# Need help! Crisis!



## chinamansteve (Sep 13, 2010)

I have a 55G tank in my basement, with rummynose, odessa barbs, pentazona barbs, and cardinal tetras! All my fish were doing fine, very colorful, and the Odessa Barbs I got last sunday had shown most of their color (blackish silver with the red stripe across the body). When I went downstairs to my basement to turn off the aquarium lights last night at around 1:30AM, the fish were all fine. This morning when I went to turn on the lights and feed them, ALL the fish lost their colors!!!!! The rummynoses' heads are almost pale, the cardinal tetras are all almost see through, and the odessa barbs are all pale!!!!! I don't know if its because the outside temperature dropped and they got cold?!? The temperature today is about 9 degrees in toronto, compared to 17-19 degrees the past couple days... The water temperature dropped only 1 degree in the aquarium...

I also recently changed to a new filter on Tuesday, from my old crappy one that came with the tank when I bought it as a set, to the A-610 AquaClear 50 Power Filter. I know that when I change filters, i was suppose to squeeze the sponge/media from the old filter to the new one, but my old crappy one did not have a sponge or media at all, it was those cartridge ones... The fish seemed to be ok after i changed the filter until this morning!! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!


----------



## chinamansteve (Sep 13, 2010)

I just went downstairs to check them again, and most of the color from the fish came back (80% of the fish). There are still some that are still a bit pale, but the colors are starting to show... I don't know what's going on..


----------



## xr8dride (Feb 24, 2009)

When fish lose their color, the chromatophores, which are the cells that control pigmentation space out farther apart, and their colors appear more dull. Drawn closer together, the colors appear more bright.

As for why their colors dull at night? My only guess is that with any cell, it will conserve energy if at all possible. In the absence of light, maintaining color is useless, so fish can control their chromatophores when there is an environmental change, and thus control their color to some degree.

Even just dropping the cartridge into the tank while the new one had time to seed would have been a better choice. I'm no pro at this but I would image if they are not conserving energy while sleeping, you removed alot of the beneficial bacteria and threw your water perameters out of whack.

Hopefully someone with more experience will drop in and offer some more advice.

good luck


----------



## qwerty (Dec 15, 2009)

It's normal. Fish lose their colour when the lights are out. Not sure the scientific explanation, but it's completely normal. Fish thing in the morning, my harlequins look almost white.

It may have some sort of survival adaptation, like they're harder to see for predators if their colours are all faded? *shrug*

Anyways I'll bet your fish are fine now.

I would keep an eye on your parameters until your new filter cycles though. Try to get some seeding media perhaps.


----------



## chinamansteve (Sep 13, 2010)

Ok, thanks for all the help! Yes, all the fish except 1 have returned to their colors, phew! It's just that I was surprised cause it never happened before. Maybe it's because I turned on the lights today earlier than usual (8:45AM as oppose to the usual 10AM). I'm glad it's nothing too big. But yes, I'll definitely keep an eye on the parameters! Thanks!


----------



## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Indeed, fish do control their chromatophores: changing breeding colours, stress colours, aggressive colours, etc. etc. At night, many of the colours you may see during the day will become pale and dull because during the day the fish is actively using its chromatophores, whereas at night there typically is no need.

To read a bit more, check out the wikipedi article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromatophore


----------



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

I also have rummy nose tetras. You were one of the people who replied on my thread about them hiding. My rummy nose tetras noses always pale in the mornings, this is normal for them as long as they get color back by noon. But my neons never loose color and it's normal as well. 
As per filter, when you installing new filter in cycled fish tank you need to run old and new filter in parallels for at list two weeks otherwise your fish will be stressed as it's going through cycling again. If you can run them in parallels yet, please do so (this what I've done when I replaced my filter in my 10gl tank with AC20). If you can not start adding bio support like Stability or so for a few days ASAP.


