Worried About My New Electric Blue: Possible Velvet/HLLE??

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twincessna340a

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
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Jun 16, 2010
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He went through a full course of API EM and General Cure (antiparasitic) treatment in quarantine before I put him in his 75 yesterday. The picture with "camera" in the filename is the day I got him, the others are as of a few hours ago.

What worries me is the gold sheen and bald spot best seen in '6' and '8', respectively.

Behaviorally he's an active swimmer and gregarious, isn't 'scratching' (although I caught him a couple times in quarantine), and happily eats. I've been feeding him Hikari Cichlid Gold twice a day, occasionally substituting with some bloodworms.

At the LFS he was in a tank with 12 Electric Yellows and a fellow hap, which had less developed coloration and wasn't as active. I picked him as he was clearly the alpha of the tank as the yellows were hassling him, which he would chase back then return to the front of the tank and do the 'puppy dance' while the other just lulled around. His right fin was also damaged (which is almost completely healed)

Both the quarantine tank and the 75 he's in now were fully cycled when I put him in, and the water quality remains perfect.
 

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The gold sheen is natural colouration. There is variable colouration of fish in the wild. Once in a while there will be an individual that doesn't match "the book" if he is feeding actively then there isn't likely to be anything wrong.
 
I agree that it is a variance of color and nothing to be alarmed about, but that fish is far removed from "natural". I also agree to keep an eye on the diet, but I don't see any indications of overfeeding proteins so I'm guessing the feeding regimen is pretty good. What is the elapsed time between the first picture and the last? I think you just have a fish coloring up because it is happy.
 
By "natural" I guess I mean that the colouration is not artifically induced by disease. It is in the fish's natural genetic colouration.

It's possible (likely?) that there has been line-breeding or accidental cross breeding somewhere in the fish's lineage, but it looks like it is colouring up well. You may even find that as the fish matures, the intense blue will drown out the gold sheen. But in any case it looks likes it will be a spectacularly coloured fish when mature.
 
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