arby

hi,

I have a twenty gallon community tank with 5 cardinal tetras, 2 neon tetras, 1 red-tailed rasbora and 2 oto cats. The tank has been established for close to 5 years. I put the cardinals in there close to a year ago and they have generally been doing fine (previously the tank had some white cloud minnows).

During hot weather in the summer, I removed the heater while servicing the tank and didn’t bother to put it back in, since it wasn’t necessary. However, a few weeks later there was a sudden and unexpected drop in temperature. By the time I put the heater back in, the water temperature had dropped quite a bit and I noticed that one of the cardinals had lost its red color.

I thought it might be stress related, but later that day it had a kind of orange color, then it would go back to being white/silvery (no color). The other cardinals appeared normal. Only one seemed to be affected. I called the local aquarium store, and they suggested I remove it from the tank. I did this and put it in a 5.5 gallon tank by itself.

The fish has now been in there for a couple of months. It appears relatively normal in temperament, but the color has not come back. Someone told me it might be a blood condition and that it could be contagious but no one seems to be able to confirm that. I’ve asked around but no one seems to have any answers.

Is anyone here familiar with this problem? I would appreciate any advice or suggestions, as I really don’t know what to do.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

swords3711

Welcome to Fishlore!
I'm not sure why its color has not come back
is there a light on in the aquarium he is currently in
I have neons and if they don't have light, then they're red color fades to an almost transparent or an orangy coloration.
It is a good idea to keep your heater in at all times,b ecause if it is set to a normal temp, then it shouldn't click on if the aquarium water doesn't get lower than the designated temp.

0morrokh

The initial loss of color was from the stress of a sudden temp drop.

Is there a light on the 5.5 q tank?

arby

Thanks for your replies. Normally I always leave the heater in the tank. This was an exception because we were having some extremely hot weather before the unexpected drop in temp. But I have learned a good lesson from this.

To answer your questions, no, there's no canopy light in the 5.5 gallon tank, but then there isn't one in the 20 gallon either. They both get natural light from a window. The cardinals in the 20 gal. have a full red band on the underside. This one has hardly any color (although it used to be like the other ones, before this happened). When is does show a small amount of color, it looks more orange than red.

has anyone ever heard of a blood condition that can cause this?

thanks again

0morrokh

I haven't ever heard of one, but maybe there is one.

If it isn't any kind of disease, I'm guessing the loss of color is due to stress from being separated from the other cardinals or from not getting enough light.

swords3711

He should be fine to release. They will lose their coloration if they are without artificial light. Has he got a faded blue color in his blue streak? This will also fade without artificial light.

arby

The blue streak is fine (forgot to mention that), it's just the bottom part that's affected. The ones in the other tank are very colorful even though there's no artificial light. They have a full red band on the underside and have not lost any color.

Thanks

0morrokh

since the fish has been in the q tank for a few months and is still doing fine, hemust not have any kind of disease. I think it would be best to put him back with the other cardinals.

COBettaCouple

I would put him back and see if his color returns. Usually 3-4 weeks is a long enough quarantine time for any conditions to show symptoms. I don't know of any blood condition, contagious or not, that would cause this coloring loss and i agree that it's a lot more likely that he's lonely.

Do you have a pic that you could post?

arby

sorry, I don't have a pic. but I will probably end up putting him back into the main tank. thanks for the input.

susitna-flower

I agree with the light theory. Mine turn every night, in the morning when I switch on the light they are faded then within a few minutes they are colorful again. Just because it affected one more than the others isn't necessarily unusual. Put them back together. If you can ad a canopy light, and you will enjoy the whole tank more!

0morrokh

Make sure to keep us updated, I'm very curious to know if he gets his color back when he's back in the main tank.

susitna-flower

I came across this link today and thought it worth reading since it really does give insite to diseases that could cause lack of color.

http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/fish_dis..._in_color.html

Hope this helps.