Clear patch on fire red's shell?

[gtu2004]

So I have quite a few fire red shrimps. They have been in their 20 gallon long tank for a year and have been doing quite well. From a few weeks ago I noticed that 1 or 2 of them have clear patch on their shells, around the "cheeks" area and lower abdomen. Almost like the shell becomes thinner and it lost some red pigment. I've attached pictures here. All of them are the same shrimp. Does anyone know what it is? Bacteria?

The affected shrimp is an adult female, one of the biggest in the tank, and seems to still be eating well though it's hard to know in most cases with shrimps. They can swim around normally this second and lying on its back the next. I haven't introduced anything new (neither plants nor animals) to this tank for a while. They are being housed with OEBTs who are getting berried and shrimplets growing fine. But the fire red reproduction has almost stopped as I have to look hard for 1-2 berried fire red females. The population seems to be decreasing as well though I'm not quite sure. I did see 1 dead fire red JUVIE 2-3 weeks ago that was getting eaten by an OEBT though.

I'm tempted to start dosing some paraguard in this tank.

Thanks for any help.

[diwu13]

Hm.. that's so weird. Not really sure what it is to be honest.

On a different note, people that have had CRS/OEBT breed like crazy normally saw RCS breed much more slowly. What's the pH of the tank?

[gtu2004]

pH 6.8-7.0
gH 2-3
kH 2
Nitrate slighter orangier than 0ppm but nowhere near as orange as 5ppm. I did 50% water change yesterday, too.

[ch3fb0yrdee]

New mutation! Breed it out and you can call this new shrimp fire red clear cheeks!

[gtu2004]

lol, i think i can make pink rosy shrimps.

but no, i think i'll dose the tank with Paraguard unless someone here knows Very slow reproduction of neos is a worrying sign to me, even more so than occasional dead juvies.

[anh]

that happens to me too, usualy its with older shrimp who are going to pass away or when i turn on the lights in the morning. I think it has something to do with their hormones since i notice them being bright red when berried, and the fact that their hormones are regulated by the organs in their eyes stalk(light sensitive)

[gtu2004]

ok, so i guess if no one else can chime in, i'll suppose that it's because of age. still doesn't explain the low reproduction though. Probably will do another water change this weekend.

Thanks Anh

[Kunsthure]

Don't dose paraguard. If it's only a couple of shrimp, it's not any kind of infection.

One thing you wrote that stood out to me was "They can swim around normally this second and lying on its back the next." That's not at all normal.

-Lisa

[gtu2004]

Originally Posted by Kunsthure

Don't dose paraguard. If it's only a couple of shrimp, it's not any kind of infection.

One thing you wrote that stood out to me was "They can swim around normally this second and lying on its back the next." That's not at all normal.

-Lisa

that's just to say they are fragile. usually dying shrimps will stand motionless for a bit then die.

[MsNemoShrimp]

Sorry for being a little off the track, but wow, that is one beautiful OE blue tiger momma! So blue. Congrats to that at least

[gtu2004]

thanks. good eyes she's one of a couple that are berried right now. I have been lucky that most of my OEBTs show good colors now. If not blue then very very dark brown-ish blue that is very close to black. But most of my juvies are deep blue like that momma.