Pale Fish

[chestnutree]

i suppose one way to confirm if it's the food is to take out some tank water, place some of the food in and test the following day?

Or could it be that the fish were eating it too much producing too much amonia?

 

[kaivalagi]

Or could it be that the fish were eating it too much producing too much amonia?

I think you may have hit the nail on the head there, I suspect the food alone won't rot very fast and produce ammonia on it's own...

 

[chestnutree]

I think i may have over reacted and possibly killed the guppie by shocking it while sleeping doing the water change? (i did try and get the water temp the same)

I got up early again this morning and found them facing downwards and all pale again. i found on another site when doing a search this morning that the barbs face downwards when sleeping and often go pale!

Quote from site "That is true for the daytime but they tend to bleach out their colors at night when sleeping. Don't panic if it takes a few minutes after lights on prior to your tiger barbs gaining their stripes back. This is normal behavior. "

A few mins after lights were on this morning, especially when i put some food in, their colour came back and the guppies floating around the bottom woke up!!

Must be because im on an early shift this week and with the clocks going forward i was up even earlier so i've not seen my fish in this sleeping state before.

 

[spectrum]

The guppies I have currently don't seem to do it to the same extent, but the mothers and fathers of the current guppies ALL used to lay on their side on leaves and the sand at night, then they began to perk up as the sunlight hit the tank through the curtains. I find that most of my fish go pale at night, bar the BNs.
Hope this helps

 

[Big_eyes]

You have your lights on at 5:30am??

 

[Curiosity101]

Chestnut tree, I've done plenty of water changes early morning whilst the fish are pale. It's never cause me an issue.

I think they were pale due to 'sleeping'.

But that the guppy will have died due to some sort of ammonia poisoning. Those blocks are lethal. If they don't rot, then the fish just eat n eat n eat and you get spikes in the water quality.
Example, my dad overfed my fish despite me telling him not to. They ate everything and by the morning there was a large ammonia spike though there was no leftover food.

 

[chestnutree]

only to feed them before i leave for work. it goes off when i leave and back on for the evening until i go to bed