Fish keep changing color

[blooper74]

I hope I am in the right area for this question. My tank has a real bad problem of changing the color of any fish I put into it. No matter what the fish's original color is, when I add it to my tank in a few weeks the color will change to a dull greyish blue. I have added many types of damsels, clowns and gobies and they all changed color. I had a orange peel angel and it changed too. Could someone please shed some light on this for me.

All tank digits are great and I have had the water professionally tested with nothing detected in the water. The fish are feed a wide variety of foods too so the food is not doing it I don't think. The foods I use are used by thousands and their fish don't change color like mine are. Ok enough of me ranting, please someone help with this delima.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Krish]

You didn't mention temp and that could be possibly a contributing factor. I rememebr I use to have the "dullest" looking fish when I had a freshwater tank in my bedroom when I lived home with my parents. The water would hurt it was so cold and it wasn't until I took the tank out of the room and the water warmed up that my fish were more active and colorful. Then there could be the spectrum of your lighting that affects how you perceive your fish's coloration. What bulbs are you using? Then one more thing that came to mind is how comfortable are the fish with it's other tank mates. I've usually seen fish get "dull" when they are stressed or afraid. Just a few thoughts I figured I'd toss out for starters. Maybe you can post up some of your numbers so that people can have something to go by. Hope you get it all worked out soon

 

[blooper74]

The water temp is solid at 79. The fish are happy and comfortable with each other and my family, actually anybody that comes around the tank the fish are fine. My light spectrum is Ushio 14k. The same light on different tanks doesn't change the fish to the dull grey/blue that my fish turn too.

 

[shallowreef]

I agree with Krish about the light spectrum having to do with this problem.

Although that is very wierd to see something like that happen. I use to run 20k 250 MH and t5 actinics and i never remember seeing that happen to any of my fish.

 

[Krish]

Well, if the temp is great, the lighting is the same as other tanks you have seen the same fish in and they look fine and the fish are happy with one another then I couldn't say what the deal is. You said you had the water professionally checked. What were the readings because it's hard to imagine the fish would be dull looking in your tank where everything is great and in check. Not sure if there is a disease that causes your fish to look dull when they appear to be healthy, if they are lacking a certan vitamin that inhibits great coloration or maybe even back to the bulbs again, if they are possibly old and are losing their spectrum and need to be changed out. How old are the bulbs?

 

[steve-s]

Sounds nutritional and/or stress related to me.

What specific foods are you feeding? Please be specific; brand, type, dried, freeze dried, raw frz, raw fresh etc...?
Also as Krish mentioned, do you utilize a vitamin and HUFA additive with these foods? If so which and how often?
How are the foods/vitamin/HUFA stored and how often are new ones purchased?

Does the color remain the same throughout the day or does it vary from morning, midday and evening?

What tank size, how many bulbs, what wattage?

What tank mates (species please), how many of each?

Cheers
Steve

 

[blooper74]

Well I am such a dork. I found out the problem today. I was doing a full clean on my system and I noticed my water looked a little bluer than normal. I took some water out of the tank and I'll be darned, it looked blue. I was thinking really hard what could have been doing it and my little girl came in and said that there was a funny blue stain on my tank glass rags (she helps me take care of the tanks). So I began searching for a source of the blue, and to my horror I found a bottle of my blue die I use for fishing lures siting on a lip inside my sump area. The bottle had a tiny leak in the bottom and was very slowly adding blue die to my sytem water. I had my friend test the water again and he told me that the die was absolutly harmless to the tank, it just turned everything in the tank into smurfs.
I trust him that it is harmless because he is the head of my local Universities Biology department and has been a friend of mine for years. Now I just have to wait it out till the die is completely worked out of the system and hopefully everything will eventually go back to normal. I finally noticed today a few of my softies actually had a blue tint to them as well.
I feel like such a noob.

 

[Krish]

Things happen man...Glad you found out what it was! Maybe you can run some extra carbon and see if that absorbs some of the color. Best of luck

 

[steve-s]

I had my friend test the water again and he told me that the die was absolutly harmless to the tank, it just turned everything in the tank into smurfs.

What is the dye made from?
Even if it's organic it can still be harmful. Indelible dyes can be either chemically produced or from natural exctracts. I would really suggest a few good water changes and repeated carbon use. Even if harmless, you may be in for an algae bloom.

The skimmer didn't react at all while this was happening?

Cheers
Steve

 

[Brenden]

Wow you got lucky. I guess you are doing WC's to get the water normal again? How did the dye get in the sump?

 

[Krish]

Here you go Brian

and to my horror I found a bottle of my blue die I use for fishing lures siting on a lip inside my sump area. The bottle had a tiny leak in the bottom and was very slowly adding blue die to my sytem water

 

[Brenden]

Yeah....How did it get there?

 

[blooper74]

Yeah....How did it get there?

Your guess is as good as mine. Of course I am and have been religious with my water changes, and my skimmer was going to town with lots of dark frothy goodness. I am just glad that it is all figured out and I can start the process of getting my fish back to normal color. Poor little guys and gals, look like smurfs on a bad TV. I will try to post a pic or two so you all can see.