Colour-Free Rams :(

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abbysue

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 16, 2012
Messages
43
Location
Abbotsford, BC, Canada
When I bought some GBR's, they had possibly been exposed to ich, so I was advised to put them in a quarantine tank and do the classic treatment for ich (malachite green, water changes, etc etc).
I chose some very pretty/vibrant rams - nice blue colour, bright red eye, healthy looking.
I did the quarantine and ich treatment in a 10g tank (6 young fish) with cover/hiding spaces.
After 2 weeks, I placed them in my 55g tank with a lot of hiding spaces, well cycled tank, plants, dither fish...

My friends refer to them as "those white fish". No word of a lie, they have lost 95% of their blue colour.

It's been another 2 weeks.... Still, very low on colour. Some are a teensy bit blue.
They all seem to be eating (flakes and bloodworms), some will defend little territories, not a lot of chasing more than a few inches. Water chemistry is still excellent.

Will they colour up again? They are supposed to be juveniles - about 4-5 months old.

Thanks in advance for any help.

:fish2:Susan:fish2:
 
What color is your substrate? I learned a few days ago that having a light color substrate will lighted up your fish and darker substrate will darken up your fish.
 
The loss of colour suggests to me that they haven't yet become comfortable with their surroundings.Although 2 weeks seems a long time.Is the water right for them.Rams are very particular with water parameters.
 
Substrate is light coloured.
Water parameters: pH might be slightly high for them at 6.5.
Nitrate, nitrite, ammonia all at zero.

:fish2:Susan:fish2:
 
Substrate is light coloured.
Water parameters: pH might be slightly high for them at 6.5.
Nitrate, nitrite, ammonia all at zero.

:fish2:Susan:fish2:

Your Nitrate is at 0 really?
A fully cycled tank should have a small Nitrate reading even with Daily 50% water changes.
Are you sure your tank is fully cycled?
 
Stress is the only thing I know of that would lighten them that much. Ph should be fine, my ph is 7 and they was fine but if your ph is different to where you got them that might cause more stress. And +1 to nitrates, a cycled tank will always have some you just need to keep them low.
 
Your Nitrate is at 0 really?
A fully cycled tank should have a small Nitrate reading even with Daily 50% water changes.
Are you sure your tank is fully cycled?

Maybe I should say nitrate is at the lowest end of the test kit being 0-5ppm.

I am quite certain the tank cycled, but I am willing to accept that I have been fooled.
I did a fishless cycle first with ammonia and seeded filter material from one of my established tanks for 4 weeks, then added dither fish for 2 weeks before adding the rams.

Could it really be the light coloured substrate? If so, that makes me very very sad, because I do not want to remove it!

:fish2:Susan:fish2:
 
Ok if your ammonia and nitrite are always zero without changing water daily then you should be ok, and don't worry I don't think the substrate is a problem as mine was always fine with pool filter sand and that is very light, it sounds like they are just stressed for some reason, how long have you had them? Where is the tank in a busy area? And I think floating plants would help, maybe they just need to get used to a different ph so as long as they are swimming around ok and eating just give them time.
 
Thanks - I change water once weekly, or every 2 weeks, depending on how busy I am (I aim for once weekly).

The fish swim great, eat great, and appear to be growing. I think the colour is coming back slowly...

The tank is in a fairly quiet space, plus, we work outside of the house, so at least 9 hours there is zero activity, with the exception of the dither fish (except birds at the bird feeder outdoors - window is about 9' away).

Thanks for your thoughts on this,

:fish2:Susan:fish2:
 
Thanks - I change water once weekly, or every 2 weeks, depending on how busy I am (I aim for once weekly).

The fish swim great, eat great, and appear to be growing. I think the colour is coming back slowly...

The tank is in a fairly quiet space, plus, we work outside of the house, so at least 9 hours there is zero activity, with the exception of the dither fish (except birds at the bird feeder outdoors - window is about 9' away).

Thanks for your thoughts on this,

:fish2:Susan:fish2:

Sounds like a good spot for the tank.Nice and quiet so I don't think that's the problem.Maybe the other fish are stressing them out or they just haven't settled in fully yet.Rams are notoriously sensitive.
 
Sounds like a good spot for the tank.Nice and quiet so I don't think that's the problem.Maybe the other fish are stressing them out or they just haven't settled in fully yet.Rams are notoriously sensitive.

I agree and yea most cichlids especially rams are very sensitive in my experience, as long as they are doing all the normal things I would just give them time and another tip from personal experience is feed them frozen brine shrimp with added spirulina ( not sure if the spelling is correct ) it really brings out their blue colours, good luck with them :)
 
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