Color fading on a bala shark

[ConanTheLibraia]

The color is fading on one of my bala sharks. The black on the fins and his whole body dosnt look as vibrant and seems more silver. Could this be neon tetra diesease? If it is or if it isnt what should I do?

 

[d9hp]

I dont know, what size tank, params?

 

[ConanTheLibraia]

hmmm bala shark is fairly small slightly bigger than the other, and young, id say about 4 or 5 inches at the most, im not completly sure what size tank, but according to the calculators on this site its a 28 gallon and its tall, its planted with lower light plants, Eclipse hood w/ biowheel and debris/carbon filter built in. two 15w bulbs that came with the hood.
tested the water just now-
nitrate:20
nitrite:0
pH:7.1
ammonia:0
been feeding him Tetra ColorBits pellets, probably not the most complete diet although it is titled "Color"Bits.
Compared to the other shark, he seems like he has lost some color. I probably wouldnt have noticed it if i didn't have a second shark to compare with. The other fish in the tank are one black shark about the same size who picks on the balas a lot (although the balas do team up and get revenge every once and awhile its actually quite cool) and a tiny pleco which dosnt come out of this cave hardly at all during the day or at least while people are around.

 

[ConanTheLibraia]

OK, I am thinking four things on why my bala shark has been loosing his color, please tell me what you think.
1. Not a complete diet, (need some veggies)
2. pH too high or parameters incorrect. (actually my pH is a little high)
3. Too much stress from being chased by the black shark, and not being in a school.
4. Too much light, my light is not very powerful, actually a bit weak, but the balas don't use any of the shady spots because they don't fit or are occupied by the black shark and or pleco.

Dosn't have anything to do with the subject but:
I noticed my black shark likes to rest in the nooks of this big plastic root decoration. I am not very worried because he is probably taking a rest since the current is fairly fast in my tank, or it is just a trait of his own, or all black sharks. What do you think about this?

 

[d9hp]

I think you know that the shark will get too big, so I wont push that. I think the chasing might have stressed him and the color is fading as a result. I would try and feed him something like some feeder guppies?

 

[ConanTheLibraia]

He is very small. I am going to move the fish into a bigger tank that should be about 50-60 gallons when I get it, that way they will have a lot of room of their own and room for other tankmates. Do you mean feeding the bala the guppies for his diet or feeding them to the black shark to keep him occupied?

 

[d9hp]

I think you could feed the bala shark one feeder guppy a week, and feed the guppies color enhancing food and such, the nutrients in the guppy might help the shark. I dont really know.

 

[ConanTheLibraia]

Dh9hp: Theoretically, thats a really good idea. I'll have to look into it more.
Anybody know if there is any good frozen veggie food? I went to the crappy LFS and they didn't have any, I'll have to check the petsmart.

 

[ConanTheLibraia]

I'm pretty sure its a mix between flukes and pH too high. The fish color is fading, fins are a little droopy, and I have seen some of the other fish glance off objects or the gravel. I got maracide and put it in my tank, because I am pretty sure most of the fish have flukes. It turned the water a slight shade of blue-green which really didn't bother me, it actually looked pretty nice. I took out my filter pad and the guy at the LFS said it was cool if I had the bio wheel in. It instructed me to put in 2 capfuls per gallon, it didnt say if it was a daily treatment or what but I did just that and now, a few hours later I think I may see a bit of a difference. I also took advice from some of the more seasoned aquariests on this site and added a gallon of distiled water with changing the water beforehand to lower the pH. Hopfully my fish will do good, and if they don't then I have whatever is wrong narowed down much more.

 

[i3k]

Take CLOSE look at the fish and check the body for tiny white spots...the glancing on the gravel might indicate that they have ich. I wouldnt suggest using medication right away as it may interrupt your bacteria colonies. If you have a heater, raise the temp. slowly up to 85 degrees and that should take care of the ich...if it is ich. Also, raising temp. helps while medicating. Since you already started using medication...I would suggest doing the following. After about 24 hours of medicating the tank I would put the filter pad back in and let it clear the whole tank of medicine then take it back out and change about 5 gallons of water before adding another dose of medicine. You may also add some salt to the aquarium which will relief the fish of stress durring medication. Add 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons...if you fish start to improve...then you should just do SMALL water changes every other day until the fish are back to normal. I strongly suggest not to use medication a lot as I have made this mistake in the past and it only made the fish worse. Goodluck!

 

[ConanTheLibraia]

The medication treats ich too. Here is where I got my info and the symptoms on the site are the same as what I have.
http://www.exotictropicals.com/encyclo/information/freshwater_fish/Diseases.htm#Flukes
note the sentence where it says "Symptoms of a heavy infestations are pale fish with drooping fins, rapid respiration, glancing off aquarium decor, and /or hollow bellies." my bala has got drooping fins, have seen him glance off the gravel/plants, same w/ some others, and I also read on a different site that color fading can be from high pH.
What do you reccomend from this?