White stuff on cherry shrimp's head

[fireflies]

Hi there,

I've just noticed some white stuff on one of my shrimp's head, not sure how long it's been there as I've been away for a few days, but it's definitely less than a week. She's also the only one I can see it on.

Any ideas what it could be? I did a quick search and thought maybe some sort of parasite?

Sorry the picture isn't the best! If it is parasites, what do I need to do to treat it, and how cab I prevent it reoccurring? The tanks been running about 2 months now with no other issues, and I've not bought anything new into the tank (all the shrimp and plants were taken from my other tank).

Thanks in advance!

 

[Colin_T]

Probably Epistylis. Salt should treat it.

Do a big water change and gravel clean the substrate before adding salt.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Clean the filter before adding salt if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks.

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

 

[fireflies]

Hi thanks for the help! So I've actually gone to check on her this morning and it looks like there's less of the white stuff on her head today? Sorry again for the bad quality image haha.

Do you think treatment is still needed, or should I give it a couple days and see if it goes completely? It's a shrimp only tank and she still seems to be the only one affected that I can see.

EDIT: I've just checked again a couple hours later and now it's all gone! Any ideas?