The green fungus!

[WDIK]

Curious, is there a reason you seem to be avoiding saying the name of the specific seller?

 

Usually it's not the best idea to "throw someone under the bus."  Google will catch everything.

 

But I'll say it.  RB is Robert Bauer.  ShrimpUSA.  shrimpusadotcom on aquabid.  He has good prices, which is what I went by before I did my research.  :shrug:

 

I will say that the "healthy" PFR I received look amazing.

[Lyana]

Yeah, I got sucked in by the ultra dream blue rilis. I did my research and still risked it. I do have to say though, they do look awesome. I'm sorry others also got infected shrimp from him.

[Aiko]

edited  missed the post where the seller was named

[Spialz]

He is still in business because people keep buying shrimp from him..

That's exactly right. When people purchase shrimp from a not so great seller, they are encouraging that seller to continue to do exactly what they are doing. To that same effect, when we avoid naming these people and their businesses, we are only hurting the hobby. If sellers don't want their business talked about in a negative way on the Internet then they will quickly change.

[Sumo82]

I bought 5 crs from him a couple months ago and they came with black spot disease. My 5 low grades before these arrived were fine. I actually had one of his ulcerated on the gill. It died soon after. Yikes wish I knew earlier. I'm recovering ATM.

[costumekevin]

The reason I am posting it is for the people that bought the 2000 shrimp sold at AGA convention in DC.  

This was his final response and I do not intend to communicate with him on the subject again.

 

 

 

R Bauer

Apr 12 (6 days ago)

 

to me

 

I do see it now . That's really pretty light and the shrimp will be fine but I do not want you to pay for them . As I mentioned it is not a parasite or in any way harmfull at the stage it is in now and will not increase rather slowly turn brom but it can take a few months . Sorry I took 2000 shrimp to DC and sold at the AGA convention and none of use and some of them are more expert than I , saw anything at all . Let me know how many shrimp it was on . looks like just the Blue . I would not destroy them as they will be fine and also breed . 

 

[Dukendabears]

He has been made aware that he sells shrimp on deaths door.. He does not care.  In his bubble there is nothing wrong with shrimp that have this.

[Chiumanfu]

Good to know. I just joined this forum and I have to say, the willingness to share info and experiences is great.

[Soothing Shrimp]

We all have to help each other, my friend.

[Lyana]

Yep! Shrimp are an awesome hobby to get into but it can be very frustrating if you don't know what you're doing.

[Soothing Shrimp]

Even if you DO know what you are doing! LOL

[Xubarku]

It's probably too soon to say for sure, but does the paraguard seem to be having any effect? Currently trying to find something that works for this "fungus" myself.

[EricM]

there are a few reasons a few of us more seasoned keepers avoid his name now... 

for me its because he's threaten to sue me (multiple times) because of defamation for hurting his business. He also spreads false info about me to breeders which I'm well aware of and grateful I have great relationships with them so they are aware its all BS.  His standard move is to say how he's old and this is his only form of income.  We've all heard his victim card many times...He is banned for life from most forums and large FB groups. thats why he's had to go create his own groups. He works harder at getting negative reviews removed then he would if he just did better business.  i'd say 90% of his business now is aquabid.  He claims to have sold to over 10,000 people... that has always surprised me.. if that was truth the hobby would be a lot bigger then it is... but then again if he's selling crap half dead then I understand people get frustrated and give up.

 

bottom line is, he will continue to do this as long as continues to make $. once he has your $ not much you can really do about it. 

and as long as he has the $ to buy from breeders they will continue to supply him knowing full well he's a pain in the ass.

 

just like a new partnership that was announced last week. the breeder fully knows that the US person does not have the support or respect from MANY of the biggest names in the USA, but as long as the payment clears the importer will be supplied with shrimp.

 

 

back on track.... i hope you can find a solution to this, but many have tried many different methods to only have the shrimp pass before any actual positive results.

[rodbigelow]

I'm glad you guys worked through this and after some discussion and verification decided to name names. Many years ago when I first joined a forum for people who facet gemstones, there was a "code of silence" about dealers who were selling fake stones or never completing orders,etc. After much debate on the subject, it was decided it was time to break that code and when people started naming names, it turned out that there was one individual who had burned practically everyone in the forum, some for 10's of thousands of dollars worth of rough stones!

 

Of course I warn you to be careful with claims and not say anything you can't back up, but from that experience I can tell you a code of silence only helps the dishonest.

[Spialz]

My thoughts exactly Rod

[Crazyfishlady]

My thoughts are this...

 

I am extremely new to this 'hobby' and it's a very scary, confusing world to enter into with so much conflicting information. I've had a few hard lessons learned but this forum has kept me sane and kept me from throwing in the towel... more than once.

 

Have I bought from 'he who shall not be named'? Nope

 

Will I? Nope

 

That is my decision, based on 'reviews' from forums, FB pages... some with documented pics, some without. This is my RIGHT as a consumer to decide not to buy from him. I understand taking things with a grain of salt but the consistency of the posts, the pics and even pics taken of the seller's response have played a part in my decision.

