Cleaner shrimp covered in white spots

[Hellybell80]

evening all,

I have two cleaner shrimp which have been in my tank for 7 months. I noticed today that both are covered in white spots. Still doing there thing.
I've tried to find answers but can't find answers.
Any help appreciated.

 

[vetteguy53081]

That's odd !! Is it carrying eggs?
It can also be sand as these guys don’t get ich

 

[Hellybell80]

No its not sand. No eggs at the moment. But they normally carry regularly.

 

[fishguy242]

strange have never seen before!! #reefsquad ??

 

[Hellybell80]

Its on both shrimp as well. Not just the one.
Didn't notice it yesterday. I know they aren't supposed to get white spot but there is a white spot disease they can get. But I thought it was just farmed shrimp.
No live stock changes in months either.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I've never seen that before. There is a white spot disease of food shrimp (Penaids) that is caused by a virus, but the spots aren't distinct like that. Lysmata shrimp get a copepod parasite, but again, it doesn't look like this at all.
The fact that both shrimp have it implies it might be contagious. The fact that the shrimp are still acting o.k. is good. I wonder what will happen when they molt?

Jay

 

[4tanks]

Following as this is interesting

 

[Hellybell80]

They should be moulting soon as they seem to do it regularly.
A little concerned as it could pass onto my fish. Their antenna are blotchy as well.

 

[HeyJay]

An oldie from wetwebmedia

 

[fishguy242]

be sure to remove molt asap this time

 

[Hellybell80]

My alk is 8.2
Calcium 440
Mag 1350

 

[AC1211]

An oldie from wetwebmedia

 

[Hellybell80]

be sure to remove molt asap this time

Always manage to catch it. Normally ends up in the overflow lol

 

[Hellybell80]

If it were because of an imbalance in the tank surely more information would be available as in the marine aquarium world lots of people have imbalances in their tanks. They were in there from the start, I transferred them from my old tank. So went through imbalances in the beginning. My tank has been pretty stable for months now.

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Mine get this from time to time. I always just thought they were the young stages of spirorbis worms that never grow up because the shrimp molts. Could be confirmation bias, but this seems to happen more in tanks that have lots of spirorbis worms.

 

[Hellybell80]

Mine get this from time to time. I always just thought they were the young stages of spirorbis worms that never grow up because the shrimp molts. Could be confirmation bias, but this seems to happen more in tanks that have lots of spirorbis worms.

That sounds like a possible cause.
I don't have many in the tank. But it could be as the white spots are irregular.

 

[saltyhog]

Mine get this from time to time. I always just thought they were the young stages of spirorbis worms that never grow up because the shrimp molts. Could be confirmation bias, but this seems to happen more in tanks that have lots of spirorbis worms.

The chipmunk beat me to it! My first thought was tiny spirobid worms. Will be interesting to see if they get new ones after the next molt.

 

[GoVols]

strange have never seen before!! #reefsquad ??

Of all the metazoan groups discussed in this book, the crustaceans are the most diverse and ubiquitous. Among them, the copepods are dominant. They, jointly with the monogeneans, are the most speciose group of metazoan ectoparasites of marine fishes; in addition, they infect a wide range of marine invertebrates. Thousands of species are already known, but many potential host groups have not been examined, and for this reason, even approximate estimates of species numbers are impossible. Reflecting the diversity of hosts, copepods show an amazing variety of adaptations which secure infection of and survival on the hosts.

?????????????????

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

evening all,

I have two cleaner shrimp which have been in my tank for 7 months. I noticed today that both are covered in white spots. Still doing there thing.
I've tried to find answers but can't find answers.
Any help appreciated.

Just for grins, I ran a Google search. Deja Vu all over again (grin). I saw 4 messages on forums about this exact issue - people quoted the Wet Web Media post, they said it was sand, they mentioned the white spot shrimp virus...but in the end, nobody really knew what it was either. The only thing new to this thread was the mention of the spirobolid worms...

Jay

 

[Hellybell80]

Well for me I'm glad there's a new theory added to the wonders of the web haha.

I'll keep an eye on them. Was going to get my microscope out but they move too much . If the molt ill catch it and run it under the scope. Should give me a better idea.