PlantsAndMe

In my little cherry red shrimp colony, I saw one or two of them with this weird brown lump protruding from the side of their head. What are these lumps and should I be concern? Do I have to isolate these individuals? Thanks in advance

raven_wilde

Are you sure it's a lump? Sometimes, when my cherries start to shed their skins a little bit will start to lift off in the head area and they will walk around for a day or so with this brownish tab hanging on them.

PlantsAndMe

I'm not quite sure what it is. Its a dark brown spot that is directly on side of the head. The size is maybe 1/3 the size of the shrimp's head.

John N.

Hmm, could be simply a color variation, or is it an actual bump? Maybe he got mugged by another shrimp...

Sorry that was my poor attempt to be funny. But seriously, I doubt there's much to worry about. Though I never seen a shrimp have a protuding bump on their head. Maybe it's just a growth defect. When's the last time you changed the gene pool?

Have any pictures of it?

-John N.

PlantsAndMe

The shrimps all look the same so I don't know if the bump is gone or not. My camera isn't that great and if/when I find the shrimp it'll swim away before I get a clear shot. This is my first batch of cherry red shrimps so I haven't any had shrimplets yet (there's three females that are heavily pregnant though). Maybe the bump was temporarily, who knows...

raven_wilde

I've noticed darker spots on some of my shrimp periodically and although it is hard to follow up with an individual I haven't noticed any unusual deaths. On the whole I wouldn't worry about it... and anyway, what could you do about it? I'm pretty sure a lumpectomy on a shrimp would be next to impossible.