While at my lfs today I picked up 7 ghost shrimp, brought them home, did all the usual acclimatisation and so forth and have them currently in my invert quarantine tank. Now, 4 of the 7 are lying on their sides, on the floor of the tank, twitching every now and then. These are my first ghost shrimp, so I haven't a clue what's going on. There's nothing in the tank other than the usual equipment (filter and heater), and a cave. I don't even have substrate my QT tanks, and obviously, as it's used for inverts, no copper has ever been used. Water parameters are ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate <5, temp 24 degrees C, pH 7.6.

Any ideas, anyone? :?

Few questions:
-Tank cycled?
-Water surface being disturbed enough?
-How long did you acclimate them?
-How well did the LFS look after them?

They're often poorly looked after(Just feeders after all, they don't matter ), and very weak because of it.

I had ten of them die the first night once.

Ok, answers to your questions

1. Yep, absolutely. All my quarantine tanks have their filters running in other tanks, so they're always fully cycled whenever I need them.

2. Water surface disturbed by over-filtration and spray bar

3. Acclimated the way I do with all shrimp, cheap or expensive - drip for around 45 mins (maybe a bit longer as I was busy figuring out a new canister filter I bought today)

4. No idea, the only question I can't answer. The lfs in question is hit-and-miss, I'd say. Most fish seem to be very well cared for, but they fall short with some of the more specialised ones. They were sold for 10p each as live food, so your guess is as good as mine. One of the seven was already on it's side when I got it home, so another reason I think it's nothing to do with 'my end' (pardon the pun).

I've heard they're supposed to go pink when dead, but I'm not sure how long that'd take to show up even if true.

This sounds like they were just doomed from the start anyway, then.

shrimp.

Is it true about the turning red part? I've read two different sources that claim while they're still colourless/not red, they're just getting ready to shed.....

They do go cloudy/pinkish when dead.

They don't sound like they're about to molt, laying on the side and twitching occasionally is classic dying behavior for shrimp.

Hmm ok, well only one of the seven still moving around now. Killed by too good water quality? Despite the acclimatisation? Or just a lousy coincidence I buy them the day they're about to expire?

I'd say they were weakened by the bad conditions at the store, and the change to your tank was just too stressful.

Ok, thanks for the help. Seems such a shame, poor things.