color change

[Price839]

i recently got two convict Cichlids upon putting them into my tank they seemed both fine, this morning the female stilled looked normal but the male was a light gray, like a slate color, i figured the color change may have been due to the recent placement in the tank...my question...how long will this go on? and how is this going to affect my fish?

 

[Menagerie]

Welcome to AA, Price839!!

Cichlids change colors depending on their mood, environment, breeding, stress, etc. Sometimes they get darker or lighter, banding (or any pattern) may become stronger or lighter. This may happen over night or right in front of your eyes. One thing to check on is the sexing of your fish. If you have two males, or two females (which happens even when we think we have the right sex ratio), the subdominant fish may take on submissive coloring.

how long will this go on?

There's no way to know how often it will occur or how long the color change will last.

how is this going to affect my fish?

There should be no health affects; it's just what they do.

A couple of examples from my tanks:
I have three male kribs and one female in one tank (oppsss!); the two dominant males are gorgeous, but the subdominant takes on a drab color. I recently treated one of the dominant males out of the main tank and the subdominant male started to color up. When the dominant male was reintroduced the subdominant male went back to being drab. This color expression keeps the subdominant male from getting picked on.
In an all Mbuna tank, there is a beautiful blue and black banded fish. When he sees his reflection, he turns black and attacks the glass. When he's tired of "barking" at himself, he returns to normal as though nothing happened.

 

[Price839]

thank you that was reassuring i was hoping he wasnt sick
although it looks like my female has ich so im preparing for a battle with that disease

 

[Menagerie]

Sickness can play a role in color changing. Right now the fish are stressed, which made them more vulnerable to ich.

 

[Zagz]

For treatment of ich, turn the temp up slowly to 86F and keep it at that temp for 2 weeks after you see the last spot of ich gone. You can add aquarium salt as well depending on the other tankmates. Inverts and loaches don't do well with salt.

 

[goalorientation]

loaches don't do well with salt.

I'm treating my 29g for a severely injured dojo loach with aquarium salt among other methods, and also have clown loaches in the tank. Would you recommend against that? Does anyone else have experience in regard to loaches and aquarium salt?