Yellow Lab Dirty Face

[AK47]

Hey guys I am in need of some help in determining what is wrong with my fish so I can treat it properly. I recently noticed that one of my yellow labs face looked very dirty so to say. It's like a darkish coloration on his face but not a spot, more like someone drew a moustace on his face with a dark colored pencil. He also seems to be hiding alot and very lethargic. He also seems to dart away from me although they do that sometimes I think anyways. I was looking at the disease called Velvet but i'm not sure if thats what it is. Can anyone help me out? I can supply pictures if necessary but I don't know if we will be able to see it on the camera.

 

[Colin_T]

It is not a disease but is colouration on the fish. If the fish is stressed out it will often produce dark colours. It could also be a hybrid and has started showing its true colouration.
If the fish is panicking whenever some one goes near the tank then there is probably a water quality issue. Try doing daily partial (30-50%) water changes & gravel cleans for a week and see if it settles down. Make sure any new water s free of chlorine and has a similar temperature & PH to the tank.

 

[AK47]

I have other labs in my tank and they don't seem to be showing such a dark coloration on their faces. Any reason why this particular fish would be so stressed out. If its the water quality then wouldn't the other fish be acting similiarly?

Also, this fish seems to be hiding away from the other fish even during feeding time. He will come out to eat but is not lining up at the top of the tank like the other fish do whenever I come near the tank as they are expecting to be fed.

 

[kj23502]

All 5 of my yellow labs died in my 125 gallon tank and the other species were just fine. They showed no symptoms other than hiding alot. It was like they never settled into the tank. The other fish are still just fine and I haven't lost any fish other than the labs. Has yours always been shy or did it just start? Mine were always that way.

A few of my fish have that mustache look too. They've had it for awhile and my waters always tested fine and they still act normal. I'm not sure what's up w/that either.

 

[Colin_T]

The fish that is hiding is probably stressed out from something. It could be getting bullied by a more dominant fish or it could just be a physically weaker fish that is suffering from an illness or water quality issues. The weaker fish will always succumb first and if the fish is being bullied then it will be the first to stress out if the water isn't perfect.

 

[dthoffsett]

It's not necessarily stress causing the black coloration, some speciemens from poor strains will develop the coloration once they are mature, or the coloration will only show up when ready to breed, then disappear.

This can occur even in F1 specimens but is considered undesirable (for obvious reasons), and those with the coloration are either culled or removed from the breeding group.

There are plenty of bad strains out there - some with lots of black on the body and face. There is a morph with a whitish belly that is not as attractive. Don't be mislead into thinking that is a man-made strain. This is a naturally occurring morph that comes from Lion's Cove, along side the yellow lab we all know.

Quote taken from labidochromis caeruleus article.

 

[CentricOregon]

When I had yellow labs all my males developed a dirty face and had black stripes up the side of there body almost as like they had been in a fire lol, all it meant when I had them was that they were mature males who wanted to be the dominant species in the tank, they will fight it out from time to time and then once it's sorted the dominant 1 will possibly breed if you have a female.