Dead Pederson Shrimp - Image

[Reef Outfit]

So, Mr Pedersons flesh that was clear turned white all of a sudden, with no apparent change in behavior, the only thing different was that he was carrying eggs. But he did that all the time. Its as if he was cooked from the inside out. Couple of days later he was dead. Can anyone tell me why his flesh turned to white?

Thanks

 

[Phycodurus]

sorry to hear about the loss, alberto.

i suspect the flesh turns white due to the release of pigments (or the dominant set of pigments receding when the shrimp dies since pedersons usually appear glass-like and transparent).

it's kind of similar to shrimp turning pink when you boil them (hidden pigments get released).

 

[Reef Outfit]

sorry to hear about the loss, alberto.

i suspect the flesh turns white due to the release of pigments (or the dominant set of pigments receding when the shrimp dies since pedersons usually appear glass-like and transparent).

it's kind of similar to shrimp turning pink when you boil them (hidden pigments get released).

Thanks Phyco, it was my first Pederson, he was awesome.

I want to replace him but would rather find out what happened than just possibly kill another animal.

Thats exactly what I though when I saw his flesh turn white, that he had cooked, it looked just like what happens when you cook a shrimp. He turned white a couple of days BEFORE he died, aint that weird...but he was still alive and well, how come? All of a sudden he died.

To go with this idea, this happened together with a sudden spike in water temp so I thought I had definitely cooked it. I even started a thread on water temp, from which I learned that the temperature wasn't enough to cook anything:

I need tips to cool the water

I have a nano 13.5 reef tank. The water is always above the ideal 76º I want. The heater is set much lower just to rule it out as one of the possible causes for my high temperature, which is always around 80, so it probably never operates. I understand that the ratio of equipment running...

www.reef2reef.com

So that leaves me without any clues. Perhaps it got sick? I have many other shrimps and invertebrates that are fine. I was wondering if this has ever happened to anyone and if theres an explanation for it.

Thanks for being the only one to actually try to help. Your opinion is much appreciated, thanks for letting me know why a shrimp turns white when you cook it. Your pigmentation suspicion is probably correct, do you have any guess as to what could've caused it?

 

[Phycodurus]

what caused ... the change in pigmentation?

 

[Reef Outfit]

he turned white days BEFORE he died dude, not after

 

[Angelwolf21203]

What's the temperature of your water? Not sure where you're from, but the summer heat could be affecting your tank and basically cooked her. I do believe they are a cold water species.

 

[TriggerFinger]

I read your temperature thread just now and noticed you said it was carrying eggs right before it passed. Just wanted to say I had a peppermint shrimp just randomly die the day after I noticed her with eggs. I wondered at the time if something went wrong with trying to lay/hatch? them. Most of the body was consumed by a candy cane coral by the time I saw it so I don’t know if it had turned white or not. Just for reference, I run my tanks between 75-77. No chiller, need heaters as my tanks are in a basement that stays around 70 degrees year round.
Sorry for the loss of your neat shrimp.

 

[F i s h y]

Could the change in color potentially have been a bacterial or fungal infection brought on by the change in temperature? I can imagine a shrimp would be difficult to diagnose and treat, and pretty delicate when it comes to those things. Could explain the days before timeline.

 

[Phycodurus]

I do believe they are a cold water species.

interesting possibility; i never considered pederson cleaner shrimp to be a cold water species. i found the following google results:

After which I searched for:

 

[Phycodurus]

he turned white days BEFORE he died dude, not after

any possibility is was the eggs beneath the abdomen giving the appearance that the shrimp turned white?? or was the head & thorax also definitely white?

 

[Reef Outfit]

Hey, thank all of you for pitching in.

I'm gonna answer everything any once.

So, by chance I made a video probably just one hour before he died:


You can see specially towards the end that he has turned completely white. It might not seem very bright white but he normally was absolutely transparent (as you can see in the next video). The picture at the start of this thread are on a black background which gives a higher contrast.

The contrast is outstanding specially compared to this video I made of him two months ago:


As you can see he had carried eggs quite a few times before. The eggs did not affect the appearance of the shrimp regarding it turning white. I think he was completely white, but check the videos.

I did not regard these shrimp as being cold water. My temp range 76-79 and that day it was 81.7. But he had turned white a couple of days BEFORE the temperature reached 81.7 on that day.

Can a change in temperature in fact spark an infection on a shrimp (considering this fluctuation is within range)? How common is it? This could be it. He turned white, showed no symptoms at all for a couple of days and suddenly kaput. Is this how it goes?

Cooking was my first idea since he "looked" cooked but I learned that 82 won't cook a shrimp. Besides I got quite a few inverts and no one perished. Check out my post on the water temperature to get all the info you need on water:

I need tips to cool the water

 

[Angelwolf21203]

I'm stumped.

 

[Reef Outfit]

Did you see that?

He was up and about, feeding normally. At 0:42 he grabs a piece of food and lands on that ricordea.

I'm going to say something stupid, so beware...I consider that he might have been knocked out by that barnacle blenny. He zaps so close to the shrimps head (0:32) that he might have hit the shrimp accidentally when I wasn't looking. Specially on his way back, when he usually wasn't as precise as on the way out, but was as fast.

You can see an example of this in this slow motion video I made of the Blenny. On his first dash ou at 0:06 he misses his trajectory on the way back and obliterates a branch of that purple whip. If that was the shrimps head he would've been knocked the heck out:


What you guys think of this? Too stupid?

It wouldn't explain the fact that he turned white though...

 

[Angelwolf21203]

K. Here's another potentially stupid thought. If it ate a piece of food that landed on a ricordea, could he have been poisoned by the mucus from the ricordea?

 

[Avadakedavra]

dang I know this is late but I’ve just lost a pair of peacock anemone shrimp to the exact symptom as yours. Eating fine, perfectly active, transparent to acting lethargic, turning white and dying over a couple of days. I suspected copper poisoning since I’ve been dosing fertilizer for macroalgae but no shrimp died except for the two and I’ve dosed for months. There are 10 sexies, 4 camels, a pair of harlequins and a bunch of snails so it’s unlikely to be copper.