 

Some people defend him (also their right) and claim you should judge for yourself. I did my research and decided not to chance it.

 

I will admit his prices on AB do draw you in and are tempting... 

 

Consumers have a right to the good reviews but also the bad ones. That isn't slander or defamation.

 

Ok - off my soap box now  

[sarah]

It's so strange that there are almost no negative reviews for him on aquabid. Do they take those down, or are people just reluctant to post negative reviews?

[Soothing Shrimp]

It's double edged.  If you leave a negative review, the seller can leave a negative review in retaliation.  Even if it wasn't that way, one buy from you as a revenge and negative reviews can be left again.That's the trouble with ANY rating system.

[Desert Shrimp Depot]

My formal training and degree is in Biology.  I'm not a specialist, and certainly  not a specialist in protists.   One of the things I have found is that there is nothing in nature without a reason. The most obvious thing about this scourge (not RB - the shrimp infection) is that it's GREEN.  It's green for a reason.  I don't believe it's a fungus or an algae - but I believe it is a member of the most diverse and bizarre kingdom - the protists. You might recall Euglena form HS biology class -- a photosynthetic protist.  Just about like Paramecia - except it's a flagellate and photosynthetic.  Other pigmented protists are frequently flagellates - such as the infamous dinoflagellate that causes red tide with is a photosynthetic bloom of dinoflagellates in nutrient rich water.  

I believe the green scourge is mixotrophic -- which means it is both photosynthetic and also ingests it's prey.  I think the scourge is a close relative of dinoflagellate.

 

So far I'm as likely to be right as wrong - but these are the assumptions I'm working with.  

 

Most people are approaching their treatment of the scourge by using chemical treatment (salt is a chemical too).  I think that this scourge has an achilles heel which is not a water parameter.  My assumption that it's photosynthetic points to a method to assault the scourge without stressing the shrimp.  Deprive the bugger of light - and you deprive it of carbohydrates - it's energy source. Assuming it's mixotrophic this will still allow it access to other nutrients, but I believe depriving it of light will provide a blow to the scourge without stressing the shrimp.  Once the scourge has been weakened by "dark therapy" other treatments will more likely be effective and can administered in lower amounts and for less time to reduce the stress on the shrimp.  

 

OK -- so what do I have to back this up?  Not much.  I was unsuccessful in saving the life of 3 shrimp when administering treatment along with dark therapy but a reduction of the infection was noted before the shrimp died.

 

12 days ago I found I had another shrimp (Blue Dream) with the scourge.  This time I did only one thing - dark therapy.  The first 5 or 6 days there was no observable reduction in the infection - but by day 8 there was no green infection visible when observed in a glass shrimp catcher.  I don't for a second believe this shrimp is cured, but I do believe is just as healthy as when first diagnosed, but the infection is not.  The shrimp remains in "dark therapy" and will for several more days.  I'll give him a magnified inspection after two weeks of dark therapy.  

 

Now this is only one shrimp and it a work in process - but I hope it may point to the achilles heel which may be exploited to make more effective treatments of infected shrimp.  

 

Let me give more specifics of "dark therapy".  The shrimp was moved with tank water and java moss to a 1 gallon plastic critter keeper.  No filtration, no aeration, just allowing him to derive food from the java moss - which I'm a bit nervous about because I don't know how long the java moss can survive in this environment.   This critter keeper is placed in a drawer and it's left open just a crack - about half inch - to allow enough light to get in for the shrimp to see to feed, but not enough for photosynthesis.  

 

This is a work in progress - one which will need to be replicated many times before much credibility can be placed in it.    I would like other owners of infected shrimp to try this dark therapy method and report their findings.  Moreover -- I would love to make a connection with an importer to ship me infected shrimp that I can treat with this method and see if I can replicate these results.  

 

One other take-away from my working hypothesis and experience so far   - I believe if importers  quarantined shrimp under bright light - promoting photosynthesis  visual identification of infected shrimp would be easier and probably possible within two weeks of "light therapy".  

[Soothing Shrimp]

Awesome theory, Desert!  One I hope you will report back on as you learn and hear more.  Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts on this.

[metageologist]

Very interesting hypothesis, hope it pans out and a cure is developed from this.

have a gneiss day

[Lyana]

Well, I've been treating my shrimp with paragaurd and salt, high doses for around five minutes. 1/2 teaspoon of salt , .5 ml paragaurd and 6oz water. The shrimp no longer has any visible fungus, but I'm still scared to put him in with the rest.

[Soothing Shrimp]

Fungus was gone in 5 minutes?

[Lyana]

No, that's how long I leave him in the cup of treatment water. I've treated him four times and this morning after the last drip the last bit of fungus that I can see it gone.

Also I forgot to add, I added a drop of excel to the breeder box I'm keeping him in. Not sure if that did anything but I read it somewhere.

[Keiris]

how is he doing?