Please help ID black spots on shrimp...

[ant]

I tried posting this in the disease forum but no responses so I will try here.
I noticed yesterday that my peppermint shrimp has some black spots on him. I've had him for three weeks and was feeding him flake food until about 11 days ago when I added my two clowns. Then I added frozen shrimp brine to his diet, alternating flake and brine. He doesn't seem to be acting wierd. Swims around just fine. Came up to eat flake this a.m. cleans himself as usual. I did notice that he brings his tail in under him sometimes, not sure if that matters. He has molted twice. It's a relatively new tank. I cycled for 3-4 weeks before adding a clean up crew. Readings were great prior. I checked readings yesterday and they were as follows, amonia/nitrites-0/0, nitrates 10-20, ph-7.8 (down from 8.2), SG 1.025, sal-34. I have LR and LS. I changed the filter bag this morning and cleaned the filter out.
Any thoughts and info would be great. Thanks Ant.

 

[ant]

For those of you looking at this thread I found an answer. The black spots can be caused by Epicaridean Isopod.
Originally posted by Bang Guy
Yes, the parasite often show up as a black spot or an irregularly formed mass in the abdominal cavity. When buying Peppermints your best bet will be captive bred specimens. They are still fairly rare unfortunately. When buying a Peppermint all you can do is buy the smallest shrimp and look very carefully for anything unusual. They're not really that common but if you look at a lot of Shrimp you will probably find a couple.
Also,
Originally posted by Bang Guy
If the dark spots are only on the carapace then they are not a parasite and will go away during a molt. If it is the parasite it's not contagious so you might as well keep it as long as possible.
Hope this helps others. Ant.

 

[tizzo]

Well there's always hope. When I bought my cleaner, he had those spots, they went away or considerably lightened after a molt but they kept coming back. I don't know how long he had them but they just disappeared on their own. I had forgotten about them til you brought the topic up. But I've had him for about a year now and he's fine. So hopefully yours will be too.

 

[ant]

Thanks Tizzo. That was very nice to hear. I hope he makes it too. I love watching him. Ant.

 

[teresaq]

Glad you found out what was wrong with your shrimp, but, isnt that a cleaner not a peppermint shrimp???

 

[mudplayerx]

Yup, tha is a cleaner shrimp. I'm sorry he is sick and hope he gets better soon

 

[saltn00b]

hey guys, my cleaner shrimp got these spots on him now. all of a sudden they appeared overnight. i had him for about 2 weeks. theres nothing i can do ?

 

[ant]

Salt,
No not really. I will tell you what's been happening to mine. He got the spots then molted and he was clear. Next day he had the spots again. I bought a peppermint shrimp a week or so ago and the day after I got the peppermint Jaques was cleared up, without molting. I think the peppermint cleaned him all up. It's been over a week and has no spots. Wish I could help out more. As long as the spots are not on his belly he'll more than likely be okay. If they are on the belly or abdomen then it might be that disease and he might die from it. I don't know if you have done a search on it but Bang Guy wrote some good info on it. Also, if it is the disease it's not contageous so you can just leave him in with the others. HTH, Good luck. Ant.

 

[saltn00b]

well i have a camelback that was sold to me under the false pretenses of a peppermint, i havent seen them get too close. they hang out in the same corner of the tank, but never really close to be touching / cleaning from what ive seen. dont think that fits the bill though.

 

[ant]

Doesn't sound like it does. Can you take the camel back shrimp back to the store and exhange him? They might at least give you some credit towards another. Otherwise, just don't worry about it. At the time there was nothing I could do so I just went with it. When he molted I was so happy to see him all cleared up but he got more the next day. Wish you the best.