color of fish

[kdawg]

real quickly i will give you the info for my tank. 90 gal glass with a few rocks and a piece of drift wood. one aqua clear 110 hob that has been up and running for about 3 months while tank cycled. one magnum 350 canister that has been running for about 6 days. white pebble bottom. nitrAtes 10 (highest its been) nitrItes 0 GH 300 total chlorine 0 KH 300 pH 8.4 temp 78-80deg F. I put 4 electric yellow cichlids in about 10 days ago and i only had flake food to feed them. tonight i got two plecos and i grabbed some cichlid pellets and bloodworms. i noticed when feeding the cichlids that one was almost completely white, no spots though. when i fed them he tore up the pellets and generally all the food. in a matter of 5 to 10 minutes (while i panicked and looked up disease pictures) he started to get his color back. they are only about 1.5 inches long. I dont know why this fish changed colors, but i am kinda in panic mode and i want to make sure that this doesnt ring a bell to anyone. maybe if it does you can help me figure out what is going on. it sure will ease my mind.
thanks,
kdawg

[mark razmandi]

sounds like normal behavior to me....they will lose their color if its dark and regain it in light...i would lower your ph a little

[kdawg]

ok thanks. another question i have is about the salt. i have never added any salt to the water. none of any sort and i know that they could use some salt of some sort. how much and what kinds? and why do freshwater fish need salt? oh and how do i lower the pH. i would prefer to not use a chemical

[somerton16]

kd i have about 8 electric yellows and one the smallest one does the same thing once i put the light on he gets his color back. he's been doing that for about 8 months i think its cause he is the smallest in the tank and might be getting picked on a little at night. also is that the only fish you have in there so far? as far as your PH i would leave it alone instead of trying to change it. the jumps in PH can be far worse than haveing it a little high. BTW 8.4 is with in range for chiclids they like 8.0- 8.5. if you really want to lower it dont use chemicals put some driftwood in there. on the salt issue i use chiclid salt just to replace some electrolights(sp?) and other trace elements. this is an extremely controversal topic some same its worthless and others say its awesome. i'm sure someone else will swim by and give some more info on that.

[kdawg]

somerton- if i understand your question correctly then yes i just have the 4 electric yellows and the two plecos. I am going to switch the gravel out to either a white sand or some crushed black lava rock. i am also switching out the rocks with some big black lava rocks. i am keeping the driftwood in and planning on getting another piece for a bday gift here in about a month. after i have switched the landscaping i plan on stocking more with some kenyi and i would like to add some hongi and frontosa. our local fish store carry electric yellow and kenyi as well as some bumble bee, so i will be probably ordering the others when i find them on ebay or something