[maux]

Over a week and a half I've noticed one of the Yellow RCS in my work tank has turned deep green. The attached image is basically true to color. It's the shrimps shell and flesh that seem to be turning color. It's active, doesn't hide, eats, and moves around like any of the other shrimp.

I've had the yellow RCS in this tank for about 3 months and haven't noticed anything odd. One passed away a while ago after looking pale for a few days but nothing else odd. None of the other shrimp have had an issue with color and are a bright yellow. Around the same time I noticed the color change I introduce 10 new tiger shrimp and also a small lily pad I had found in a local spring. I'm tempted to say it's something connected to the introduction of the wild lily pad but it seems hard to believe that it would be related to this one shrimp and that it could so drastically effect the color.

Is she sick? I can't find much on shrimp changing color except that it probably means they're sick.

 

[Soothing Shrimp]

It is the food they are eating.

 

[somewhatshocked]

Yep - food.

What are you feeding them? How much? How often?

 

[maux]

I feed them Hakari Seaweed Extreme and Hikari Sinking Wafers. Usually a wafer or little pinch of seaweed pellets once a day. A few of them seemed to be obsessed with filtering stuff off the surface by hanging upside down under the lily pad but there was nothing visible.

 

[KristopherGrows]

Novice suggestion; but is there any likelyhood of an algal or cyanobacteria colony taken root under its carapace? That would explain why only one shrimp is effected and may not be hazardous to the shrimp's health. Its next molt would answer the question if the green was left behind.

 

[SNES_Chalmers420]

Its an ingredient in the food called astaxanthin. Hakari foods seem to have this ingredient, Im using Hakari Shrimp Cuisine, and this hasn't happened to my Yellow shrimp. It has improved the yellow color. Perhaps there is less Astax. in it.

 

[dvdrew]

Astaxanthin is derived from deep sea krill. It enhances red colours and does not turn things green.

 

[ravensgate]

+1 Spirulina will do it, astaxanthin enhances red and orange AFAIK.

 

[Soothing Shrimp]

Astaxanthin is derived from deep sea krill. It enhances red colours and does not turn things green.

+1 Spirulina will do it, astaxanthin enhances red and orange AFAIK.

Well...Both of you are correct...and incorrect. heh It DOES enhance red colors in fish, but in shrimp it turns more towards the blue/green spectrum.

I have an experiment in my journal I did last year. This is what I started with from my own strain of yellows I bred:

I added this:

and they changed to this:

and deepened to this:

That was Sept 30 of last year. It is now March 24, seven months later, and their color is still screwed up.

Spirulina didn't affect them much except made the yellow fade a bit. If you like your yellow shrimp though, stay away from Astaxanthin. :eek5:

 

[maux]

Woah Soothing!! 0_o

*Mind blown!*

There it is on the packet of Seaweed Extreme. The 13th ingredient!

Well, that's a shame, because they really love this and I think it's otherwise great for them.

So it seems like the entire generation will turn green if I keep feeding it to them?

Any other suggestions for a better diet for the yellow RCS? I'm sure I'll have to order whatever I end up getting because they don't carry any of the Hikari food in the local pet stores.

 

[Lukeo85]

Interesting because the shrimp king color food has astaxanthin and it claims to boost the color of yellow, red and orange shrimp.
Here is the product description. So will this turn my yellow shrimp green?

Dennerle Shrimp King Color are sinking, water-stable feed pads consisting of 100% natural ingredients. Colour-boosting effect for yellow-, orange- and red-coloured shrimps. Contains a high level of natural, colour-boosting carotenoids, such as astaxanthin, beta-carotene and lutein.

 

[lamiskool]

very interesting and mind blown lol Ill be a little bit more careful about what I feed my shrimp!

 

[Soothing Shrimp]

...So it seems like the entire generation will turn green if I keep feeding it to them?...

Mine in the experiment tank went from blue/green to a very ugly streaky brown. It wouldn't even had been so bad for me if they stayed greenish. LOL Green is one of my favorite colors and it would have been a novelty for my personal collection. Unfortunately, the experimental subjects are now not even as pretty as chocolate or wilds even.

I'm glad a pulled a few aside to experiment on them as opposed to doing it to my entire colony!

 

[Soothing Shrimp]

Interesting because the shrimp king color food has astaxanthin and it claims to boost the color of yellow, red and orange shrimp. Here is the product description. So will this turn my yellow shrimp green?

I honestly have no idea what would happen. I haven't fed that to my yellow shrimp at all. I'm now totally paranoid about feeding anything that has astaxanthin added in it to my shrimp in general.

very interesting and mind blown lol Ill be a little bit more careful about what I feed my shrimp!

+1 I used to think spirulina would cause weird colors in my yellows until I did this experiment. I'll take some fading over ugly colors anytime.

 

[usgetata]

and deepened to this:

That's what happened to most of mine now except one berried mama still showing green tone. But since I separated them two weeks ago I only feed them spinach and peas, yet their color continued to turn brownish. I am now waiting to see what the babies will look like.

 

[mikeh7172]

I wonder what that stuff would do to Ghosts? I wouldn't mind adding a little color to them.

 

[shrimpzoo]

Man I was not aware of the drastic changes it does to Yellows lol.

Does it have the same effect to other neos like the blues?

 

[Soothing Shrimp]

Haven't tried it. At first it may make the blues darker, but soon it may make them an ugly brown as well. I'm sure it doesn't affect DNA to babies, so offspring probably would not be affected unless eating mulm.

 

[AGUILAR3]

I wonder what that stuff would do to Ghosts? I wouldn't mind adding a little color to them.

I was just about to ask the same thing. I have a single Ghost that would benefit from some color.

 

[Soothing Shrimp]

I was just about to ask the same thing. I have a single Ghost that would benefit from some color.

You could always try it and report back to us.