Is this shrimp sick?

[Pconnieae]

Hi all,

I have a shrimp with brown spots on its body. Is it sick?


http://www.aquabulles.com/album_pic.php?pic_id=298

[simcb]

Is the shrimp active, eating well and moulting?

If it isn't i guess you can start quarantining the infected ones just in case.

[retardo]

What are your water conditions? How long have you had the shrimp (what species, btw)? Are those the regular markings or did these spots just appear? I think we need to know more information before we can truly form an opinion.

Based on just the picture, the skin is a little milky, so I think it may be sick.

[Pconnieae]

The shrimp is active and eat well. I have another shrimp with the same spots but not as large as on this one.

This is a wild form bee shrimp. I bought them 2 months ago. The water is rather soft and acidic (KH 3). I keep them at room temperature (about 22°C) in a 10 gal tank. The brown/red spots appeared a few days ago.

Two weeks ago a few females gave birth to shrimplets but now the babies all disappeared :( . I don't know if they died because they were sick or because the adult shrimps eat them.

[retardo]

If they are eating well is active and molting regularly, I think the shrimp is fine, especially if the other shrimp presents the same markings. It may be something that appears later on in their lifecycle. That's just my opinion, btw.

I think room temps should be fine, and the KH is fine as well. The KH on my one of my tanks is 3 as well. I would continue to observe them and see if these spots change shape, color, etc. If it's stable, I think it may just be part of their natural coloration and nothing more.

In re: your concern that the adults ate the babies, this generally does not happen with algae eating shrimp. They don't cannibalize the young. Shrimp are scavengers and will only eat the young if they are dead or very sick and near death. I've never witnessed a shrimp eating another healthy shrimp.

[retardo]

Based on just the picture, the skin is a little milky, so I think it may be sick.

Just wanted to add that milky coloration may be an indication of sickness, but does not necessarily mean it is. I have some shrimp that have milky exoskeletons for quite some time and they are active, eating, molting... in general good health. Some others that had the same problem with milky colors did end up dying.

[retardo]

PConnaie - Any updates on these shrimp?

[Pconnieae]

Today I don't see any shrimps with these brown/red spots any more.

I don't think the shrimp died because I didn't find any dead shrimp in the tank. But there are a lot of snails in that tank...

I have several berried shrimps in that tank, I hope that the babies will survive that time.