Why Are They All Losing Colour?

[monica]

Well My 2 female bettas lost their colour. Totally. My once blue-red female is now a dull gray and clear brown. And my once royal blue female is now pale and greyish.
I have also begun starting to notice it with my guppies aswell.... What could be the problem? I enjoy their personalities, but I LOVE their colours, and they just aren't the same without them. They are still totally healthy, just lost all colour.

 

[SouthernCross]

Have you checked your water stats? Water can 'look' fine, but have high ammonia/nitrite. Especially if your tank is not cycled.

Poor colour is often a sign of illness/stress, which can be caused by bad water quality.

 

[Bubblenester]

Color loss can be one of the first signs of a problem... test your water (if you don't have a test kit, call a local fish store and see if they test for free, most will) and check the temperature too. If all of that is good, keep a sharp eye out for other signs of disease.

 

[monica]

The thing is... They randomly get it back. My blue female just got hers back (for this while I guess) And they are both swimming happily, except that my one female still doesn't have colour, and they probably both wont for awhile.
Their temp is around 72-74ish
No signs of ilness what-so-ever, for the past monthish! (the blue one only lost her colour now, which brought up this post)
About the water stats... No I do not have a kit. But how could I test from a store?

 

[Bubblenester]

Sorry I took so long to answer. You just bring in a small sample of the tank water, and they will test it for you. Most places will, anyway. It just takes a couple minutes.

Are your females in a community tank? Sometimes they can get stressed from chasing each other around. If not... well, I usually don't worry too much about females losing color as long as it's not for too long, because some will go stripey at the drop of a hat, and I can't find anything wrong with them or the water.

 

[Underwurlde]

Colouration can also be improved by better 'meatier' diets...

Andy

 

[monica]

Thanks. Could be both of those.

 

[justducky]

Their water temperature could also be contributing to the problem, 72-74 degrees is a little low. Closer to 80 degrees would be better.

 

[monica]

Really?? Whew, better get that temp up!

 

[drobbyb]

Having bred bettas in the past, 80 degrees is for breeding. For general keping room temperature is usually fine. The loss of color and color coming back tells me it's stress. Obviously if the color is still in the body (verified by her statment of color coming back) it probably isn't a diet issue either. When fish are stressed, they show little to no color. Something is bothering them. Are they in an unfiltered container or in a filtered tank? Are they the only fish in the tank? Do they have horizontal stripes on their bodies? Test for ammonia/nitrite and let us know.

 

[loraxchick]

if the bettas are being kept with the guppies, could that cause stress for both species?

 

[drobbyb]

if the bettas are being kept with the guppies, could that cause stress for both species?

Possibly.

 

[Syphoniera]

Boy, am I glad I'm not the only one who doesn't remember to check dates...

 

[loraxchick]

hahahaha...i always forget!

 

[ezrock]

I might have missed this, but do they have dark brown horizontal stripes when they lose their colour? If so, it's most likly stressed. I've had sick bettas lose colour before, and they usually don't have the stress stripes. I hope it's just stress with your bettas and that by separating the guppies, the females will be happier, more relaxed, and colourful again Also, females usually do better in groups of 5-6+ to minimize one picking on the other in smaller groups