----------



## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

Not only do fish lose coloration, so do shrimps!
I read somewhere it's due to lack of oxygen because plants stop photosynthesis, but I'm likely to be wrong. don't know why it's related to colours...
glad everything's fine though


----------



## pat3612 (Jan 29, 2008)

. If you have gravel there should be lots of bacteria in there . I would still keep an eye on the tank. Do you have a test kit ,if not I would recommend one. That way if you do have problems in the future you can test the water and we can help you better.


----------



## chinamansteve (Sep 13, 2010)

Thanks for the replies guys, everything is back to normal now. I guess I was surprised (being new) of this phenomenon ahaha. I do not have a test kit, but I will definitely get one! Thanks again!


----------



## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

In the future never remove an old filter when you set up a new one.

Leave them both running for several weeks. A new filter has no bacteria in it. 

Even without "media" inside it, the mulm in your old filter contained the only biofilter that your tank had. If you don't understand the role of nitrifying bacteria in an aquarium, then please do read up on it!

If your old filter had no media, it would be a simple matter to add some, without disturbing it or cleaning it in any way. A sponge from a mature tank would also prevent a mini-cycle, which even if you have not seen any changes in your tank, could happen when you change out your filtration, cold turkey, something you should NEVER do. 

Warren


----------



## chinamansteve (Sep 13, 2010)

KhuliLoachFan said:


> In the future never remove an old filter when you set up a new one.
> 
> Leave them both running for several weeks. A new filter has no bacteria in it.
> 
> ...


Yes next time i'll definitely will keep the old filter on. But I'm not sure if this would make any difference, but I have an undergravel filter as well, so I think that should be able to prevent a new cycle?


----------



## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

I would be surprised that your UGF didn't handle the load, but without the test-kit, who could say really? It is also possible that nothing bad happened, and that the person previously who just said that it being dark can lead to your fish being faded in color for a while, which is not a permanent or bad thing, although I do not believe that much, because I rarely see that ever.

W


----------



## Lee_D (Jun 11, 2010)

Are these planted tanks? My Rummynoses have great colour in the morning. If they don't, and they are fine shortly after the lights turn on, it may be an O2/CO2 issue. The plants could be producing to much CO2 at night. I recently lost a school of Harlequins and I think this is the reason. They would look perfect during the day but one or two would die just before dawn.

Lee


----------



## chinamansteve (Sep 13, 2010)

my aquarium is not planted, but i think it might be the fish were sleeping/resting, and i turned on the lights earlier than usual by 1-2hrs lol. Everything is back to normal now and colors are vibrant again. It's a good experience i guess to learn it. Thanks everyone for the replies!


----------



## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

Your fish will be healthier if you put some live plants in! 

I recommend you start with something that can't be easily killed, and doesn't mind low-light, like Hornwort [which generates oxygen for your fish!], or some Hygrophilia species [which grows like nuts and sucks nitrates out of the water].

W


----------



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

Well I'll be careful about Hygrophilia as it a lot of different ones and some low light, some medium and some high light. The hardest ones in my expedience are Java moss, Java Fern and Windolov (variation of java fern). But they are very slow growing but very low light and maintenance as well (to the extend that if you have your fish tank near the window, you don't need to turn lights on). But again this is different topic as even for low lights plants you need to keep your aquarium light on for at list 6 hrs. And then you have to find the balance of plants like low light fast growing like Hygrophilia and low light slow growing like Java fern, or medium growing like Amazon sword.
Anyway it's a completely new topic where you have to find balance of right plants, lights, photo period, etc.. to not to end up with plants getting yellow or getting algae, etc...
I personally use java moss, java fern, windolov, amazon sword, and Thai Hygrophilia (medium light one) without any fertilizers with low light and it took me almost 6 months until my tank is considered a planted tank, but my fish love it and my shrimps have a lot of hiding places.


----------



## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

I have a Hygro Poly-ish species that you can't kill, unless you bleach your tank.  Anybody who is new and wants some can have some for free. 

W


----------

