ghost shrimp turned cloudy or white then died

[teddy]

what does this mean ? one by one my ghost shrimp turned cloudy white then died??? I had six now i have none!!
thanks for any clues as to what i am doing wrong, before i purchase more and they die

[wildtiger]

Well unfortunately shrimp dont live forever. Are you sure they are getting enough to eat? Is it possible that what your finding is the moulted "skins"? What else do you keep in the tank with the shrimp?

[Damon]

I don't think your shrimp are dead. They will periodically molt their old exoskeleton and hide for up to a week (depending on water hardness) while their new one hardens. Ghost shrimp turn pinkish orange when they die. Give them a few days to see if the come out.

[Georgia Peach]

oh wow, now thats something I never knew! I hope you find them!

[micstarz]

I have quite a few of these shrimp, when I first kept them I also thought they dissapeared. Back then, being the noob i was, I took the aquarium apart and

<WARNING FOR SOME VEIWERS, GRUESOME BITS INCLUDED>

squashed my shrimp with the net and all this pus-like stuff contaminated the tank

<OK GRUESOME BIT ENDS HERE>

[TheOldSalt]

They could be trying to moult, but failing due to some mineral lack in the water or improper chemistry.
Or
They could be infected with something that's turning their normally clear flesh milky white before killing them.
Or
They could be fine and simply hiding.

My money is on the second option.

Since we don't know anything else about your tank whatsoever, it's hard to make recommendations.

[garfieldnfish]

I cannot keep ghost shrimp alive and I have tried numerous times. Sometimes they did exactly what you described and they were dead. It is pretty obvious if you just find the shed exoskelleton or if it is the shrimp itself. If you would leave them in the water a little longer they would turn pink.
In my case I believe the water is too soft. They require water above 7. Even so I added calcium it may not have been enough. Also my ADFs may have developed a taste for shrimp as I just realized that in their tank the shrimp just seem to get less and less until I could not find any of them anymore. But the frogs looked pretty happy. I subsequently bought a Burmese Mountain shrimp who got along great with the frogs but jumped the tank during a weekly cleaning. I found him on the floor the following day after having him for over 1 year in the tank. Probably my saddest experience in my fishkeeping history. I cannot find anymore of those shrimp anywhere. www.aquariumfish.net used to sell them but they no longer have them either but there is a picture that shows what they look like. I now have Singapore wood shrimp. Much more expensive then ghost shrimp but they do very well for me. You may want to give them a try, depending on what you have in the tank.