Is this normal?

[DagothUr]

Well, after that little CO2 or whatever it was fiasco, my tank was back to normal after a few hours. Everyone was happy, even my clown loach was swimming about. So I went to sleep. The next morning, when the lights came on I noticed ALL of my fish had a huge drop in color, namely My red-tailed black shark.

Now, I was somewhat concerned about it and was in the middle of typing a query on AA, when i turned around and noticed the most bright orange tail I have ever seen on my shark... and everyone else was also full color and happy as a clam. Including my clams.

I've never seen this happen before. Infact I've never had a drop in color in my fishes, ever. I'm not that new to the hobby, 2 1/2 years or so, and I've seen my share of disasters and diseases. So you can see my concern here, is this normal?

 

[Guest]

DagothUr, my fish change colors often due to the change in light. I really would not worry about it if they came back to normal. Some fish also change colors when fighting,scared,territory struggle...This is my experience anyway.

 

[An t-iasg]

I agree with Mike about some reasons for color change. Also, if your fish were pale first thing in the morning, that is also normal. Some fish become pale at night when sleeping to reduce the risk of attracting a predator's attention. As you've seen, a short while after lights on, the colors are back to normal.

If a fish stays pale, that is usually a sign of stress, but what you described is normal.

 

[DagothUr]

Sweet, I'm a bit over-concerned after what happened on Wednesday night. Thanks for the help .

 

[An t-iasg]

That's perfectly understandable I'm sure everything will be fine!

 

[hsherman1986]

it freaked me out too the first time it happened to me, all of my guppies were just sitting on the bottom of the tank, and none of my fish had any color. I was totally freaked out, came on here and was told the same thing as you. While I was reading one of the replies I turned and looked at the tank, and everyone was swimming around and full of color. (i am new to the hobby though