Discus Color Pale To Normal In 10 Minutes

[mnbyiuopre]

Tank size: 20 gallons
pH: 6.3
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: .25
kH:
gH:
tank temp: 83 F

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): Discus turned completely pale, almost white. Black stripes running down faded, almost invisible.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 15%

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: Stress Coat, Ph solution (to make it 6.3)

Tank inhabitants: 1 Discus, 1 Tetra, 1 Platy

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): None

Exposure to chemicals: See Chemical Additives

Digital photo (include if possible):



Okay, so yesterday evening, I was downstairs when I noticed my Discus was unusually light colored. I went over to the tank and discovered that almost all color had faded away from it's body. It looked almost white. The black stripes running vertically down it's body were almost invisible, and the blue and red streaks were gone completely. I immediately freaked out and tested my water parameters (above). Now, while I was doing that I watched the Discus' behavior to see if it was different than usual. I've had an aquarium for over a year now, and I've experienced diseases ranging from fin rot to fish TB. Now, nothing out of the ordinary appeared, except for the color loss. Fins were fully out, not huddled in a corner, no labored breathing, no signs of ick or fungus. The only thing that seemed odd was it was in the back of the tank, but that's not too odd because whenever I hover near the tank for awhile, it does that. So, by now I am looking at the test results, when my dad points out he is getting his color back. I look and see that this is true. In about 10 minutes he's back to normal, eating fine, and acting the same. Today he is also fine.

Any ideas of why this happened?


Note: The room and tank light were both off, causing the room to be pitch black. I tried to have that same environment today, but the lighting has no effect on the color.


EDIT: Yeah, the platy stuck in the tank is out of place. However, it was born and raised in my tank, and has adapted well to the low pH.

 

[WILDER]

Stress can cause a fish to look pale and washed out.
Any pets in the house that have freaked them out.
Been doing any buiding work on the house to cause alot of noise.

 

[Colin_T]

Fish that change colour, go from light to dark or vice versa are usually being shocked/ stressed by something. Often fish are pale first thing in the morning and 10 minutes later they look normal.
When you wake up in the morning you should open the curtains or turn the room lights on. Leave it for 15-30 minutes and then turn the tank light on. If you have more than one light on the tank, then turn one on, leave for another 30 minutes and then turn the 2nd on.
At night turn the room lights on. Then turn the tank lights off. 15-30 minutes later turn the room lights off.

If the tank was dark and someone walked into the room and turned the lights on, the fish would have been startled and lost colour and hid at the back. 10 minutes later the fish would have recovered from the shock and its colour would have come back.

If you turn the tank lights on during the day, the room will be light anyway and unlikely to stress the fish as much. If the tank and room were dark, then the lights coming on would have freaked the fish.
It's a bit like someone waking you up in the middle of the night and shining a torch in your eyes. You can't see squat. The same with the fish except they don't have eyelids so can't close them to shut out the light.

Also if someone bumped the tank when it was dark that would have caused the fish to panic and freak out.