ghost shrimps

Question
my little sis put tap water in my shrimpys tank and they all turned...red... is this normal? also, i was doing this project for school. do they survive better in tap or pure?

Answer
Hi Chrissy,

The red might be from them eating red food. I don't think that ghost shrimp can look "irritated" by chlorine like fish can, if that's what you mean.

When keeping shrimp and fish, you need to add drops of dechlorinator to the tap water to make it safe for them. It's best to use tap water with dechlorinator (Seachem's Prime, Tetra's AquaSafe, Wardley's Chlor Out, Jungle's Start Right are just a few names of dechlorinators) since that has the minerals they need for their molts. You can use bottled spring water for them, but tap water with dechlorinator is probably better for them and cheaper for you to use.

Purified water is not as good as spring water because the spring water should have more mineral content than purified water...just be sure not to use distilled water! This water is 100% mineral free and is made for things like filling wet-cell batteries, cleaning purposes, and other such things - but it isn't meant to be used as drinking water or to fill up aquariums.

Take care, good luck with your project!
Nicole