Fish Colours!

[dazza2123]

My Tank has been set up for about a month & a half.

I have been getting the water tested and All has been 0 nitrate within the scale.

SO i went home yesterday & my fish were all pale in colour

so i immediatly did a 35% water change.

They went back to normal then.

I cantb get the water checked till wed as i am shiort onfunds with doing oyut a flatiive just got not a spair penny.

I am trying here please help

THANKS

 

[Callum]

If you had 0 nitrate it suggests that your take isn't properly cycled. What do you have in there at the moment?

 

[pastabake]

Did you cycle the tank before putting fish in?

Have you been doing regular water changes?

Most people have some nitrate in their tap water so if you are using tap water then your tests may be bogus ... the nitrate tests aren't exactly the most accurate and present the most opportunities for mistakes. You should also have been testing for ammonia and nitrite as these two are the most harmful and will tell you more about the state of your tank water.

As there's nothing much else you can do I would suggest doing 10-20% water changes daily. Don't forget to use de-chlorinators as chlorine and chloramines (sp?) will also cause harm to your fish.

 

[LolaLouie]

Had you left the lights off for a while? When fish sleep they get pale, some of my fish turn almost white while they're sleeping. Probably they coloured up again because you woke them up doing a water change.

 

[dazza2123]

Hi the nitrate uis under 30ppm i mean it was about 20 i think.

i need to get it tested on we for ammonia and nitrite

I had the light off for a while but not that long

Thanks Any Ideas??

 

[LolaLouie]

Well if the lights were off and their colour was pale, you turned them back on and they went back to normal colour then i'm pretty sure they were just sleeping, you probably just dont see them pale in the mornings because the sun lights up the room before you wake up so the fish have woken up before you. I wouldn't worry. 30ppm isn't great but it's ok especially if you live in London etc. my water in London is 40-80ppm!

 

[dazza2123]

It was day time

just astarting to get dark???

Could this still be the problem.

i did a water change and put chemicals in immediatly like dechlorinator & some ammo lock just to check ammonia as i has this problem when there was an ammnia spike only last time the fish stayed the same coloyur but laid on the botto.

My bristlenose was fine

it was mainly the neon testras and the guppies



i also recently had guppied die on me.

Bu these were all from the same shop

possibly just the shop ones???

 

[vinylman]

Sadly, Neon Tetras don't do very well in a tank that isn't matured (NOT the same as 'cycled'); a loss of colour can be down to stress if the conditions are harming them.