dmm28

I have 4 pepper cories and they've gone from an opaque color to almost solid black now. I'm suspecting that it's a defense mechanism and they are trying to blend with the substrate which is black. I've never owned any of they great little fish before so that's why I'm asking.

fishlover78

I know that a lot of fish change color throughout the day. do they change back to the pepper color eventually?

dmm28

not that I've seen yet. They were the peppered color for a while and in the last week or so turned black. I feed them the sinking tabs just to supplement a bit, so I'm really not sure why they would do this other than what I said before.

fishlover78

hmm, that's odd I am not a cory expert so I can't really help you. sorry!

Annadvn

What size tank are they in? What other fish are in the tank with them? Test your water and post the readings.

This might help us understand whats going on. Some fish can change colour when they are stressed, due to other tank mates bullying them or bad water conditions.

Anna

dmm28

I have cherry barbs, cardinals, black neons, and a dwarf gourami as well as a royal pleco. I've watched the tank tons and have never seen any bullying. I haven't checked water parameters in a little while. I'll do it tomorrow and post them up.

platy ben

Well earlier while i was cleaning the glass in my tank my peppered corys went pale which im almost certain means theyre stressed.
Going blacks kind of the opposite though

Annadvn

What size tank?

You sound like you have peaceful fish, but if they are crowded together in a small tank it could cause problems.

When did you last change the water? and the water test results might be helpful.

Anna

dmm28

I have a 75 gallon planted, I changed 50% of the water out 5 days ago I usually do a 50% water change every week. I'll get the water parameters for you tomorrow.

dmm28

Here are my tank readings:

P.H: 7.6
G.H: 60
K.H: 50
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 5

platy ben

They could well be trying to camoflauge themselves like you said, but i also have black gravel with my corys and they stay normal even when something scares them.
Heres a pic of 2 theres also a thrid one in the background
Picture 005.jpg

Are all of them going black or is it just certain ones?

dmm28

They've all gone black. I'll see if I can get a picture of them today.

platy ben

Well that just maddens the un helpful lol.

I thought it could have been males showing off to females but if its all of them, its clearly not

Woo, we like pictures hopefully we can all try and help after we see them

dmm28

I just can't seem to get a good shot of my cories. I'll post up the best pic I have in a little bit.

jack--sos

im not sure but my Dwarf Neons or Guppies turn to a darker colour they are stressed. but some of my tetras turn white, so it may depend on the species

dmm28

OK so here's the best pic I have. They all look like this guy, after thinking for a while........ if they were stressed would they not have died by now? Not that I want them to die but that's just my logic, that if they were so stressed they would have died.

Attached Images

tmpphpx3oBCW.jpg (165.1 KB, 35 views)

platy ben

hmm, thats odd, it doesnt even look like a peppered cory its so dark

Im out of ideas why they are so dark
Well if they are acting normal it shouldnt be much of a problem

BettaGammaDelta

I don't know anything about peppered, but my bronze and albino cories go almost translucent when they're upset or stressed about anything, then back to almost buttery (the albinos) and earthy black-brown (the bronze) when they're resting or just chilled out.

Maybe the probelm isn't stress but they're just lazy?