please help! Lost color

roofio

Please help me and give me information, I can not find any! My fish recently lost all their color. I noticed it and it lasted about 4 days. I decided to change the water in the aquarium, so I totally cleaned it out and their colors came back. What could have been the cause?

joeshmoe

ok how old is your tank? what are your water stats? what fish do u have in the tank? how big is your tank?

Rebecca

It's possible something in your water/filter/or something else caused the fish extreme stress; sometimes when they are frightened or stressed out they get really really pale. Or that might not be it, but something else entirely. Like Joe said, can you give a little more info about the stats of your tank?

Lupin

Hi and welcome aboard, Roofio.

Pls answer Joe's questions before we can proceed further.

When you say "clean out", did you mean cleaning the whole tank? If so, this is a bad idea IMO.
You only have to do partial water changes and clean the filter media under the tankwater. Do not use tapwater when cleaning your filter and decors. Your tapwater may contain chlorine.

To remove chlorine, try either of these methods.
1. Use dechlorinator. Make sure you use the one that also eliminates chloramine.
2. Let the water stand in a pail for 24 hours or overnight. Chlorine is a gas so it should be removed in time. However, this method excludes the chloramine hence I advised you to look for dechlorinators that can also eliminate chloramine.

roofio

I have a 10 gallon tank and the water in it was changed about a month before. I was having a problem with algee for a while and finally realized that the filter wasn't working that well anymore. So when I bought a new filter I started the tank from scratch.The fish were fine for a while,about a month. But then I was moving so I didn't do any refilling, the water level was about an inch from the top when I noticed that the fish had become dull; well I have these black fish with red tails (sorry dont remember the name) and they turned to a pale beije color almost transparent. Only my new Betta stayed blue. When I got to my new place I started the tank again and a few hours after i put them all in they got all their color back.
I agree with you and I am thinking it was just stress, but at the time I thought that they had some kind of disease.

Lupin

Hi roofio.

I now see your problem. You didn't put the old filter media in the new filter, did you? If you just threw it, then you are back to cycling the tank again rather than just mini-cycles.
Since you said you started from scratch, obviously everything is affected and you'll be experiencing lots of problems at that.

Pls buy test kits and test your ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH. Ensure your ammonia and nitrites are maintained to zero since you already have fish. To maintain them at zero, carry out large water changes rather than several small water changes.

elli38

I have had the same problem. I went away on holiday for a month - supposedly entrusting my fish to one of our friends. Although the fish were fed, he didn't clean out the tank at all, so I came back and my little tank was covered in green algae. I couldn't even see through the glass.

I spent about 4 hours scrubbing the tank from top to bottom, and took out as much water as I thought safe.

After doing this, alot of the fish (especially the tetras) became brighter. However, there are 3 or 4 fish that are still really pale.

Also, I keep waking up every morning now (its been 3 days since I cleaned the tank), and finding one fish each day dead.

Is there anything I can do to stop this?