Whats wrong with my red tail shark....?

Question

I've had him for about a week. The last two days i have noticed his brightly red coloured tale go very pale and see through and he also goes pale grey in colour rather that his usual black body colour. This has happened twice. Does anyone know why this could be??

its a 25litre tank.. i only have one red tail shark in there. There are other fish that i have been advised are ok to put with him. There are some rocks in there with hiding places and also a couple of plants.

Answer 1

your tank is too small for a red tailed shark. red tailed black sharks need a minimum of 95 litres really, not 25 litres!

loss of colour comes from stress, illness, or bad water conditions.

my first port of call would be water conditions, ammonia should be 0, nitrate should be 25ppm or under, nitrite should be 0. you should be performing weekly 20-25% water changes. as it sounds as though your tank may be overstocked, this could be the culprit of his colour loss!

Answer 2

I'm afraid I have to go with the majority here. Your tank is way too small. Fading colours in a fish, if transient, can be normal for some fish (like the clown loach I own) but on the whole its a sign of stress/poorliness.... Check to see if your water is okay, you can do this by taking a sample of the tank water to an aquarium and they should test it for you.....

Thing is, if it is stress, then its quite hard to 'treat' (I lost some fish last year through stress)

Disturb the tank as little as possible, low, gradual lighting, don't have the tank in direct sunlight, and noise (e.g. the tv too loud) can also effect your fish....

But its easiest to check out your water first......

Good Luck :@)

Answer 3

you've in basic terms offered the hot aquarium, packed with water, and added the fish definite? in which case the tank hasn't cycled and that i should be very fascinated to entice close precisely what the water chemistry is exactly! also, what length tank is this? red Tailed Sharks in certain want a minimum of a 55 gallon tank. How did you introduce the fish? Fish could also conflict through from marvel and in case you've in elementary words in basic terms placed them in, marvel can kill! How lengthy has this set up been operating? installation a fish tank can get very complicated! there's a lot extra to it than filling with water and including fish.

Answer 4

Six gallons(25 l.) is not large enough for 1 Red Shark,much less any other fish.The person a the pet store is setting you up to fail. The fading may or may not change,but that fish can't survive very long in a tank that size.

Answer 5

You got to check the temperature in the tank its the fishes way of telling you that temp just isn't quite right i get the same problem with mine mine really big though it happens mostly when I've cleaned the tank and done a water change its not really problem though you could also do a PH and a nitrate test to see if anythings not quite right there.

Answer 6

first. do you have any other fish in the tank? if so them other fish can make him feel weaker. this happens a lot when you have more than one red tailed shark in a tank. second. how big is the tank? third. do you have a lot of hiding places and plants???

Answer 7

larger tank is needed. take a water sample to the petstore to have it checked. Then return the shark and get a Beta

Answer 8

It's common for them to shift color exactly as you describe in response to lighting, activity in the tank, temperature or other factors. Totally normal and expected. No doubt you have a happy RTS there.

MM

Answer 9

he may be changing colors to blend in better if he feels threatened. or he may be changing colors because he is unhappy, different lights can produce different colors. He sounds ok to me, my fish change colors all day long.