Please Help Identify Critters In My Cherry Shrimp Tank

[Gvilleguy]

I still plan to hold off treatment just for now to see if I start to lose any shrimp. But I will go ahead and buy treatment to have on hand since it appears to work quickly if I see a problem. I will post back with any news.

 

[Gvilleguy]

So I monitored the shrimp population for almost a month at the weekly feedings. My count was not really rising above about 30. I would see the odd baby shrimp, but not in any great numbers, even though the females have been breeding constantly! I assume the worms have been getting some.
 
Five days ago I started treating with fenbendazole. The dosing instructions on the package were not helpful. The med came in 250 mg powder packets, and the instructions were to mix a packet into 4 oz of food. I wanted a more direct treatment method, so I googled and came up with a general recommendation of 0.1 grams per 10 gallons. But, again, not terribly helpful, as I had no easy way to measure 0.1 grams of powder. I finally just used a tiny shrimp wafer spoon and put about a BB pellet size helping of powder into the tank and monitored the shrimp. Over the next day they had no visible reaction to the medicine. 
 
My unscientific results are as follows:
1. Prior to treatment I could easily observe 5 - 10 worms on the sides of the tank at any time
2. Day 2: One day after treatment I spotted 3 worms.
3. Day 3 I treated again.
4. Day 4 I spotted 2 worms.
5. Day 5 I treated again. (yesterday)
 
So I think I am headed in the right direction. And it seems to me that I am seeing more babies around the tank at one time than I was before treatment, but that could be wishful thinking. We will see when I feed this weekend. I want my population to start to go up!

 

[Gvilleguy]

Two weeks later and I am treating with fenbendazole once or twice per week. The worm population is way down. The past two feedings I counted 40 shrimp, so I think I'm now going in the right direction now.

 

[BubblesLotsOfBubbles]

The little oblong  white critters look familiar. They have a little flagella?  I see one or two now and then in my tank that has nothing put plants. Doesn't look to be a dedicated shrimp / fish eater.

 

[Gvilleguy]

Yes, the little oval shaped guys have what appear to be flagella that they use to swim around. They look like seed shrimp to me, but I thought seed shrimp were bigger than these.