Cardinals Off Colour

[seangee]

Hi

I have just noticed that all the cradinals in my 70l tank seem to be losing their red at the bottom. The only unusual thing I have done recently is kept the lights off for the past week as I have been struggling to keep the temp down as it has been very hot. The temp has got up to 28 degs but is now back down to 25.

Tank size: 70l
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 25 (same as tap)
Chemicals / medication: None
Plants: Lightly planted - no new
Water changes: 15 - 20% twice per week
Inhabitants: 11 small Cardinals + 2 juve platys.

I have had the cardinals for about 6 weeks. They are still pretty small as I am keeping them in this tank until they grow big enough to be safe from the Angels in my community tank. One of the fish is slightly listless but apart from that there are no other symptons

 

[seangee]

Panic over - I just read that they can lose their colour overnight and they have been in darkness for a week. Their colour has almost fully returned after less than an hour with the lights on.

 

[WILDER]

You might want to think of adding an airstone for the summer months.
If there plenty of aeration in the tank it fine if the water temp goes up by a few degrees.
In the warm weather and the temp going up you might want to set your heater abit higher so at night the temp not dropping down to more than 2 degrees.

 

[seangee]

You might want to think of adding an airstone for the summer months.
If there plenty of aeration in the tank it fine if the water temp goes up by a few degrees.
In the warm weather and the temp going up you might want to set your heater abit higher so at night the temp not dropping down to more than 2 degrees.

Good advice - thanx