1 of my Tiger Barbs turned pale

[serarand]

First time poster... I have nice little tank 20 gal. (75 liters) with 6 Tiger Barbs, 2 snails and one of those plecos that you never see, never grows (he is probably 6-7 cm)... anyway, I recently noticed that one of my Tiger Barbs turned really pale, almost grayish / yellowish... it's difficult to take a picture because it moves so much. But see the attached picture. He/She also happens to be the smallest one. Any tips to try to get him/her back to his normal beautiful colors? Any help or tips you can provide will be appreciated!

 

[TNG]

Does this barb get chased by others or swim with others as usual? No injury that you can see, and it eats as normal?

 

[StripySnailGirl04]

They all seem pale to me (maybe it is just the lighting?) but make sure to be feeding them frozen food as well as fish flakes.
Could you also specify the water parameters as that may be helpful.

 

[serarand]

Thanks! Not being chased by others, no injuries and eats as normal. He definitely lost his color compared to the rest of his pack.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Welcome to TFF

The individual may be being harassed, hence the color loss...you may never have seen any aggression, but many times it happens after lights out, when we aren't watching our tanks

These fish are notoriously aggressive, especially when kept in inadequate numbers (<12, IMO, for this fish)...and a 20G tank isn't big enough to keep these fish in sufficient numbers...you need the right M/F ratio with these fish, as well...more males than females is not good, though I don't know the sexes of your fish

See "Behavior & Compatibility" here: https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/puntigrus-tetrazona/

 

[TNG]

Thanks! Not being chased by others, no injuries and eats as normal. He definitely lost his color compared to the rest of his pack.

The first thing that came to mind was that the fish could be harassed by others. If that’s not the case and it's otherwise healthy, swims with others and not hiding in a corner, then it’s a bit of mystery.

I had some tiger barbs before in 100L, 75cm long tank, but don’t have them anymore as they tend to harass their tank mates. I now have a bigger tank, 200L, 1.2m long. Instead of tiger, I have five-banded barbs and ruby barbs, and occasionally one of them goes quite pale but only for a day or so. I don’t know the reason.

What would I do? If I can’t get a bigger tank at this stage (long tank is better than tall), I would consider some long stemmed plants suitable to my water parameters, and placed them in the middle of the tank. It *might* help. Unsuitable plants which melt away within a few days would only compound the problem.

 

[Goose3080]

One of mine is like this, loss of colour, I put it down to a recent nitrite and nitrate problem, have you tested your water ?