redlessi

Some of my ghost shrimp look kind of white instead of clear. They are active as usual, eating as usual, not hiding or anything. Is this normal? All of my water params are good, 0 nitrite, 0 ammonia, 10 nitrate.

enthusiast

any ghost shrimp i've ever had turn milky or white in color have always died. Its a sign of a sick shrimp. Idk from how or what, i just know i've never had a ghost shrimp recover from the milky/white phase

NanoAddict

check to see if the food your feeding them has copper in it, that turned my shrimp white but i found out too late and a few of them died

redlessi

Thanks, you nailed it, the shrimp pellets that I was dropping in the tank for the cories have copper in them. I noticed the ghost shrimp would steal them a couple of times. They only had about 3-4 and not long enough to finish them before the cories took them away. Hopefully they did not get enough to kill them. Who would have thought the food would make them die............

Any suggestion what I could feed them instead of the shrimp pellets.

Thanks again

angelfish220

you could still feed shrimp pellets, just a different brand that doesn't have the copper

redlessi

thanks much

NanoAddict

i feed mine bloodworms and shrimp pellets

redlessi

I feed the tank bloodworms but the shrimp dont seem to get any. I will have to find shrimp pellets without copper. What kind do you have?

NanoAddict

Im not sure, some generic brand from a LFS

redlessi

In the meantime I have added flakes directly to the output water of the filter which makes it go directly to the bottom of the tank for the shrimp so they get a look while the cories are eating their tablets.

NanoAddict

you might even wanna consider a water change in case theres dissolved copper or something in the water

Master Snake

White shrimp is dead shrimp

redlessi

do you mean a whole water change? I usually do partial 20% water change weekly, have been doing it biweekly since there are fry in the tank.

redlessi

I realized it before they turned totally white, just a little milky. They seem to be doing fine for now............

NanoAddict

Idk, just maybe a touch more volume than usual, maybe even use distilled water since theres no chance of copper from the pipes in tap water

enthusiast

a 50% water change would be the most i would do, though i wouldnt consider it as completely necessary to do either tho... you found the source of the problem good to hear and even better to hear your shrimp are doing better!

NanoAddict

yeah, not a terrible amount, but i agree you should be good.

redlessi

Yes, so far so good. They are starting to look normal.........