FishProfiles.com Message Forums

I have 2 sunset gouramis I belive are both male, and they seem to be loosing their color. They were a beautiful reddish orange when I got them and now they're almost white. Am I doing something wrong?

Have you tested your water??? how big is the tank?? what else is in there with them?

Further questions...
How often and what do you feed them?
What lights do you have and how long are they on each day?
What's the temperature of the water?

Paling of coloration is not an uncommon stress response, in which case you are probably doing something wrong.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

That certainly sounds like stress.
Post your full water parameters this will help.
It could also be the two males stressing each other out.
Do you have any females with them?
Do you have much plant cover especially floating plants?

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Hi,
As you can see, there are any number of reasons why your
fish might be loosing their coloration.

Just being in a new environment will cause that to occur.
As they get familiar with your routine (walking past the
tank (thumping on the floor) loud music, lighting type
and duration, feeding (type of foods) and frequency
lack of hiding places, bright light with no plants to
hide in or under. Then add the possible water chemistry
differences between where they were and where they are now
and you have all sorts of possibilities.

Just how new to the tank are these fish. Some can take a
month to get used to their new surroundings.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

They are in a 45 gallon corner tank with 3 guppies and 3 glow light tetras. I feed them tropical flake food once a day 6 days a week and blood worms once on day 7. I'm not sure what lighting I have but it's at least medium lighting. The temp stays around 77.3*F I've had them for about 4 1/2 months. I have a rock cave, stump, and plants.

Have you done a water test??

The 2 males could be stressing each other out... Do you have a smaller tank you could move one to...see if things change if you get them away from each other?

Oh yeah I forgot to post my water test. I do have trace amounts of ammonia even after a water change for some reason it's about 0.25 right now. Nitrites are 0. Nitrates 5, and my ph has gone up to around 8.2, I plan on getting a buffer and getting it down to around 7.2

Considering water test- the ammonia and ph is probably the problem...

As for them stressing each other out- make sure the tank is in clearly divided territories- where they can get away from the other, have their own space with out the other in there face.

I'd say something in the tank is causeing the water problem. Either excess food/ poo in the substrate, or possibly even tap water. do you have rocks in your tanks??
That could be leaching minerals in the tank, bringing up the ph?
Do you have a liquid or strip test kit?? liquid is better.

try testing your water outtta the tap, then tap water 24 hrs later, see what you come up with. post results please.

I wouldn't worry about pH as much as the ammonia. Your tank is too old for ammonia to be around. Ammonia is a base, so high amounts of ammonia can increase the pH. If you get your tank stabilized then the pH should decrease at least a little.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I was thinking that maybe there was ammonia in the tap water....

Hi,
Hca is right. I suspect that the ammonia is actually
in your tap water in the form of Chloramine which is
a mix of chlorine and ammonia. Most water treatment plants
use both chlorine and chloramine to treat the water.

When you add the chlorine remover is neutralizes the
chlorine and it also alters the chloramine (read
the label) and the test kit is reading that.
A .25 is the general reading that
most test kits give when it is reading ammonia in an
established tank and that is because of the chloramine.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

my tap PH is really high and ammonia is 0. My tank PH was going up even when I had no ammonia. I never add chlorine remover I just let the water sit 24-48 hours before I use it. I was thinking I might should go buy some RO water and do a water change with that and see if it helps, or would that be a bad idea? I only have petrified wood in the tank, my log is plastic.

Also would the trace amount of ammonia cause my tetras gills to be red? They are the only ones with red gills.

Oh yeah and Frank

A 0.25 reading of ammonia is normal? Until the last two weeks or so it's normally 0.

Ok somethin in the tank, is causeing the ammonia.
And yes it will make gills turn red, and stress out fish.

Ok- did you change out a filter pad/ or pads completely??? this could cause a mini cycle..

over fed the fish, loose a fish, got uneaten food somewhere in the gravel???

I haven't changed out any filter pads since I set it up over a year ago. All I do is rinse them with tank water I syphon out doing the water change. I have some kind of algea growing on the tank and my rocks, and the gouramis go along and eat it off of everything. Which reminds me are there any toxic kinds of algea?

Hi,
Letting the water sit for that length of time does nothing
to remove the chloramine, in that time Yes, the chlorine
will degas, but the chloramine is permanent. It takes a
"water conditioner" to neutralize it and then, add the
fact that the test for ammonia will read all
the "varieties" of ammonia in the tank and you will
have a reading of some low value.

Check with your water treatment plant and see if they
are now adding chloramine to the water. If so, that
that is probably the source of your trace reading.

If not, then continue on with your quest to find the source
of the trace ammonia in the tank.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Oh ok I get it now. Thanks Frank. I always thought there was only chlorine in the water not that other stuff. I probably read about it but didn't understand it.

Ok so I did a water change over the weekend, and now my test kit is reading 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 5 nitrate. How long will it take before my tetras gills turn back to their normal color or could there be an underlying problem? They also keep getting a fuzzy growth on them everynow and again and don't know why.

Hi,
Take a look at the disease "Gill Flukes." That sounds
like a possibility.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--