Ghost shrimp turning red and dying.

kimikoira

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 26, 2009
20
0
0
Oahu, Hawaii
I have a 10 gallon tank (houses 1 male betta and plants) that I have been running for about 2 months now. I had added a few Ghost shrimp and (1) 3" crayfish 1 month ago. The aquarium has a 1" layer of sand, a few medium sized rocks, and plants. My betta would follow the shrimp every once in awhile, but he never ate one, he also left the crayfish alone.

My problem is that every other day I would find a pinkish-orange dead shrimp in the middle of my tank (you know when you cook shrimp and it turns pink. . . yea, thats what it looked like)
Maybe my water temperature was too high, and it cooked my shrimp (somehow)? But the temperature has never gone over 76*F.
Is it overcrowded and stressing the shrimp?
My crayfish also died his second day in the tank.

(only male betta, plants, and 2 ghost shrimp left)

This month I came home to (1) 1 1/2" crayfish and (10) ghost shrimp (. . . That my bf had got from his friend)

I brought a sponge filter.

Today I found another pinkish-orange dead shrimp.
Why is it turning a pinkish-orange color? I heard of ghost shrimp turning white after it died, but never pink.

Also, I dont think my crayfish is eating. She just stays hidden in her rock cave. . . thingy. (I know the shrimp are eating)

I feed the shrimp (and crayfish) flake food, and ive been leaving the light off as much as possible to reduce stress.

So why are my shrimp turning a pinkish-orange color and dying? :confused:
 

NERV

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 29, 2009
9
0
0
san jose, cali
Hmm, usually if I lost a ghost shrimp it turned totally white. Never heard of them turning red when they die. What do they look like alive?
 

kimikoira

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 26, 2009
20
0
0
Oahu, Hawaii
Alive, my shrimp are a clear-ish color.
Half my shrimp are clear with brown markings along their body, and the other half is a grey-ish clear.

I'll try to get some pictures up.

I don't think they're Ghost shrimp. . .
 

KuangMingJie

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 26, 2009
64
0
0
Singapore
@TS

Reading your thread sends shivers down my spine too. I too have been wondering why some of my shrimps are turning orange when dead. I didnt really bother about it juz net it out and throw it away. But i notice my bichirs never touch these orange dead shrimps, it seems like they know something is wrong with the shrimp. As for dead shrimps, some of them turn totally white, but these shrimps are chomped up by my bichirs immediately.

Can some shrimp expert clarify this?
 

sun catfish

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 1, 2008
441
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0
california
it is compleetly normal that they turn red when they die i got this off a web sight. :When they die, ghost shrimps turn red pink. This means they contain carotenes -- like krill:

do they look like this

Live_F45.jpg
 

gzeiger

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 25, 2009
60
3
8
SC
In my experience (with P. paludosus) a white ghost shrimp is unhealthy and will soon die, but a healthy one that is harassed to death will turn pink as described. It's not just a symptom of cooking, and I'm unsure exactly what the cause is, but I've seen it happen any time a shrimp was killed by a predator and only partially eaten.

My guess is that your crayfish is eating the shrimp, he isn't big enough to finish a whole one (or when he does you don't know about it because there are no remains), and you never see it because crayfish are generally nocturnal hunters.
 

mamapuff

Candiru
MFK Member
Mar 16, 2009
888
2
48
Austin, Texas
I had the same issue when I would put them in my puffers tank. My issue is I think someone put a quarter in his tank. The shrimp would die withing a few days, and he wouldn't eat them. Then he started getting these white blotches all over his body. I started pulling the sand out and found a rusted quarter. Haven't had any issues since. I also have tons of ghost shrimp in with my crayfish babies and they don't seem to harass each other. Try algae wafers for the crayfish. My adult waits at the feeding spot for his to come floating down to him.

7-16-09 236.JPG
 

swede

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 26, 2009
2,515
5
0
ןɟ 'opuɐןɹo ɹɐǝu
ghost shrimp are very sensitive to copper as all inverts are. if you dose plant ferts, this can be a problem. also it is imperative that nitrites and ammonia always are at 0. another thing that i have learned the hard way is that nitrates must also be kept low which may require multiple WC in a week. you don't really want the nitrate levels getting above 20 for inverts
 
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