Is there any reason besides high nitrate levels that my black moor is turning grey?

Question

He is young, less than 2 inches in length and is seems like i just changed the water less than one week ago.
Is there a water neutralizer you can buy?

Answer 1

Prime by Seachem. If you're nitrates are still high, try doing another water change, as opposed to relying on a chemical to reduce them. Unless you have nitrates in your tap water, that's really the only way to lower them. It is common for black moors to change color, but I believe they usually change to an orange color, not grey. Is he showing any symptoms like scratching on objects, acting lethargic, not eating, etc.? I'd keep an eye on him, it's probably just the water quality if you tested it and it's high.

Answer 2

Any sort of stress can make a fish go pale. If he's got a thicker slime coat than normal and rubbing up against objects in the tank, he may even have a parasite.

Doing water changes is the best thing for him. Yes, there are products you can buy to neutralize ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, but your water will still test positive for these, and it will become impossible for you to identify when the levels are a true problem.

If you're only having trouble with nitrates, have you tested your water source to make sure you aren't introducing them with your water changes? If there's present in your water source, you may need to change to reverse osmosis water.

If you don't have detectable nitrates in your water source, are you using a gravel vacuum to siphon wastes out of the gravel? And how often/much water do you change when you clean? If the fish is in a tank, he should be getting at least 25% every week (if this is an unfiltered bowl, 100% changes every 2-3 days). Also be certain you aren't overfeeding him - they should only be given what they can eat in 2-3 minutes twice a day - if there's any food left after the 3 minutes, use a net to remove it.

Answer 3

The water neutralizer you need is something like aqua safe, which takes out the chlorine for your water changes. Outside of that, don't look for a product to take out nitrates. Nitrates should be maintained via weekly water changes. Yes there are products out there that can help, but I'd never advocate using them unless there is one situation. That is if your water source is an outside source, such as a well, then you may need to treat it prior to using it to water change. I've only had one asker be in this situation and when it was investigated, it did turn out as I suspected. Her water source was located near a farm and that was putting nitrates back into that water. That would be the only time I'd say you need to treat your water chemically, otherwise it's just keeping on top of your water changes. It's possible, but I doubt it, that your bio filtration is just oxidizing your ammonia and nitrites into nitrates so fast it builds up sooner then your regular times of change. Check your water source first. See if there is already nitrates in there before considering using chemicals to treat it.

JV

Answer 4

when one of my yellow tetra's was about a month old it started to turn a lighter color of yellow, and shortly after died. Research about fish depigmentation. Some breeds of fish naturally get lighter or darker as the grow.

Answer 5

my fish get "pale" when there stressed. if you don't have a proper environment for them they will be stressed, read up on what that particular fish needs, like maybe it needs something to hide in for example, sometimes the lighting will stress them or ever the substrate.

Answer 6

it could be a lack of light, fish need a level of light in order to keep helthy and their pigment, try adding one of those hood lights if you dont have one already.

Answer 7

check at pet stores.