Ghost Shrimp Lost his Mind + strange coloration

[t3hRobG]

We added a second batch of ghost shrimp to our tank about 2 weeks ago. Of the group, all look about the same with the exception of 1. He stands out from the others in that his internals are a stark opaque white. At times all you can see are his guts floating around in the tank since the rest of his body is the same... ghostly opacity as the rest of the shrimp. We thought this was cool and just let him go on his way, which he did until this morning. I came home from work for lunch and found him scurrying around on the substrate upside-down. He almost did a 3stooges like act spinning and kicking. I righted him a few times but each time he would shoot up and roll back over and resume his frantic running into things in our tank. I removed him for fear of him finding a hole some where to go die in where I wouldn't be able to find him, and noticed that not only his organs looked odd, but it seemed like his whole body cavity was an off white color dense color. He wasn't missing any limbs that would explain the unbalance, he just didn't want to stay righted. None of our other shrimp have shown any weird coloration or behavior.

Does anyone know what this is/was? I wish I had a picture but it is unfortunately too late for that now. If you have ever looked closely enough at a ghost shrimp to see their internals, imagine those being white and you will basically see what he looked like.

So long as the other shrimp don't seem to be affected it isn't really a big deal, but I am still curious to know what would have caused this. Disease of some kind? Something that apparently eventually attacked his nervous system? Its a little frightening to see that kind of display from something in your tank, even if it is only a ghost shrimp.

 

[dapellegrini]

Very strange. These guys turn white like that when they die. My guess he was sick and dying and you were witnessing the process. Not uncommon for these things to die. They are sold as feeders and typically not treated well at the LFS... Mine have gotten very big and started to show some color (red bands on the antenna and legs, spots on the tail etc) but I have only seen them go white when they die.

 

[hc8719]

they also turn white when molting, though i doubt this is the case.

are you sure its a ghost shirimp, once in awhile another kind gets mixed up, like my neocardina blue

 

[IceH2O]

Did it look like the GS in this pic (scroll down a couple of posts )?

http://www.plantgeek.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5749&highlight=

 

[lovemybarbs]

that's gross!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get it out of there!!