Finally... my first berried Cherry Shrimp

[Elkwatcher]

My last set of Cherry's seem to be hardier no problem acclimating this batch... 6 that are old enough to breed now. I might be lucky and have 2 females.
A few questions about the general overall condition of this first berried female.
- her shell is a dull orange with a standout stripe down the back? Normal or lacking something?
- is there something fungal going on with that " white moustache"?
- what should I purchase as first food for the shrimplets? There is plenty of bio film on the glass, and I feed HakarI Crab Cusine, Fluval Shrimp, Micro Betta Bites.
- how long do you estimate until she drops shrimplets?
Thanks for the help!

Can set to HD

 

[fishsavvy]

Well I don’t see eyes right now. When you start seeing little black eyes, you will be days away from having shrimplets! I just gave mine the shrimp pellets diet that my other shrimp get. And try some blood worms!

 

[kallililly1973]

Congrats! extremely envious and looking forward to getting a shrimp colony going soon myself. Good luck!! richie.p may be able to enlighten us on the "white moustache" I'm curious to know as well

 

[86 ssinit]

She looks good. I never add anything for shrimplets. They usually eat the biofilm in the tank. Never seen that mustache before so hopefully richie will inform us. .

 

[Rev]

Finally I have knowledge that may help with shrimp! first off congratulations on the berried shrimp! That's awesome! It looks to me like it could possibly be vorticella. However if you can get a good picture that would help a lot. In the case of vorticella it is a parasite that will spread. Immediately quarantine the affected shrimp. I've heard of people using parasite meds like paraguard. But salt dips seem to be the most common thing people do. It's cheaper but a bit riskier. Just measure out 1 cup of aquarium water. Add 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt and mix until dissolved. Then lower your affected shrimp into it for about 30-60 seconds. If it's not gone after that repeat until it is. And they'll be good to go right back in your tank parasite free!

 

[Elkwatcher]

Well I don’t see eyes right now. When you start seeing little black eyes, you will be days away from having shrimplets! I just gave mine the shrimp pellets diet that my other shrimp get. And try some blood worms!

fishsavvy... thank you, hopefully they will be able to hide from the Embers. There are enough plants to hide in.

kallililly1973.. You and I both, I've been waiting forever and a bit longer! I'm passing out cigars now, want one! I'd like to know about the moustache as well, I didn't think it was a good idea to do a salt dip in her "condition"

Rev... I've dipped them before with no ill effects, not sure about doing a berried shrimp.. could it cause stress enough to miscarry the eggs? Thought Vorticella only appeared obove the head between the eyes.. but I'm probably wrong. I have Paraguard. Thanks for your help too!

86 ssinit .. then I'm all set! Thanks.

 

[kallililly1973]

Not knocking Rev suggestion with the meds or dip but if it were me I wouldn't till you see shrimplets. But that might just be me. Unless of course it becomes more noticeable or spreads which I hope it doesn't.

 

[Rev]

I’m not sure with her being berried. Hopefully someone with more shrimp knowledge can help with that. And from what I know Vorticella tends to start from that area and then spread. I read on some other forums people were having it as a mustache a lot. Good luck! It’s a tough call since she’s berried that really throws an extra level of complication into things.

 

[86 ssinit]

Well if she’s berried now she will be berried again. Better to get rid of the parasite now than to have it spread. Can you move it to another tank? Also let’s give richie.p a chance to look before you do anything.

 

[Elkwatcher]

Well if she’s berried now she will be berried again. Better to get rid of the parasite now than to have it spread. Can you move it to another tank? Also let’s give richie.p a chance to look before you do anything.

They have all been in the same tank long enough that would quarantine really be a benefit? Treat the tank or dip them all.. there are only 6 shrimp.

 

[Rev]

They have all been in the same tank long enough that would quarantine really be a benefit? Treat the tank or dip them all.. there are only 6 shrimp.

It depends on what you want to do. Also don’t know if you have any other fish/creatures in the tank other than the shrimp. If there’s only one effected then either dip or quarantine and treat. Unless all of them are infected then I would dip or quarantine. If they all are and there’s nothing else in the tank you could just treat the tank.

 

[86 ssinit]

Ok looked it up and Rev got it right. I would do the dip and than the tank. Found this on google. Seems to be the most popular

 

[NouSoua]

Congrats on your Mama!! I keep RCS and Black Rose shrimp. In my experience this was not an easy parasite to deal with!! I had all stages of shrimp including berried females when I discovered what looked like two of my shrimp had an umbrella sprouting out of the rostrum area. I chose to treat the entire 10 gal colony with paraguard. It took 21 days of treating and several bottles of paraguard. Safe for shrimp and snails yes. But I did notice my production was slowed down and my hatch rates were not that great. One of the berried females egg appeared to be falling off and then she was kicking most of them off. In my experience paraguard dosing is fine but make sure you do at least 25% water change every 3rd day. I only use sponge filters and it says the meds dissipate after 24 hrs. But water changes after a few days while still continuing to treat worked better. These parasites are tough to get rid of because of their life cycle and how the eggs are laid in the shrimp and molting. Keep watching and quarantine her if possible. Good luck!

