Help! Parasite on shrimp?

[beetroot]

Noticed that one of my blue shrimps has a white leech-like thingy stuck to its head. Few days ago, saw two of such leech-thing on its head, but now only one. One part sticks onto the shrimps head, but the other part moves around like a jungle leech.

What is it? A parasite? And how to remove it? Will it "jump" and infect other shrimps? Please help....




It is the middle one... that is not part of the shrimp.

[ghim]

Looks like a planaria on your shrimp.

You can check out this thread on common bugs in shrimp tank.
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=34333

My shrimp tank do have quite a number of planaria infested inside. Overfeeding is the cause

It should drop off your shrimp any time.

[beetroot]

I don't think it is a planaria.
I have seen planaria and it is more flat and pinkish/brown.

This thing is white, not flat, and only one part sticks to the shrimp while the other part moves about like a jungle leech (not flat leech).

The shrimp already had it when I bought it (in a bag). And had noticed it stuck there for days.... i think more than a week now....
If it is planaria, would it stick to a shrimp (at the same spot) for so long?

[ghim]

Wah. Stucked so long

Then the closest I can find is this:
http://www.shrimp-diseases-online.com/suckingworm.htm

If it is the above, better quarantine your shrimp.

I read all the articles on this site, which i found very useful. Because my cherries got infected by porcelain illness. Which causes 1-2 casaulties every 2 days. My stubborness resulted in closed to 20 casaulties

[beetroot]

Thanks for the useful website, ghim. Wah... didn't know there are so many kinds of shrimp diseases.

Sucking worm??
Perhaps... Don't know for sure .

I hope it doesn't suck the life out of my little fellow .
I have separated him from the other shrimps.

[Xmant]

The worm can multiply and spread. Sometime, they will stick to other host. Isolate your shrimp if you only have one or else you have to quarantine your whole tank.

[beetroot]

Oh no .
I thought I saw 2 of these worms before (unless I cock eye) on the same shrimp head, but now only one.
I have separated this shrimp, but where's the missing worm? Could still be in the tank with the remaining shrimps....

Any way to kill the worm without killing my shrimp?

[Xmant]

I ever pull out these worms using a sharp pincer, but it won't be an easy task. After got rid of one, the other appeared again. Like never ending story. In the end, sent boris brigatte to take care of them. Make sure you don't have shrimplets in your tanks. Not sure whether boris brigatte would eat them.

[beetroot]

This morning I went to look at my quarantined shrimp, and that white worm is no longer on its head! Can't see it on its body too.

Can I safely put the little guy back into the tank with the others?
I wonder where the worm has gone.....

How did you hold down the shrimp to remove the worm with a pincer?

[Xmant]

I put the shrimp in a very small container with little water to restrict the shrimp from swimming round and round. Then aim at the worm with pincer. Once grabbed the worm body, shake a bit in order for the worm to be detached from the shrimp.

Since your shrimp is no longer have worm attached, use a net to transfer it to main tank. If I am not wronged, the worm is somewhere in your quarantine tank, never never pour the water back to your main tank.

[michaelmah]

How long you remain in at quarantine tank?

[beetroot]

I separated it for about 4 days now.
OK, leave it another day as a lone ranger, tomorrow I'll check again and transfer him back.

Thank you!

[theanswerseeker]

Heng my shrimp still don't have.. I think i will minimise my feeding from now on..

[beetroot]

I have put the little guy back with the other shrimps.
The white [sucker] worm is no longer in sight .

theanswerseeker, this may not be due to overfeeding. For planaria, yes.

[beetroot]

Hi All

Just like to share with you, bigger pictures of the sucking worm.
My previous posts in Nov'08 were of a tiny one on a dwarf blue shrimp.

This time it is a bigger version because it was attached to my blue lobster. Lobster's big, so worm's big . There were 2 on the same lobster and i managed to remove both with a disposable chopstick.

Side view:


Front view:



And this is a video of how it moves after it was removed from the lobster:


... and what i mean about moving like a jungle leech, not a planaria.

Unfortunately, the shrimp disease website in ghim's post does not work anymore.

I noticed that the worm normally likes to stick to the front part of the shrimp/lobster. But it does "crawl" away hiding under the lobster's legs too. One night, I saw it crawling away from the head to the bottom of the lobster and it disappeared for a few days. Then, I was lucky on another night when it was visible at the lobster's head, but then I had a shock too as there were two! That was when I managed to remove them.

I hope none of your shrimps/lobsters have this parasite. Do take a look.

[beetroot]

Just an update.... for those who may encounter this:

Two weeks back, i spotted 2 of these worms on a tiger shrimp, and one worm on a sakura shrimp. Could have been transferred from a new batch of shrimps i bought.

A solution that works >> use salt water.
Isolated the two shrimps, then put them into a salt water dip for about 1 minute and the worms came off and died.

[mozaqua]

I had a similar problem, but the worm looked a bit different than yours. Tried everything, but all of my shrimp died (50+ yellow, 3 blue tigers, and the new arrivals infected wild tigers from china), except one lone yellow shrimp.

Good to hear you were able to get rid of the nasties. I learned the hard way, always quarantine new arrivals.

Still looking for a shrimp safe drug, which will kill worms before they infect other shrimp, but no luck so far.