If you see a shrimp that looks like the below: Cull, Cull, Cull

[KeenShrimp]

Bluebolts posted on this a few years back, but breeding deformed shrimp here in Australia is sadly currently a reality that some people will encounter. Be aware what a balloon head and an Open skirt looks like. The shrimplets look very slightly abnormal if you don't know what you are looking for, once you know how to spot this, you can cull immediately.

I get it, I really do: shrimp are expensive and adorable and that is why people are reluctant to cull. What is a relatively rare occurency, if you cull early, your colony will be fine. If you don't cull and you start breeding these, you will be overrun by deformed shrimp in a few years. 

This issue was highlighted in 2011 when a deformed shrimp wine the Hanniver shrimp show when the judges did not pick up the Deformity. It is not okay to breed shrimp like this and sell them to unsuspecting buyers. It is not okay for a successful senior breeder to sell these shrimp and telling buyers there is nothing wrong with them. This is what is happening here at the moment.

Please see Chris Lukhaup's link below. There is also a good article in breeders n keepers on this. The Open Skirt where the carapace is undersized and the gills are visible is showing up regularly here now.

http://crustahunter.com/deformities-in-high-bred-shrimp/?lang=en

[ShrimpP]

Thanks for sharing that link.

I wonder if any of those "deformities" (ones that are exoskeleton complications and not tissue deformities) can be corrected with either speeding the shrimp growth, slowing growth down or maybe providing more or less calcium or carbonates depending on the given issue.

[Disciple]

Thanks for the post @KeenShrimp Very interesting

[KeenShrimp]

Hi @ShrimpP, no this is a congenital issue and cannot be corrected with nutrition, mineral or temperature. The exoskeleton is not something that grows like hat for example. I have an open skirt adult royal in my cull tank and even the best products that money can buy can't fix that.

Hat = hair, sorry

 

[OzShrimp]

Its always good to be able to reference text based information to actual photos to put everything into hindsight. 

[Foxpuppet]

Most of the images from the article seem to missing

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KeenShrimp]

Hi @Foxpuppet,

On my browser all 3 images are showing. If they are not working, you can use the below:

Balloon head deformity ( credit: BlueBolts)

Open Skirt deformity ( credit: crustahunter)

 

 

[NoGi]

If someone has their own photos, we could always write an article here

[KeenShrimp]

Here is an original article from BlueBolts circa 2013 :