Clownfish color faded or slightly pale out of no where?

[Winter-huntsman]

So tonight when I was feeding my 2 clown fish I noticed my male seemed a bit pale, not like clear or anything but like how he might look if you turn the light off at night and turn it back on, so it's like faded color. This morning he was perfectly normal, the only thing is that I turned the tank light on real early as I wanted to take a photo of one of my corals and bring a water sample to my local fish store to see if anything was up with the levels. He said that nothing was wrong but the salinity was low at 20. I don't know if he checked the other stuff though. Everything else is fine in my tank. Could this be a stress thing? If it's a disease is there a way I can treat it in the tank, because I don't really have a quarantine tank( I have a 10 gallon empty tank I have in my basement if anything happened, but the heater for it is being used to heat my main tank). Let me know as soon as possible and if there is an easy fix to this, because I might not sleep tonight because of this (first pair of fish I have ever had).
Levels should be the same as my last post.
1. How long have you had the fish? Do you know if it was wild caught, or tank raised? I have had him for almost 4 years now both him and his "mate"( she picks on him when I enter the room probably because she thinks I'm giving food) and they are both tank raised.


2. How long has the fish been in the tank? What are the tank mates? Any aggression? The new tank 3 years the first tank a little less than a year. He has a female clownfish with him, she picks on him quite often when I'm in the room but is generally docile when I'm out of the room. Other thing is a zebra hermit crab, but he bothers no one and is hardly ever seen unless you are really looking for him.


3. Is the fish eating? If so what does it eat? Yes he is and he ate quite a bit to night as well, both my clown fish eat frozen brine shrimp pelets.


4. What are the water parameters? pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, SPG? (actual numbers please: posting high, average or normal is not helpful) What saltwater test kit are you using? Uh I'll check again in the morning but everything should be fine except for a low salinity levels




5. Is the fish showing any physical signs of disease, grain of salt size spots, discoloration, ragged fins, misting or spots on the fins, cuts, cloudy eyes, etc? Nothing just color is a little faded like how he would look when the lights first go on


6. Is the fish "flashing" (scratching or rubbing on rocks, decorations or substrate)? No


7. How is the fish acting? Is it swimming around, or just hovering in one spot or corner of the tank? He acting like his shy self, maybe a little more jerky, but he ate normally and swam normally, maybe a little more stressed if you asked me


8. Did you use quarantine? If so for how long and did you have a need to treat for any ailments? Is it in qt now? Are you currently treating with any medication(s)? Don't know what to. 9. Describe in detail how the fish was acclimated. Floated in the tank for a hour slowly adding water every 10 mins 10. What size system? What type of filtration do you use? Do you have any live rock or sand? Both live sand and live rock,octopus protein skimer don't remember the model number buts it's a smaller one. , 11. Do you use any additives? Have you used any sort of meds in the main tank? Not in a long time, one used antibiotics/ medicine to help treat wounds this fish first received due to territorial disputes at a young age with female. [ATTACH]287437._xfImport[/ATTACH][ATTACH]287437._xfImport[/ATTACH][ATTACH]287438._xfImport[/ATTACH] Sorry for the poor quality photos, fish don't stay still you know. Oh and lastly the last time he was this faded color was when he got into that bad fight with my female in the first tank I had when I first got them, she basically ripped up every single fin to stubs, scraped him up and made him pale as a ghost, so I know it's not strange just don't know what cause it this time. Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[Sniperhank]

Fading in color is a sign of stress. If there is no bullying behavior in the tank, then it is parameters that are out of whack somewhere. Though 'fine' doesn't really help us much in terms of figuring things out, the solution remains the same. Do some large water changes to get the parameters in check.
I'd also suggest picking up an API master test kit so you can monitor these levels on your own rather than being at the mercy of a lfs which might not be using accurate tests or simply give you an answer to make a sale.


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[Winter-huntsman]

Thanks when I get home from summer school I'll do a water change and test the parameters. Right now I'm leaving the light off a little longer today to help reduce stress. I was a little worried it maybe something else besides stress but he shows no other symptoms. And yes there is a little bit of bullying from the female clown fish, but I don't know how to stop that. I had a small coral beauty in the tank a long time ago and the fighting stopped, but it died because of ick.

Edit- I may have just figured out what may be off, it could be amonia levels. When I was scrapping the pump a lot of white pieces flew off, they looked like brine shrimp. I tried to collect most of it. Could what ever it was cause an issue if it was organic and decomposing?

 

[Winter-huntsman]

Ok color has mostly returned, but now he's swimming kind of funny. He is keeping his head up swimming around. When I found him he was swimming near the bottom. No wounds or anything else now it's just strange behavior. I'll go run a water test now, but what could cause that strange swimming?


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[Marty.h]

Sadly I have found the API kits to not be very good at all with marine they are excellent for freshwater though.

I would opt for Salifert you will not go far wrong with them

 

[Winter-huntsman]

I have figured it out why at night he looks a bit pale/ faded. Since I feed them at night before going to bed, my female will pick on him stressing him out. Luckily both eat. Now I just need to figure out how to get both them to be buddy buddy when I'm in the room.


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[Winter-huntsman]

Ok going back on the swimming problem he does this thing where he seems to be working harder to move compared to my female who swims normally, also he's a little darker on top. I'm just trying to figure out if this is normal or not. Also there are darker ares under his fins ( the spot where the fin and body connect) I can't tell if this is just muscle, brushing or normal coloration. I would get photos for you guys but it's near impossible for me to do so right now.


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