Ghost shrimp not molting

nakrul987 · Post by **nakrul987** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 3:15 pm

Greetings,

I have a group of ghost shrimp, and they have seemed to stop molting. When I first bought them, I would frequently see molt shells in the tank, but after a few weeks, they seemed to have completely stopped molting.

They would start to turn white until they are totaly opaque, and one of them seems to have died a rather slow and painful death today

Nitrates, nitrites, ammonia are at normal levels. My testing kit indicates that my water is extremely hard, and my pH is 8.4 or higher. I have no plants, and the ghost shrimp are in a tank to themselves. I feed them once a day with a pinch of crushed up fish flakes. The tank is 10 gallons with a sponge filter.

I have tried to add a drop of dilute iodine solution, but it doesn't seem to help.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 4:52 pm

What is the temperature of your tank and how many do you have in the tank?

nakrul987 · Post by **nakrul987** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 6:40 pm

The temperature is about 76F and there are about a dozen shrimp in there.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 6:57 pm

I am speaking from my own experience when I tell you that many of the ghost shrmp are not treated well at all since they are usually sold as feeders and priced so low. They are not well taken care of in transport or in pet shops

. They are abused and neglected to the point where it is amazing they make it to our tanks. By the time we get them home they have been stressed so much that they might be susceptable to any illness or change in environment that can kill them

. I have had many of my ghost shrimp die after days/weeks without explaination but I still buy them now and then because I hope they will at least have a good home for a while

Hopefully this will change as more keepers learn to care about these shrimp!

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 8:26 pm

Get some java moss and increase your water changes to 50% per week. Consider some live food now & then like brine shrimp, or worms of some type (not earth worms). Shrimp molt due to growth. If they are mature they don't molt as often. If they are not healthy,it may be a while before they molt. They also molt due to stress, so molting and health are not directly related.