[FAMILYOFFISHLOVERS]

hello again all,
i have yet now another problem, not with my cichlid tank, though it may become an issue.

i bought 2-3 dozen ghost shrimp and divided them between 6 fish tanks. while cleaning my daughters guppy tank last week i had noticed a few of the shrimp had white intestines not thinking to much of it i continued cleaning.

now upon cleaning today i noticed the white was now lying on the bottom of the tank moving .
" oh my!!! it's alive!!! "

i scooped it out along with all rock in case there were more in the rocks.

several questions:::::

1. my concern if 1-2 shrimp have this would all?

2. cichlids & catfish ate the shrimp: would the cichlids & catfish now have the worms?

3. can the guppies, cichlids and catfish be treated with the jungle anti parasitic food?

4. or is there something better than the parasitic food?

5. would the shrimps parasite spread to any other fish just by living in the tank with the particular fish such as guppies? ( who dont eat the shrimp)

the only fish that seem to keep dying is the guppies. no-one seems bloated except for a few of the guppies.

 

[FAMILYOFFISHLOVERS]

ANYONE?

 

[cichlidaholic]

Are you sure these are parasites and not baby shrimp?

In answer to your questions:

1) It's possible, if they are truly parasites anything in the tank can consume them.

2) Yes, they could. What cichlids are you feeding the shrimp to?

3) Yes, if you can get them to eat the antiparasitic pellets.

4) Not sure you have any need to add anything stronger...

5) The guppies may eat the parasites once they are out of the shrimp.

My advice to you would be to slow down! You're adding new livestock to your tanks and if you were quarantining them before putting them in with your healthy fish, you could pinpoint these problems earlier, without exposing your other fish.

I'm not convinced you're dealing with parasites, but I do know that you're having alot of problems...It's not good to continue to medicate these relatively new tanks over and over again.

And, the shrimp aren't necessary to supplement feed the fish if you're feeding quality foods, so it's an unnecessary risk.

Kim

 

[MalawiLover]

Just a point of information: Invertebrates (bugs and crustaceans mostly) are the number one intermediary vector for parasites in fish and birds in the wild. Your cichlids do not need the shrimp and store bought feeder animals are notoriuosly full of parasites and disease.

If you really enjoy feeding the shrimp to your fish the safest way is to get a few adults and let them breed for you. That way you can treat the initial adults and aslo make sure the young are being fattened on a diet that will make them more nutritious as a food source.

 

[FAMILYOFFISHLOVERS]

well initially i bought them to help consume left over food and other junk that had fallen to bottom that no-one was eating or wants to eat. i only bought them like twice. was not thinking really that the small cichlids would eat them as the shrimp are good hiders. stupid me, what the heck was i thinking!

the white worm was almost 3-4 inches long, white and very skinny, i do not think its a baby ghost shrimp. kinda looked like a tapeworm

but if all these feeder goldfish, feeder guppies,feeder white clouds, ghost shrimp, & feeder crayfish have so many parasites and disease, why oh why do they keep selling & buying them infecting millions of peoples fish, turtles, eels,etc.

conspiracy? to make people keep buying meds so med companies make more money?
conspiracy? to make people have to buy new fish so pet stores make more money?
or what?

also why don't the lfs, & lps tell you or warn you?

this is very disturbing! :x the places should always treat for these things or something prior to sale!

so many new hobbiests now a-days than ever before, most like me never knew all this crud!
it's no wonder why i lost so many sharks and such in the past. there should be a warning label on the tanks or something.
"WARNING: FEEDER FISH/SHRIMP MAY CONTAIN PARASITES, BUY AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION"

or something like that.

but anyway i have not added any new shrimp for quite some time. the shrimp was in with the guppies for about a month the ones in the cichlids tank has been long gone. i probably should have mentioned that earlier.

i know i may be a pain in the rear, i am sorry if i am disturbing anyone by asking questions. :-?
i am so stressed right now it ain't even funny. :? i would rather ask the questions here where i know people like kim and robin know there stuff!! i have 6 fish tanks, 2 dogs, 3 kids, a house and a husband with a bad heart. thats alot to take care of in 1 day. i just get and do what everyone else wants. what do i get besides more work! and a few wet kisses! lol. i am so trying to do the right thing, but everything i do seems wrong!

sorry for venting!

