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Anyone ever seen a glowlight tetra (the one with the flourescent orange stripe) turn kinda black? I have 5 glowlights and only one's body seems to be turning black. Any idea's?

What part of the fish is turning black? Does it look like pigment or something else?

What are your water parameters (pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) and stock list? Fish sometimes change colors or lose color in water that is not to their liking.

If you could get a picture of the said fish, that would certainly help.

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Water parameters are very important & a picture would be great. Is it only 1 of the 5 that is turning black?.


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I have found glowlights to turn a grayish black hue when properly conditioned.

Water params as follows:

NH3 - 0.15ppm
NO3 - 10 - 20ppm
NO2 - 0ppm
GH - 200 - 250ppm
KH - 100ppm
PH - 7.0

This is a moderately planted 110 gallon with CO2. Algae was a bit of an issue but seems to be disappearing. Tank is about 9 weeks old and ALL other inhabitants seems GREAT. The other 4 glowlights look as they always have. And other than the abnormal coloring, it is acting totally normal and healthy.

Cannot attach photo. Sorry. Not a premium member. Maybe someone could host a pic for me?


Last edited by X-Treme at 22-Aug-2005 15:29

Last edited by X-Treme at 22-Aug-2005 15:30

Premium members are not allowed to host pictures for non-premium members, but you could download your picture to a photo hosting site such as http://www.photobucket.com it's free and you can just link us to the photo.

As for the blackening glowlights.

IME when glowlights get large, or old they turn a grayish black. I don't know why, but mine did it when I ahd some and some at a nearby lfs in a display tank display this color. I don't think it is anything wrong with your fish, but be sure to do a water change to remove NO3 (I think that's nitrAte right?)

As for your other params, my glowlights have been in a moderatly hard water with a pH of 7.6 and did fine

Last edited by Tetra Fan at 22-Aug-2005 19:07

Last edited by Tetra Fan at 22-Aug-2005 19:07

Yes I agree,
large mature glowlights, the base
silvery body color does turn blackish
and accentuates the red stripe more.
Well conditioned fish should look
dark bodies and very bright stripes
with shiny alert eyes. They should also
be quite plump with no sunken bellies.
If your fish matches all this I would
guess it is perfectly healthy and likely a
very nice specimen!


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X-Treme,

Sorry, I know nothing about Glowlight Tetras, I only want to comment on Tetra Fan’s comment about your Nitrates (NO3).

Depending on how you define “moderately planted”, your Nitrate levels of 10 to 20 ppm might be just fine as it serves as a food source for your plants, in particular as you are injecting CO2.

The one that would make me a little concerned is your NH3, as it is Ammonia, and that one should always be tending towards 0 ppm. I have the liquid test kit from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals with a range of 0 to 7 ppm. What kit do you have that measures 0.15 ppm?

[link=The Krib]http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-tests.html" style="COLOR: #ff6633[/link] states in its FAQs that “At concentrations as low as .2-.5 ppm (for some fish), ammonia causes rapid death. Even at levels above 0.01-0.02 ppm, fish will be stressed.”

Hope this helps,

Ingo

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