White ghost shrimp

rayvendawn · Post by **rayvendawn** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:39 pm

Although I am a newbie I have researched the website and looked for my answers plus I have been into the shrimp hobby for a few years. I have not seen anything posted about this or I would not have posted.
Okay I keep about 20 ghost shrimp in a 20 gallon tank, about 2 months ago I bought some more ghost shrimp making the count 20. I noticed there was one small white shrimp and I thought it was just shedding so I left it alone. Months later it has not changed it's color. I am wondering if this is a different type of shrimp or morph, it still has very light bands of orange on it's legs and antennea like a regular ghost shrimp.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:50 pm

Hi rayvendawn and welcome,

A white/opaque ghost usually means that the shrimp is either sick, dying or both. I would keep an eye on it just to monitor any strange or lack of behavior. Is it eating and scavaging like the other shrimp? It would be nice if it was a morph but most likely it is not

. Keep us updated as I would like to know how things go with this one shrimp as I have always liked ghost shrimp

rayvendawn · Post by **rayvendawn** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 9:04 pm

Yes I've noticed that right before they die they turn white, I have been watching it and it is eating and swimming around like normal and it even does the typical "smash head on glass while swimming" thing that shrimp love to do hehe. If it is sick it has done a very good job of keeping the others from picking up on it. They have plenty to eat, but I will keep an eye out for anything odd.

ToddnBecka · Post by **ToddnBecka** » Sat Mar 17, 2007 11:52 pm

As long as it's eating, molting, and otherwise living normally, it's possible it's just an odd color morph. After all, cherries and snowball shrimp didn't start out red or white, but were selectively bred until the color was fixed within the strain. Don't worry, just enjoy it.

TKD · Post by **TKD** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 6:56 pm

IF it is a colour morph try and breed it.

TKD

lampeye · Post by **lampeye** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 1:22 pm

I've seen this before. Ghost shrimp can have white flesh, which means the shrimp is on its way out, but they can also have a white exoskeleton...and the jury's still out on that one for me. Such shrimp SEEM to die sooner that the "uncolored" ones, but it's usually a matter of weeks or months. I associate it with aged shrimp, but I have little quantitaive data to support that idea.