What is this fuzz?!

[Bluevelvets]

I have a large colony of blue velvets that I’ve just noticed a few individuals (4, all mature females, 3 are berried) that have a white fuzzy material on the sides of their heads and tail regions. I’m suspecting this is a fungus, but I need to know how to treat. Can I treat the whole colony safely? I have hundreds of babies and others of all stages. Their tankmates are mystery snails and a baby bristlenose pleco. 

Right now I’ve isolated the 4 females into a separate container that hangs inside the main tank (to keep temperatures stable) and I’m doing daily water changes in the container. 

 

[jayc]

Have you got a picture ?

Alternatively, have a look at this post to see if you can identify it.

Treatments are listed as well in that post.

It is either fungus or it could be Vorticella or Scutariella.

Edited November 8, 2018 by jayc

[Bluevelvets]

I do have pics, but I couldn’t upload them because the file is too big and I can’t seem to make them smaller. It does resemble the white fuzz on the fungal infection picture in that article, but not as thick and obvious. I’ll keep working on trying to upload the pics...

[Bluevelvets]

Ok, so according to the article, I believe it is vorticella. I followed exact directions for a 30 second salt bath on 6-8 affected shrimp. Next morning, all of them were dead. I used the 1tsp/cup of water, 30 second bath, transfer back to clean tank water. I used API aquarium salt. Not sure what went wrong...

[jayc]

2 hours ago, Bluevelvets said:

all of them were dead

Sorry to hear that.

Just double checking you used a teaspoon and not a tablespoon measurement.

Did you use tap or tank water?

[Bluevelvets]

Yes, absolutely certain it was a teaspoon, not a tablespoon 

I used tank water

[Zoidburg]

That's a shame... I was leaning towards vorticella myself without seeing pictuers.

 

I've used the same treatment for scutariella without deaths... but it is still stressful on the shrimp.

[Bluevelvets]

I read someplace that Prazipro works. I’ll try that with a few before I dose the whole tank. 

[Zoidburg]

Anything that kills planaria would also kill them, but I'd caution using Fenbendazole and many products out there it's better to under-dose anyway.

I've heard Paraguard works as well, but haven'tr tried it. I've been meaning to get Prazipro for a long time though! 

[jayc]

Were the shrimp heavily infected? 

If they were heavily infected, it might have been too late even with the salt bath treatment. Vorticella can kill shrimp if they are too infected. Salt baths are stressful for the shrimp. But if you did nothing, the shrimp would have died anyway. So you did the right thing by taking the step to treat them.

If you use chemicals like Prazi or  Fenbendazole, definitely half dose, and follow up with a 50% water change 2 days later. Don't forget to remove any carbon before treating the tank.

Try to get us a close up picture if you can, so we are sure we are treating for the for ailment.

[Bluevelvets]

Finally got a pic small enough to upload...closest I could get with my phone. I’ve never seen this before, so as far as heavy vs lightly infected, I’m not sure. Some had more than others. I just find it odd they all died at the same time. I have 3 more in the box for isolation now. Not doing the salt thing again. 

[Bluevelvets]

Got better pics. Can anyone confirm what this is so I know I’m treating appropriately?

[jayc]

32 minutes ago, Bluevelvets said:

Got better pics

Oh yeah, that's vorticella without doubt. And that shrimp is heavily infected.

 

5 hours ago, Bluevelvets said:

Not doing the salt thing again. 

I know you are not doing the salt bath again. But I just wanted to get more info to make sure that we are giving people the right advise in the Diseases thread.

Did you use a level teaspoon measurement? or a heaped teaspoon measurement?

I have done salt baths on my shrimps before and they have not died. So I'm wondering if I need to adjust to a lower dosage for safety.

It's a continual learning process. It's not like there are many other posts on shrimp diseases around. Hope you understand if I keep probing ?

Edited November 12, 2018 by jayc

[Bluevelvets]

I did use 1 level teaspoon of salt in 1 cup (8oz) of tank water. Salt was completely dissolved before shrimp were added. 1 minute dip and then back into clean tank water. I did this right before I went to bed, so was unable to observe them for long, but they were all active. Next morning all were dead. There were several molts present, some of which still had eggs attached. Sadly, many of the ones that died were berried females 

The shrimp in the most recent pics is much more heavily infected than the others were. There are 2 others in with this one, but they have since molted and don’t appear to have it anymore. I didn’t take them out because I doubt molting gets rid of it entirely 

[Bluevelvets]

Update: So, I treated twice with PraziPro as directed on bottle. After first treatment I noticed no difference. After second treatment I had multiple deaths. I’m certain it was the meds that caused it because the ones that died didn’t even show signs of infection. I then did a 50% water change 2 days in a row to get the meds out of the tank. There was still no improvement in the infected shrimp, so I decided to treat for fungal on the off chance it might help. I got Pimafix and today is the third consecutive treatment. I’m not noticing as many affected shrimp, but there are still several that are not getting better. If anything they’re getting worse. The “fuzz” seems to be mainly on the head, tail, and underside. The ones that look the worst seem to be berried females. 

Can anyone tell me what I can do differently to help them. I’ve removed about 20 of my best ones that don’t appear infected and moved them to a new tank to hopefully save my colony in case the big tank goes south. I have some more recent pics

[jayc]

52 minutes ago, Bluevelvets said:

The photos look like they have been painted with water colour. It's critical to diagnose the ailment properly and avoid incorrect medication. 

It looks like fungus or vorticella. I can't quite tell with these photos.

If it's fungus, can you try Malachite green? I've never known Pimafix or Melafix to work very well.

Treatment 3: Malachite green

For treatment of fungal infections.

Dosage: 0.05mg per 1L of water for a duration of 7 days. 50% water change each day.

Try it on the worst of shrimps outside the main tank first. If that works, then dose the whole tank.

 

 

Edited November 29, 2018 by jayc

[Bluevelvets]

Is this pic any better? I don’t know why the first ones looked so weird. This was the best focus I could get with my camera phone

[jayc]

Better.

Looks more like fungus now. It's too dense for vorticella.

Have you got malachite green to try?

[Bluevelvets]

No, I’ll have to find some. The Pimafix won’t be good enough then? How long does it take to get rid of with malachite green? Do you know how I should dose it? Thank you for your help

No, I’ll have to find some. The Pimafix won’t be good enough then? How long does it take to get rid of with malachite green? Do you know how I should dose it? Thank you for your help

[jayc]

I answered your question even before you asked ... See 3 posts before this

It will take a few days since we are using a low dose.

Edited November 29, 2018 by jayc

[Bluevelvets]

Oops, my bad ?. Thank you!