# Shrimp laying on back!?



## jdm68 (Jun 2, 2011)

I was watching one of my (ghost) shrimp today, and he seemed to be kind of "waddling" around, like he wasn't stable and then, he stopped, flipped over, and layed on his back. He seemed to be picking at his abdomen with his arms, and kept "kicking" with the tiny "fins" under the rear part of his body. I thought maybe those were the death throes of a shrimp, but I looked later and he wasn't there. I should say that he had somewhat of a cloudy white color to his body, so maybe a molting trick? All of the shrimp(there WERE 10) seem to have a kind of green/gray color to the exoskeleton, and are much less transparent than when I got them, or than their brethren at the pet store. Any ideas?


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

It's not a good sign. Neither is a milky body. He's probably dying. Ghost shrimp on stores are neglected since theyre feeder shrimp.


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## jmowbray (Dec 20, 2009)

I have one today that is doing the same thing but mine appears normal color wise. He had a exoskeleton attached but was not fully out of it. He's still alive and kicking right now and it looks like the other shrimp are either tring to eat him of help him out ny picking at the skeleton. My guess it helping since they are well feed but his front half of his body is still stuck. Therefore, he's having a hard time moving and pulling his legs out. He can't move and just gets walked on by the others. 

Keep an eye on him and if he is sick make sure that whT ever he has the others don't get.


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## jdm68 (Jun 2, 2011)

I've had the shrimp for about 3 weeks, and all have looked pretty healthy to me, except for the "opaquening" of their bodies. They eat well and swim up the sides of the tank every so often, and like to hang out in plants and under a rock cave I set up. I'll keep an eye on the one and see what happens, if I can find him...


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## jdm68 (Jun 2, 2011)

So I checked out the tank when I got home from work, and Mordalphus, you were correct. I found the shrimp dead with a really white color on the inside of his body. All the other shrimp look fine, behaving as per their normal, so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully there is no disease to contend with...
I'm assuming that water parameters couldn't have killed him since all of the other shrimp are looking quite healthy. I have been changing about 11% of the water almost every night to bring a nitrite spike down, and levels are finally going down, so it's odd this happened now. Like I said in the last post, I've had them for about 3 weeks, so it's hard to imagine any neglect on the part of the pet store being responsible, unless he was harboring an illness which didn't manifest until now. Who knows, I guess I'll just keep an eye on the other shrimpies and see what happens.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

illness, bacterial infection, endangered immune systems, ammonia/nitrite poisoning, they're all common with feeder shrimp.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

I keep ghost shrimp in my 20G to help with cleanup and everytime I get about 10-15 about 4-5 or more will die.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

I was actually impressed with this kid that works at my local PetSmart, I was buying some ghost shrimp as breeders to grow live food for my gouramis, and he actually quizzed me on my tank and parameters because he knew that they usually die after a week or two. He asked me, "how long has the tank been running?" I told him a year or two, and he said "good, they need to be in a tank that's been running at least a few months for the biofilm and stability", and he asked me what I planned on feeding them, and even gave me tips on raising the zoa. All things I already knew, but I was impressed, he must've been about 16. 

He doesn't work there anymore, and the people running the fish department are back to being naive and unknowledgable. Back then, he'd buy zucchini at the grocery store next door and bring it in for the otos, and feed them seaweed and algae wafers too. Now they just feed the otos with flake food and vacation feeder blocks. *facepalm* I wanna go buy some zucchini and toss it in the tanks, I hate seeing otos starve to death at chains stores


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## eser21 (Apr 19, 2011)

I had a bamboo shrimp die this morning, same symptoms. I have assumed that he couldnt get out of his shell properly. Apparently its not uncommon?
Does anyone know if you can do anything to help the molt? the guy at the LFS said about putting iodine in the water when they are shedding?


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