Parasite or what?

[MSV]

One of my blue bolt youngsters has gotten this odd parasite or something attached to its shell.
The shrimp itself is very lethargic and I don't expect it to survive, so I've isolated it from the tank.
However, I'm baffled about what this may be. I've tried 3 salt baths without any result and now I'm trying a mix of Esha Exit and 2000 just to see if it will make the damn thing fall off the shrimp.
Does anyone here has some good guesses or knows what it is?

[jayc]

Not quite sure. I can't see it properly.

A close up, side shot would help us see it better.

[fishmosy]

It seems the edge of the shell is kicked out sideways, indicating an internal growth of some kind. However difficult to tell from the above shots.

[jayc]

13 minutes ago, fishmosy said:

internal growth of some kind

Actually that was my initial thoughts as well, but I didn't mention it cause I could not be sure with those photos. It would get all blurry as soon as I tried to zoom in.

[MSV]

The pictures are already close up as the shrimp is just around 1 cm and the object on it is around 0.5 mm.
But I will try my best without access to a microscope with camera functions to get a better shot :)

[MSV]

Alright. Managed to take some new shots. This also made me aware that there's something going on with the shell on the exact opposite side of the body from where the brown thing is. I just hope that it's not something contagious, because I don't know for how long this shrimp has been ill.

Also tried to crop the first picture from the RAW file. I'm not sure if it helps with identification.

[fishmosy]

I think the brown area is associated with the deformity in the shell, either a discolouration formed by the deformity itself or an infection in the deformity. It doesn't look like any infection that I've seen before though. possibly the brown area may have resulted from damage inflicted to the shrimp after it was newly moulted. Keeping the shrimp separated until it moults again may give you a better idea of whether it is a permanent deformity or an injury. Deformities in BBs are not rare, so if it is a deformity its best to cull the shrimp  to prevent it from passing on the defective trait to any offspring.

[MSV]

Time will tell what it is, since the shrimp is slowly dying from whatever it is.
I've arranged with a friend to borrow a microscope in order to see what it really is when the shrimp is dead (it doubt that it has the energy to perform a moult). Unfortunately, it's not possible to take pictures with the microscope - else I most definitely would have!

[jayc]

It would be interesting to see what you find under the microscope.

Keep us updated.

[MSV]

So.. I've been looking at this thing through a microscope. I can now conclude that it wasn't a parasite.
It most of all resembled what looked like the tiniest popcorn shell... And no, I haven't fed my shrimps popcorn :P

My best guess is that it was a mutation/deformity of the shrimp's shell. Perhaps because of an injury during molting or something else. Either way, the shrimp died but I haven't observed any other shrimps with this particular issue.
 

[jayc]

Sorry to hear that.

At least we know it wasn't a parasite that might have endangered other shrimp in the tank.