 

[MalawiLover]

well initially i bought them to help consume left over food and other junk that had fallen to bottom that no-one was eating or wants to eat.

There should never be left over food. If the fish haven't eaten it in30-45 seconds, your are over feeding. This will go along way to help with nitrates.

the white worm was almost 3-4 inches long, white and very skinny, i do not think its a baby ghost shrimp. kinda looked like a tapeworm

Very possible that it is a tapeworm.

but if all these feeder goldfish, feeder guppies,feeder white clouds, ghost shrimp, & feeder crayfish have so many parasites and disease, why oh why do they keep selling & buying them infecting millions of peoples fish, turtles, eels,etc.

These animals (since they are only meant as food) are often kept in very overcrowded tanks, with very poor nutrition. It only takes one infected animal to spread it around to everybody in the tank with close quarters like that. I am sure you have seen the feeder fish tanks at pet stores. They seem to have more fish than water in most feeder tanks.[/quote]

conspiracy? to make people keep buying meds so med companies make more money?
conspiracy? to make people have to buy new fish so pet stores make more money?
or what?

Nope, the stores don't even think about the health of the feeders. they don't need to live very long, and at that price, it isn't worth it to medicate them.

also why don't the lfs, & lps tell you or warn you?

They don't even know most of the time.

the places should always treat for these things or something prior to sale!

When they are being sold at 10 cents a fish they aren't worth it. if they start using expensive meds on the feeders, they will have to jack up their prices and they will loose the business to places with cheaper feeders.

i am so stressed right now it ain't even funny. :? i would rather ask the questions here where i know people like kim and robin know there stuff!! i have 6 fish tanks, 2 dogs, 3 kids, a house and a husband with a bad heart. thats alot to take care of in 1 day. i just get and do what everyone else wants. what do i get besides more work! and a few wet kisses! lol. i am so trying to do the right thing, but everything i do seems wrong!

sorry for venting!

Not to worry, we have all had life get in the way of our hobby. But you need to take a good look at all the things you have to do to see if you can releive some of that stress. I hate to say it, but perhaps your curretn situation just doesn't have the space (time wise) for the fish. Many people have had to put the hobby on hold (or really scale back to maybe a single, smaller, low stress community tank) for a while when life gets really busy. Otherwise you might stress out to the point of a heart attack or stroke yourself (or some other dreadful health issue), and then where will you be.

Its obvious you care for the fish, otherwise it wouldn't be stressing you out so much. But remember you need to do whats best for you and your family too.

Just my two cents from a totally neutral veiw point.

 

[cichlidaholic]

If they put warnings on the feeder tanks, who would buy them? :roll:

Just take a deep breath and relax. Everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes I make more than my share.

I won't use any feeders (fish or shrimp) that I don't raise myself. Since I find it a pain to do so, I just make sure I feed a good quality food to anything that opens its mouth and call it a day. Much easier, and cheaper in the long run because you're not expending extra energy, extra tanks and those extra $$$ on medications.

Slow down a bit on the fish and tanks, and give it all time to catch up with you. Most of the mistakes I've made in this hobby were from making rash decisions without doing my homework first. (I've got a jacobfriebergi that is in his 3rd tank right now, determined to kill everything in sight - he's a peacock, for goodness sakes! )

We've talked about your different set ups and how you may have to make some changes later on down the line. Wait to see how things pan out with what you have!

And, really...You're not doing so bad for someone who has so much on their plate! :thumb:

Kim

 

[maggie880527]

:-? Bad horrible evil producers Merchants. How could this kind of things happen!