Fish turning white.

[CallMeIshmael95]

Currently my 56 gallon has 7 serpae tetras, 5 mollies, 2 balloon mollies, and 2 red wag platys.

This has happened twice in the past two weeks and I'm starting to get concerned.

This morning as I was leaving the house, I forgot to turn my fish tank light on. (My fish tank is in the basement, so it's kind of dark already) and I didn't get home until 1am. When I got home the first thing I did was come to feed my fish. to my surprise, they were all lying on the bottom of the tank and seemed really slow and groggy, and they didn't really react when I fed them. Not only that, I realized that all of my tetras had turned almost clear and has no red or brown coloring and very little black coloring.

This happened about two weeks ago too in a similar situation where I forgot to turn the light on when I left the house.

Is this something I should be super concerned about? Are my fish sleeping when the get all slow and groggy? And why do the tetras turn clear?

Also, I've been sitting here watching them for about ten minutes and they're eating fine now and the color is returning to the tetras.

 

[jwh0818]

Ypu need to get a timer for your lighy. Fish need a light cycle just like we need light. Im not positive on why they lose color or why they stay at the bottom but do you habe a heater? Whats your tank temperature?

 

[CallMeIshmael95]

Yes, I have a heater. I check the temperature a few times a day because the tank is somewhat near a vent. It's temperature always stays between 82-86 degrees.

I was wondering about the light affecting their color because when I kept neon tetras I read that their color is affected my the light they receive and I didn't know if serpae tetras were the same.

 

[candymancan]

A lot of my tetra's neons, glow lights, and other fish I have always sleep on the bottom of the tank at night...


However I recently purchased 5 neon tetra's to restock my tank because I only had like 6 fish left in my 27g hexagon.. Within one day.. I turned the light off and then the next day I noticed a lot of them were bleached white in large patchs of there bodies... It isn't small dots like ich its like a bleach white in a large patch on there body.. within 24 hours they all died..

It looks ALOT like neon tetra disease.. but I hear that disease takes a long time to kill a fish ? I dunno if that's true... but I found out my API test kit was long expired (6 years lol) so my nitrate readings were way off.. Instead of 20 they were around 80.. I didn't use any prime when I added those neons either..

I have done like 4 water changes now and my nitrates are much lower and I have since added 7 more neon tetra's and only 1 has gotten a white patch.. crossing my fingers... Soo maybe you should get that water checked out.

 

[KTpoopenstein]

Currently my 56 gallon has 7 serpae tetras, 5 mollies, 2 balloon mollies, and 2 red wag platys.

This has happened twice in the past two weeks and I'm starting to get concerned.

This morning as I was leaving the house, I forgot to turn my fish tank light on. (My fish tank is in the basement, so it's kind of dark already) and I didn't get home until 1am. When I got home the first thing I did was come to feed my fish. to my surprise, they were all lying on the bottom of the tank and seemed really slow and groggy, and they didn't really react when I fed them. Not only that, I realized that all of my tetras had turned almost clear and has no red or brown coloring and very little black coloring.

This happened about two weeks ago too in a similar situation where I forgot to turn the light on when I left the house.

Is this something I should be super concerned about? Are my fish sleeping when the get all slow and groggy? And why do the tetras turn clear?

Also, I've been sitting here watching them for about ten minutes and they're eating fine now and the color is returning to the tetras.

My serpae tetras kind of hang out towards the bottom and at a 45 degree angle to the bottom when the lights are off. When the lights come back on, they get active again. They definitely seem to be sleeping/resting. Scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it because I'd been out of town over night and came home to high ammonia levels (fish-in cycle) and thought they were dying. That was over a month ago now and they're all still kickin and just chill at nighttime.

 

[Autumnsky]

A lot of my tetra's neons, glow lights, and other fish I have always sleep on the bottom of the tank at night...


However I recently purchased 5 neon tetra's to restock my tank because I only had like 6 fish left in my 27g hexagon.. Within one day.. I turned the light off and then the next day I noticed a lot of them were bleached white in large patchs of there bodies... It isn't small dots like ich its like a bleach white in a large patch on there body.. within 24 hours they all died..

It looks ALOT like neon tetra disease.. but I hear that disease takes a long time to kill a fish ? I dunno if that's true... but I found out my API test kit was long expired (6 years lol) so my nitrate readings were way off.. Instead of 20 they were around 80.. I didn't use any prime when I added those neons either..

This sounds like the possibility of flexibacter columnaris. Check out additional info on the subject.

OP The Tetras will turn pale when they sleep/rest as a protection mechanism being pale they don't attract as much attention from predators, so I have been told. Completely natural no matter the reason.

 

[Platiesareawesome]

OP The Tetras will turn pale when they sleep/rest as a protection mechanism being pale they don't attract as much attention from predators, so I have been told. Completely natural no matter the reason.

I have heard this too. My ember tetras do it all the time.

 

[AngelFishGirl]

Okay one thing to add is that a fluctuating temperature is extremely hard on fish.

2nd thing is 86 is too high for fish unless you're treating for ich. 82 should be the max temperature they are at. And the temperature should not fluctuate more than 2 degrees.

 

[candymancan]

A lot of my tetra's neons, glow lights, and other fish I have always sleep on the bottom of the tank at night...


However I recently purchased 5 neon tetra's to restock my tank because I only had like 6 fish left in my 27g hexagon.. Within one day.. I turned the light off and then the next day I noticed a lot of them were bleached white in large patchs of there bodies... It isn't small dots like ich its like a bleach white in a large patch on there body.. within 24 hours they all died..

It looks ALOT like neon tetra disease.. but I hear that disease takes a long time to kill a fish ? I dunno if that's true... but I found out my API test kit was long expired (6 years lol) so my nitrate readings were way off.. Instead of 20 they were around 80.. I didn't use any prime when I added those neons either..

This sounds like the possibility of flexibacter columnaris. Check out additional info on the subject.

OP The Tetras will turn pale when they sleep/rest as a protection mechanism being pale they don't attract as much attention from predators, so I have been told. Completely natural no matter the reason.

Hmm I looked up the columnaris your talking about the pictures on google look exactly like what my neons got.. It killed them fast..

I have 8 neons and 4 glow lights and none have gotten sick in 4-5 days now well cept 1.. Nore have my other fish.. Do you think its done with now ? Or should I a bacterial medication ?

 

[Autumnsky]

I don't really know for sure...

Since it is a bacteria I wouldn't think it goes away, just maybe some fish are more resistant to the bacteria or they may already have it...

I would treat the tank and the filter. As well as the nets and buckets and water changing tubes, etc. Clean and disinfect it all.

Maybe post in unhealthy fish, and ask.

I understand and it really sucks with a bad sickness.

 

[CallMeIshmael95]

Hmm I looked up the columnaris your talking about the pictures on google look exactly like what my neons got.. It killed them fast..

I have 8 neons and 4 glow lights and none have gotten sick in 4-5 days now well cept 1.. Nore have my other fish.. Do you think its done with now ? Or should I a bacterial medication ?

Did you ever get your problem fixed? My tank had a bad case of columnaris after I got some neons about 4 months ago. Only 5 of my 20 fish survived because I didn't realize what it was until it was too late. I had 2 mollies and 3 serpae tetras survive. They're happy and healthy today.