 

[richiep]

Just woke up glad to see things progressing for you, don't move that lady even if it is vorticella. shrimp live in harmony in the wild with vorticella and there's nothing to worry about but looks, they are little leeches that won't kill her or any other shrimp, and when the young hatch it can be cured with a simple salt dip, I'll get on my large screen in a while and have a better look as it may also be natural and you'll find it disappear when she next moults, but for now you were wise to leave well alone
As for the stripe it's natural and called a racing stripe

 

[richiep]

apologies apologies apologies especially to Rev iv got things totally messed up this morning, I'm thinking of Scutariella which is the leech, Vorticella what Rev mentioned is the more lightly but at this stage it could also be natural which ive see regular, if it is Vorticella id expect to see it increase over the next day or so and yes it should be in Quarantine and aquarium salt dip done. I could delete the post above but i'm leaving it to show how simple it is to make mistakes and sometimes be costly
edit
i'm reading through the post again and don't think she will have a problem with a salt dip and its early with eggs so if she did loose them she would get berried again soon plus you avoid the parasite contaminating the whole tank

 

[Elkwatcher]

apologies apologies apologies especially to Rev iv got things totally messed up this morning, I'm thinking of Scutariella which is the leech, Vorticella what Rev mentioned is the more lightly but at this stage it could also be natural which ive see regular, if it is Vorticella id expect to see it increase over the next day or so and yes it should be in Quarantine and aquarium salt dip done. I could delete the post above but i'm leaving it to show how simple it is to make mistakes and sometimes be costly
edit
i'm reading through the post again and don't think she will have a problem with a salt dip and its early with eggs so if she did loose them she would get berried again soon plus you avoid the parasite contaminating the whole tank

richie.p I haven't seen any spread outside of the white moustache for some time now. Have to admit to Rev I was confused and also was thinking about Scutariella not Vorticella. Today I did a salt dip as recommended by Rachel O'Leary on all the shrimp and treated the tank with Paragard per the label for 1 dose. So far the female shrimp seems to be fine. I still use Paragard with caution with inverts though.

NouSoua, thank you for the congrats! Have you tried the salt dip first, it seems to work quite well at clearing both Vorticella and Scutariella off the shrimp initially and can be repeated. I don't usually leave my molts in the tank, easy for me to find as I don't have a colony yet.. so that would also help keep things in control. I gave the tank bottom a good vacuum just to make sure there was no extra detritus for the Vorticella to feed off of. I'm a little concerned that you had to go through 2 bottles of Paraguard for a 10 gallon tank, and wonder if that's why your production and hatch rates went down. I do agree with WC's and treatments though!

 

[ROFEA]

Does the "mustache" have a clear edge or is it fuzzy speckled edged? I ask because Ive had vorticella pop up out of nowhere as in nothing new to the tank(treated it with no planaria). I would sometimes have to do a double take at the lower sliver under the rostrum that is a parallel and can catch the light and appear white. Its just a piece that is more translucent but very thin.

I would worry vorticella returned but it was just that piece catching the light. Vorticella almost looks like they were rubbing their snout in tiny sugar crystals. Your picture and video do not look like vorticella.

 

[Elkwatcher]

Does the "mustache" have a clear edge or is it fuzzy speckled edged? I ask because Ive had vorticella pop up out of nowhere as in nothing new to the tank(treated it with no planaria). I would sometimes have to do a double take at the lower sliver under the rostrum that is a parallel and can catch the light and appear white. Its just a piece that is more translucent but very thin.

I would worry vorticella returned but it was just that piece catching the light. Vorticella almost looks like they were rubbing their snout in tiny sugar crystals. Your picture and video do not look like vorticella.

ROFEA, it isn't fuzzy speckled and after googling close ups online, it seems pretty normal. Thank you Zak R and M Evans for the use of your photos. The two bottom photo's are mine, so I think you've hit the nail on the head and it's not a parasite and must be some sort of cilia. Thank you for contributing your thoughts, it is appreciated!

Courtesy of M Evans (Internet)

Courtesy of Zak R (Internet)

 

[NouSoua]

richie.p I haven't seen any spread outside of the white moustache for some time now. Have to admit to Rev I was confused and also was thinking about Scutariella not Vorticella. Today I did a salt dip as recommended by Rachel O'Leary on all the shrimp and treated the tank with Paragard per the label for 1 dose. So far the female shrimp seems to be fine. I still use Paragard with caution with inverts though.

NouSoua, thank you for the congrats! Have you tried the salt dip first, it seems to work quite well at clearing both Vorticella and Scutariella off the shrimp initially and can be repeated. I don't usually leave my molts in the tank, easy for me to find as I don't have a colony yet.. so that would also help keep things in control. I gave the tank bottom a good vacuum just to make sure there was no extra detritus for the Vorticella to feed off of. I'm a little concerned that you had to go through 2 bottles of Paraguard for a 10 gallon tank, and wonder if that's why your production and hatch rates went down. I do agree with WC's and treatments though!

Honestly I feel it's because of the continued dosing as well. I have not had any issues since though. I did not try the salt bath but will keep that in mind if any future mishaps come up! Happy Shrimp keeping!!

 

[86 ssinit]

Just curious did she drop the eggs because of the salt bath? Or is she still holding?

 

[Elkwatcher]

Just curious did she drop the eggs because of the salt bath? Or is she still holding?

Yes she did drop the eggs.. no shrimplets ever seen.
Update: Now February 16 and discovered the same female is now berried again! I’ve been feeding more protein recently. My current small number of shrimp (6) are all high quality so if these eggs finish the cycle this time there will be a nice looking healthy colony. I think she dropped because of the treatment.. and as richie.p said in his post I won’t knee jerk treating until I’m fully sure what I’m dealing with.