended up killing it. fairy shrimp are pretty delicate though...

this is a video of the seed shrimp i used to culture:
http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/sjveck/media/20120714_102607.mp4.html

i wasnt sure of the best way to culture them, so i set up a continuous culture while doing my normal batch cultures with the rest of them. in this video, you can see what the egg masses look like. at about 18 seconds, you can see a very large one on the front glass. the hornwort and the airstone is covered in them as well.
http://s1242.photobucket.com/user/sjveck/media/IMG_0739.mp4.html



if you want to get rid of them, the only method i know of is biological control. a young nothobranchius killi will absolutely destroy them, but will also eat anything it can fit in its mouth...

i do not think it killed your fish. i dont think they are a problem, but if you want to get rid of them, i dont really know of any safe ways besides adding a fish that will eat them. not even high CO2 will kill them. i once even poured sparkling soda into their tank... they just went to the surface and waited it out.
i had plenty to experiment with...


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## aluka (Feb 2, 2013)

i had a bunch of them in my tibee tank. I put one of my betta fry in there and all of them were gone in less than 24 hours. lol, he was soooooo full, i was afraid he was gonna get sick from being overfed, lol.


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## NeonFlux (Apr 10, 2008)

Hey auban, you have a lot of those seed shrimps haha. Mind sending me some? 

Anyway, Duffmanj, sorry to see that your otto passed.. RIP to that little catfish.


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