electric yellow cichlid?

Question

i recently started a lake malawi tank and received several species from a friend that he bred himself. they are all still only maybe an inch long roughly. I have noticed the black band on the dorsal fin of my electric yellows have all become faded and paler. It may just be me but the bodies seem paler as well. the fish eat regularly and appear in good health so im wondering what may have caused this.

temp 78 F
general hardness 120
carbonate hardness 120
pH 6.5
Im not a beginer so obviously theres no ammonia or nitrite so dont ask me silly questions like do you feed them or change the water. the ph is low, i know, my friend says he never messes with ph and hes bred many cichlids so i didnt change it. if that could be what it is than could anyone also tell me if its ok to change ph drasticly from 6.5 to 8ish without stressing the fish.

any thoughts would be appreciated

Answer 1

I would first consider the low pH as the source of the problem. Even though they can tolorate a low pH quite well, they do better in a higher pH than you currently have in your tank.

Other potential reasons might include the color of your gravel (if it's light they will fade out) or somply the result of changes in diet and location.

As for changing your pH, I would suggest you use crushed coral. You could use it as a substrate inthe tank or include a small amount in the filter where water will wash over it. It will raise the KH slowly and smoothly and as a result stabilize the pH into the 8.0-8.2 range. Such a change will occur slowly enough for the fish to adjust and will pose no threat to your fish. You can use the same method the pretreat water for water changes if you have the time and a holding tank, or you can use commercially available buffers to adjust the pH of your freshwater. I would suggest you play around with the buffers for a while and keep careful notes on amounts used and the resulting pH 12-24 hours after treatment as it can take at least this long for all of the reactions to occur and the water the stabilize in the adjusted pH. Once you know the proper amount to adjust it to your desired pH, things will go much more smoothly and quickly at water change time. Baking soda can also be used to effectively raises pH and is much cheaper than commerically available buffers. Take grreat care in the use of baking soda though as a little can have a huge intial impact on the pH. What this method very closely for 12 -24 hours after treatment as it can result in even more radical shifts in pH than commerical buffering compounds.

Hope that helps and feel free to email me if I can help further

MM

Answer 2

Putting in a piece of holey rock will help raise the ph. Crushed coral or limestone will also help. I can't say I recommend any of the commercial brand ph risers besides Seachum.

It's really up to you about how you want to go about raising the ph. You could find a ton of info on that with just a simple google search. The only thing I will tell you not to do is raise the ph quickly. That will take your fish into shock.

Answer 3

I dont think there color has anything to do with ph its fine.
your fish are still young and there adult colors have not come in yet.
Also with many cichlids the female dont have really bright colors you could have all females.
one other thing it could be is the food you are feeding them normal flake food dose not do as much for color as a good cichlid pellet.
But i really think the color issue is just because there sub adult fish.