Does anyone know why my ghost shrimp could be turning white?

Also this is the same tank that I lost three Pleco in. All three came from the same store. Nothing else has died or showed signs of any type of illness.

The chemestry of the tank is balanced. The temp is a nice 74, though I prefer to swim in waters much warmer. (ha ha) Tanks only 38 gallons won't hold me no matter how much weight I lose. I have really worked hard to figure this out and keep coming up blank. It's my femals mainly- and at first I thouth they were going to lose there exoskeckeloton as they were staying very close to this rock that came all busted up. We didn't notice it in the store, but I figured it make a perfect hiding place for the shrimp.

Any way if you have any Idea's about that or where all my shrimp are going in a tank of Danio's please let me know. The only other thing that had lived in the tank of does live in the tank is, 3 plecos, 2 snails, Yes i know could be or is bad idea, neon and white cloud tetra. There are 10 danio's 6 glofish-which by all reality are still danio's just very expensive ones, 4 neon tetra's and 3 white cloud Tetra's. Nothing that could'really or would really eat them...so are they eating each other?

Well you never know when lights out. I would suspect the plecos are eating them. As far as loosing fish it is never a good idea to introduce new fish without acclimating them first. I would suspect you introduced already sick fish. What is your maintnance schedule? How long has the tank been up. Filtration etc? BTW Welcome to FWM!

I did establish my tank before adding fish. Then I added everything but the pleco's and the Dano's the first day it was safe to add fish. I had to wait for them to get their shipment of Dano's in as I wanted old fashion zebra's. It had been up and running a good couple months before adding pleco's and I suspect not enough food build up though I was adding the pellet's and removing what was't eaten in 2 hours as directed. Is it possible the pleco's were all ready sick? They are the only ones that have died, and the only other ones it seems to be affecting is the ghost shrimp.

I would suspect they were already sick...from what you describe I can't think of anything else.

Yep I am thinking I bought sick fish because tank 5 is now looking icky. Really Bad Too. I have a Snail in there and I am scared to treat as I don't want to hurt my snail, but I also can't stand seeing my other fish babies included suffer. Did I mention I have six Tanks, 3 Parrots which is my experteeze, and 2 dogs all living in my bed room? The six tanks go like this:Tanks 1-3 are all 3 gallon. and yes a little over stocked. Tanks 1-Red Beta Apple snail, and a small algae eater that as it increases in size will be moved to tank 4 then 5 then 6 then 7 when and if I get it. Tank 2 Same as tank 1 but blue Beta splenda, apple snail, algae eater, tank 3 Royal Crown Beta that is absolutely astounding~! Apple snail, chinese algae eater. Tank 4: is my 38 Gallon previosly described. Tank Five was given to me by my grand neice and my sister in law: It is a 15 gallon, and contains 1 dwarf pleco= short and plump- 1 large chinese algea eater, 5 phantom tetra and a molly female, loner marble I dumped in there because she was very aggressive in the live bearing tank and I hate aggression! Tank six is a 14 gallon that is for my live bearing fish. Right now that is the tank that is sick. It has a female and male platy, balloon belly platy, single black molly as I lost the male early on. Three to seven baby molly's and one serious Pleco. All very Icky. Oh and my favorite of all a snail all the tanks have one apple snail except the 38 gallon which has two mystery snails.

I hope everything gets better for you. It' hard to say just what went wrong. Yeah, I believe your tanks are a little overstocked but i'm not the one to judge. Is there a way to pull the snail out so you can treat the sick fish? Maybe put it in one of the non infected tanks.
One more question-What is your maintenance scedule on the infected tanks? With sick and dying fish you would want to make sure the water is very clean. Clean water is a must with sick fish.

One more thing I meant to say was, in my experience with ghost shrimp they turn white right before they die.(sorry)

Plecos eat ghost shrimp for sure. I throw a few in now and again for the big one here.

If they're vanishing I'd blame the pleco, if they're dead and you find them, you don't have enough ghost shirmp.

I get a 100 or so perhaps (a big scoop) every two weeksish. They live in a unheated filtered 10g tank. I've noticed they seem to have a higher mortality rate the warmer the water is.

Mine are kept to feed Figure 8 Puffers though so I'm not committed to keeping them long term.

Ok live and learn. ghost shrimp are not a keepable pet. I can deal with that. I just loved watching them go through their lives, shedding their outer shells, growing new ones and eating the old. Eating food, and the insides of their body turning the color of the food. I spent countless hours watching them.

Can this hurt the other fish left in the tank? This white sickness?

I went a head and treated my tank snail and all, thinking if I didn't, and I moved the snail he could infect the other tanks.

I hope he makes it through and my one last pleco does. I still have the one my Grand neice gave me and that tank is so dang healthy it's not funny. So I am down sizeing tanks as fish die. I am allowing proper inches per gallon round abouts or doing more frequent water changes.

I do water changes weekly now. I take out 1/4 to 1/3 of the water and replace it with filtered water that has sat out opened to the air for 48 hours. I add my treatments and pray like the rest of you. I know you can do every thing right and still lose every fish in your tank, and you can do it all wrong and not one dies. My cousins, never clean the tank and you can smell the amonia when you walk in the house. smells like cats litter box but they have no cat. The have never lost a fish in all the years I have been around them. I keep track of levels on paper what fish I lost to what on what date, if I know and so on test the water often and write it all down and can't seem to keep a quality tank going. *Sigh*

Some fish can tolerate filth, and keep on living. Doesn't make it good for them and doesn't mean it won't cut their life expectancy short. In my experience it's mostly goldies, but I've been amazed at some of the downright nasty conditions I've found them living in.

Well I hope my dano's and glofish are exceptionally tolerant. No more ghost shrimp.

My 15 gallon tank has it's limit- with 5 phantom tetra's, a dwarf pleco that is the ugliest thing I have ever laid eyes on, and a pretty big bottom feeder/chinese algae eater. Do you think if I changed the water ever two weeks, it could tolerate 4 neon tetra's and 3 small white clouds? The Neon's are small at this point too. Less then a 1/4 of an inch each. The white clouds are 2 small like the neons and one about a 1/2 inch. I could move the chinese algea eater to the big 38 gallon tank once I clean it and figure out what to do with the ghost shrimp. I have had several burried females drop eggs under the big rocks and I don't know what will become of them if anything.

As for your 15 gallon tank, I'd advise water changes no less than weekly, get the algae-eater out of there, and adding either the neons or white clouds, but not both for now. If ya want to add both, then go with twice a week water changes. BTW, ya didn't mention whether ya had live plants or not. Though they don't mitigate the need for water changes, live plants do use nitrate, phospate, carbon dioxide and other metabolic wastes given off by the fish, allowing a little bit of wiggle room on stocking and the water change schedule.

WYite

We want to try live plants but are a bit timid about it and when I say we I really mean me! It's my room, my fish, my tanks and I am the one trying so hard to learn how to manage them correctly. I appreciate all your guy's help! More then you know.

So if I add live plants-can they be started from bulbs or do I buy the plants already in progress.

I would think there would be less chance of transfer if I start from bulb? Transfer meaning if the plants are in a tank they could potentally carry in a disease?