# Cherry Shrimp Parasites



## Kerohime

Does anyone know about these little worm parasites that are seen between the eyes of cherry shrimp?






This freaks me out, and I think I have a fire red in my tank with these worms.


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## jon021

apparently these parasites are called "Scutariella japonica"

http://www.shrimpnow.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-4797.html

I have the same stuff on my fire reds as well, its weird though - my CBS are in the same tank but aren't affected by it. I'm trying to find some de-worming medicine that i can use to safely eradicate these worms.


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## Kerohime

Ewww!

I read that its because of the thicker shells of the fire reds/painted, and that they dont molt as often so the worms stay on. 
Apparently after you see a molt you should throw it away right away, as well as treat with the safeguard stuff. =x

Did yours always die after seeing them???


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## Ciddian

Yuk... sorry to hear you might have them D: I thought you had meant those tape worm looking things.


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## jon021

Kerohime said:


> Ewww!
> 
> I read that its because of the thicker shells of the fire reds/painted, and that they dont molt as often so the worms stay on.
> Apparently after you see a molt you should throw it away right away, as well as treat with the safeguard stuff. =x
> 
> Did yours always die after seeing them???


My fire reds have had those parasites on them for quite a while, a couple months or so. Haven't lost any of them except for 1, but she was a big old female. I've found some of the Sera Tremazol and i'm gonna give that a try to see if it works. Hopefully it'll get rid of those worms - they're just ugly.


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## Zebrapl3co

Yesh, that gives me the shivers. I don't have any fire red, but I think I'll check out my super reds tonight.
Thanks for sharing.

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## patricka

Kerohime said:


> Ewww!
> 
> I read that its because of the thicker shells of the fire reds/painted, and that they dont molt as often so the worms stay on.
> Apparently after you see a molt you should throw it away right away, as well as treat with the safeguard stuff. =x
> 
> Did yours always die after seeing them???


humm.... when my shrimp molt I leave it in there... they eat it to get the calcium back... I should not leave it?? it stays there for 2...3 days and then it disappears... they eat it.
now before they eat it it can stay there for a day or 2 until it softens but if you keep removing them they will end up missing calcium and die while molting


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## Kerohime

Please let me know what works!
Apparently the Internal Parasite medication has the Praziquantel in it... Which might work but I'm weary...


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## Kerohime

Just wanted to give an update... for anyone that might be afflicted. 

I put my scientific mind at work and tried doing a salt bath, because I know that can kill internal parasites for fish, which are worms... or at least enough to irritate the worms to have them fall off. 

So this was what I did:

1. Make Saltwater -I didnt really take exact measurements (very unscientific I know... ) if I would guess maybe 1-2 tablespoons per cup of water? I used freshwater aquarium salt. I wouldnt suggest using table salt.

2. catch the afflicted shrimp and put them into the salt water for 15- 30 seconds. You will see the worms come off completely. I put the shrimp back into a breeding trap to see if there are any worms clinging or moving on the shrimp. When I first tried this I only dipped the shrimp for a few seconds and it wasnt enough to kill the worms, I saw them inching along the shrimp body. Dont be too worried, the cherry shrimp are alot hardier to salt water than I thought. The worms that have lifted off are going to be in the salt water, and will eventually die due to osmotic pressure, they have water permeable membranes. 

3. Repeat- I had to do this for probably 5 days straight when I saw worms, even some juveniles are afflicted. But its been a week I havent seen any of these parasites anymore. 

I basically did this salt dip thing in despiration because the shrimp meds were taking way too long to get to me. I'm really glad it worked. I will probably still dose the tank to be sure (get rid of hydra and planaria also), but I hope this will help anyone that has this problem now because my heart was breaking when I saw these gross worms on my shrimp. 

Additional Notes:
Do water changes to take any free floating parasites out of the water, keep things clean!
If there are parasites on the shrimp, take all the sheds out until this is cleared up. The worms will stay on the sheds and then jump onto the next shrimp that is nibbling on it. If you are worried about them not getting enough calcium then feed them blanched Kale or HBH crab sticks or whatever foods have calcium and chitin in it. 

I hope this helps... I have had alot of problems finding information on this topic, it seems common enough but I guess its difficult to admit. I felt like a total noob when this happened. lol


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## jon021

Hey, just wanted to give my own update. My Sera Tremazol shipped in on friday but due to poor packaging half the bottle spilled - but i worked things out with the seller. So today i decided to go ahead and pull out the affected shrimp to treat them outside the tank as directed by the instruction leaflet. I just recently reset the tank and tossed out the fluval stratum and used my leftover netlea from when i redid my crs tank. To my surprise - the parasites on my shrimp have completely dissappeared without the treatment. I looked at every single shrimp and they're no longer bothered by the parasites - i'm not quite sure what happened. It may have been due to the new water or perhaps the new substrate and the changes in the ph, since the fluval was no longer lowering the ph -the netlea however is reading at 6.0. I'll be keeping a close eye on my shrimps to see if the parasites return, if incase they do, then i'll treat them with the Sera Tremazol and update on the results.


