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Crown of Fungus


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So I bought some Painted Fire Reds from someone on Planted Tank a week or two ago and this last weekend I was looking at them and I noticed at least one of them had what looked like a tiny white jester or chefs hat on its head.  While pretty cool looking I figured it was some sort of fungus.  I had 2 small brown paper bags of alder cones so I dumped some in the tank as the tannins are supposed to help with fungus. 

 

I forgot how much tannins they released and I had put probably 30 of the things in a 10 gallon tank.  The next day it was so dark it looked like the light was off.  I did an 80% water change the other day so I could see in the tank and see if they were getting any better.  The shrimp were still alive but the tank was still to dark to see much more than that. 

 

Does anyone have any good solutions to fungus?  I have heard that it will sometimes go away when they molt too.

 

PS I promise to get pictures as soon as I am able to...I need to get in the habit of taking more pictures :)

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Sounds like Vorticella- a parasite.  Sometimes it does go away with molts, but the challenge you have is that you have to remove that molt ASAP or it will reinfect shrimp.

 

Try a strong salt dip: 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt in a cup of water. 30 seconds in the dip, rinse in fresh water

 

Often this does the trick.  Sometimes a 2nd dip is needed, but the dip seems to work pretty well.

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just use it on the shrimp that I see who have it? 

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ok I will give that a try....one good reason to buy stuff bred in the states by a hobbyist instead of something imported from overseas. 

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Unfortunately, getting neo shrimp from overseas is not that uncommon to have this parasite.  They have massive breeding tanks and just net as they need them.

 

For crystals, they are much more picky about slective breeding, etc.

 

It's too bad really, because I really have a love for neos and wish they would work more on health and selectively breeding those for different vars.  Unfortunately, it's up to hobbiests like us to make up for the lack of interest there with neos.

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Salt dip is totally the way to go unless you have a LOT with it, in which case I use Paraguard.  May lose a shrimp or two in the process of dosing ( I never had with neos but have with others) but I've had good luck with it for Vorticella.

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I tried searching Paraguard but all that comes up is the Paragard the contraceptive. 

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Thanks for the link!  The timing is good to since I need to place an order at Dr Foster Smith anyways.

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