Why won't my Lemon tetras color up?/what disease

I have had them since not last Wednesday but the Wednesday before, and they still haven't gotten that yellow tint, and are acting kind of funny, the tank is cycled, it has been running for a few years prior. The parameters are 8.2 ph (Used to be 7.5 from wood, but was told they can thrive in higher ph and they weren't colored up in the 7.5 ph), very very slightly above 0 ammonia (It is very slightly tinted), 0 nitrite, 20 nitrate. I had a problem originally when a few kind of were spazzing about and were not consistently upright and couldn't swim correctly and a water change seemed to fix that. But I just got one doing it again I did a water change and that seemed to solve it. Do you know why they aren't getting that yellow I know them to have. The black/yellow but not white on their anal and dorsal fins. And what disease do you think they have. (I just saw the newest one spazzing out when I typed this last sentence to check which colors, so sorry if it is worded weirdly)

 

They kind of look like this except a little lighter.

 

It'll take them more than a week to settle into your aquarium. They're still getting use to their environment.

 

It'll take them more than a week to settle into your aquarium. They're still getting use to their environment.

What about the off swimming? I have had 2 die of it.

 

A total assumption is something was completely different between your water and the water they were in. Even if your water is "perfect", if it's a big change from what they came from it can affect them. How did you acclimate them? Are they still in quarantine or are they in their main tank already?

 

A total assumption is something was completely different between your water and the water they were in. Even if your water is "perfect", if it's a big change from what they came from it can affect them. How did you acclimate them? Are they still in quarantine or are they in their main tank already?

They are still in quarantine, not letting them out till 4 weeks or there illness clears up. I temperature acclimated them, they had been in shipping before they got to the fish store and were left in their bag for the whole day, so I was afraid there would be too much fish poop and once it oxidizes it turns into ammonia, so I just temp. acclimated them.

 

They are still in quarantine, not letting them out till 4 weeks or there illness clears up. I temperature acclimated them, they had been in shipping before they got to the fish store and were left in their bag for the whole day, so I was afraid there would be too much fish poop and once it oxidizes it turns into ammonia, so I just temp. acclimated them.

I understand why you temperature acclimated, I normally do drip acclimating so in my my mind they don't have a sudden change in water parameters. There are better people I consider water experts here hopefully they give you better advice. I do know lemon tetras are usually very hardy so i guesstimate that the water parameter changes is what they may be adjusting to. I wouldn't worry about color so much right now usually they won't color up fully until they are comfortable in their environment and are eating regularly.

 

I understand why you temperature acclimated, I normally do drip acclimating so in my my mind they don't have a sudden change in water parameters. There are better people I consider water experts here hopefully they give you better advice. I do know lemon tetras are usually very hardy so i guesstimate that the water parameter changes is what they may be adjusting to. I wouldn't worry about color so much right now usually they won't color up fully until they are comfortable in their environment and are eating regularly.

Yeah, I was only worried about the color before I saw another fish swimming a little off. Would the effects last this long and like at first not affect them and then way later start affecting them.

 

It's hard to analyze what you consider the erratic swimming without seeing it but best you can do is try to get water to comfortable parameters for the species and wait out quarantine unless you see something that you can definitively diagnose.

 

They almost go in circle when they try to go forward and move they Vertical circles, upside down sideways, and can't really go upwards. Really they are kind of immobile when they have it. But before it gets like that they are a little slanted and not straight but swim fine, and develops into the above.

 

Okay, now I only really want to know about the disease they might have. 2 more just died, they died the day after I did a water change. This particular water change was from the tank being 7.5 ph to me adding 8.2 ph. & it was a 50% wc. Could they be dying because of sudden changes in ph/gh etc. Because when I first put them in a few died, then when I did this wc that drastically changed ph a couple died again. Do you think it is the change in water parameters.