# Parasite in shrimp tanks. HELP !!!



## plamski (Oct 27, 2009)

Hello. I just found that I have those parasites in my CRS, Sulawesi and tiger shrimp tanks.
Any Ideas what is it and how to treat them?


----------



## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Those are not parasites; they are ostracods. They can do some damage to plants if they get numerous. Other than that, they are harmless. They are very difficult to eliminate, although fish that like to munch on crunchy foods might keep their population low. If you just have to get rid of them, move all your shrimp to a new aquarium with a rinse stop in an intermediate aquarium. Don't move any plants or snails. Then get a submersible heater and heat the aquarium with the ostracods to at least 70 degrees C (158 degrees F).


----------



## digital_gods (Apr 23, 2010)

My Least Killifish love those. I see them patrolling the floor of my tank looking for them. I need to get more tasty creatures for them.


----------



## Coralite (Nov 29, 2008)

HeyPK said:


> Those are not parasites; they are ostracods.


Great call on the ID PK, not many people know what ostracods are, I didnt even know that they occur in fresh water.


----------



## plamski (Oct 27, 2009)

They are small and hard to be seen.I saw them with my Nikon macro lens.


----------



## Southern (Jul 17, 2010)

I use ostracods to feed Apistogrammas


----------



## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I used them to raise an eft I found in a local pond. Here is a pic of him when he was about 3 inches long


----------



## phil79 (Jun 16, 2010)

A lot of people may only know them as seed or clam shrimp, I always thought that they fed on algae and diatoms and not the plants themselves.


----------



## plamski (Oct 27, 2009)

They use to be in very large numbers at the beginning. Now they are very few left.


----------

