The shrimp hobby leaves many hobbyists speculating and also guessing on many issues like breeding techniques, best filtration and even down to food. But today, let’s talk about the renowned “Green Fungus” on our Neocaridina shrimps.

The two more common name that are used is Ellobiopsidae and Cladogonium Ogishimae. Both of these name’s sound like a delicious sashimi dish but they are commonly used to describe the same fungus that we see on our Neocaridina shrimps. I’m not going to talk about what’s the difference between the two because I’m no expert, but what I’m going to share is based on my experience and also information gathered from the farms.

Is it a cause for panic?
No. There is a simple cure for this that doesn’t require you to do it immediately. The “Green Fungus” will kill your shrimp if not treated but it does not kill your shrimp immediately. It is a long process before they can eventually kill your shrimp.

Cure?
The cure for this is very simple but it might kill your shrimp if the shrimp is already weakened. Prepare about 1 liter of tank water in a container and add about 10 teaspoon of aquarium salt. Give it a good mix and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Then dip the infected shrimp in there for about 10 seconds and put it back into your tank. If the “Green Fungus” is still there after 2 days, repeat the steps again.

Why is there “Green Fungus”?
According to the farms, they use natural spring water from the area, and also the same water is being drained back into the same area during water change. Nature itself, is already a very big water filter, but over the years, these fungus spores can be circulating in the area and is shared among majority of the Neocaridina farms.

Other reasons are farms buying livestocks from other farms to increase breeding stocks. Or farms that don’t often clean up their ponds will see large number of infected shrimps.

Base on my observation, this fungus seems to be dormant. They start to grow or multiply in nutrient rich environment like our aquarium. They do spread around but can be treated easily. They appear mainly on Neocaridina shrimps and rarely on Caridina shrimps. I would say almost 99% of the imported shrimps are infected with this, so when you see it, don’t panic, don’t kill it, just treat with some salt.