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## shanexu

I have those worms on one of my cherries.
I bought them from the same store but that's the only one that was affected, so I did a salt bath like the previous post mentioned.

I started with a low concentration, waited to see if the worm pops off, but when it did not for more than a minute i added more salt. I realized that the parasite only pops off at very high salt concentrations (minimum 1 tablespoon for a cup of water)

I was trying to spot when exactly did the parasite pop off, but somehow it went from being there, to just disappeared (no more white fluff on the head). i tried looking for the "popped off worm" in the box i used but didnt find any, hopefully it did not get netted up while i placed the cherry back. the cherry is now back in my main tank, and i added a tablespoon into my 5 gallons. will keep an eye on the shrimp and see if it comes back


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## getochkn

I'm glad someone bumped this today, as I've been dealing with this for a week or so. I tried a saltwater dip at first, but I did a really weak solution, maybe 1/4 teaspoon for a cup, and it did seem to make them shivrel but not go away at all. I then scooped out all the effected ones, but them in a QT tank, and started treating with paraguard, working my way up to a full dose. While it seemed to slowly be knocking it out, it would seem effective for about 12 hours, but by the next day, ones that almost looked healed the night before, were fuzzy headed again. I've been scooping out the molts as I've seen them as I figured the parasites would be living on them still. I read this, mixed up some super salt water and started dipping my worst effected ones, and completely gone after 30-40s in the salt water. Back in the QT tank to watch for a while, then going back into the main tank. I've been doing a 30% WC daily on both tanks as well but this seems much more effective than the paraguard, although now I' know, at least for something else, paraguard seems to be shrimp safe. Only lost 1 shrimp, and who knows that could have been from, could have been age and not related.

I searched online and hardly found anything on this, so good timing on the person who posted today to get it back to the top, thanks!

My QT tank is going to be my tiger tank, who are bunking with my yellows right now. Anyone have a good way that I should strip down the QT tank? Load it with salt, let it sit maybe, then wc a few times? My substrate is layered right now and rather now have to tear it down. lol.


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## shanexu

getochkn said:


> I'm glad someone bumped this today, as I've been dealing with this for a week or so. I tried a saltwater dip at first, but I did a really weak solution, maybe 1/4 teaspoon for a cup, and it did seem to make them shivrel but not go away at all. I then scooped out all the effected ones, but them in a QT tank, and started treating with paraguard, working my way up to a full dose. While it seemed to slowly be knocking it out, it would seem effective for about 12 hours, but by the next day, ones that almost looked healed the night before, were fuzzy headed again. I've been scooping out the molts as I've seen them as I figured the parasites would be living on them still. I read this, mixed up some super salt water and started dipping my worst effected ones, and completely gone after 30-40s in the salt water. Back in the QT tank to watch for a while, then going back into the main tank. I've been doing a 30% WC daily on both tanks as well but this seems much more effective than the paraguard, although now I' know, at least for something else, paraguard seems to be shrimp safe. Only lost 1 shrimp, and who knows that could have been from, could have been age and not related.
> 
> I searched online and hardly found anything on this, so good timing on the person who posted today to get it back to the top, thanks!
> 
> My QT tank is going to be my tiger tank, who are bunking with my yellows right now. Anyone have a good way that I should strip down the QT tank? Load it with salt, let it sit maybe, then wc a few times? My substrate is layered right now and rather now have to tear it down. lol.


the salt dip might have to be repeated though, I dipped it 2 days ago, yesterday there was a single strand left so i dipped it again, but today there were a few strands. AGAIN, much to my dismay.

hope it works after a few dips

i agree, there are barely any information on this parasite online, strange... maybe its a rare parasite?


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## Kerohime

I'm surprised more people havent commented about this... it seems relatively common. 

disgusting. I treated my tank with Praziquantel (sp?) those cherries seem to be able to take alot of that medication.


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## getochkn

Kerohime said:


> I'm surprised more people havent commented about this... it seems relatively common.
> 
> disgusting. I treated my tank with Praziquantel (sp?) those cherries seem to be able to take alot of that medication.


They were able to go through the full dose of paraguard and then super strength salt dips. So far, today only 3 had 1 little strand left and got a 45 second salt dip and we'll see who's still fuzzy tomorrow. I'm not sure how well a crystal would take a 500x normal strength salt dip, but the cherries did no prob. lol.


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## shanexu

getochkn said:


> They were able to go through the full dose of paraguard and then super strength salt dips. So far, today only 3 had 1 little strand left and got a 45 second salt dip and we'll see who's still fuzzy tomorrow. I'm not sure how well a crystal would take a 500x normal strength salt dip, but the cherries did no prob. lol.


after 3 salt dips my cherry seems to have cleared up 
hope nothing comes back -fingers crossed- 
only thing thats getting annoying is that since i have a planted tank, trying to squint into the nooks and crannies of my tank in search of a single cherry that has fuzz on it is breaking my neck... and eyes...


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## getochkn

Down to 2 that seemed to have a little bit left. Did another dip on them today.


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## igor.kanshyn

Oh, It's my turn to cure a shrimp from these nasty white worms


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## igor.kanshyn

Look at the video with those worms.



They are dancing


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