albino problem

[frinklinduds]

hey guys im still having trouble with my albino, this fish started out a nice orange color but now has started to turn very pale
he acts fine and seems to be interested in food, he has been eating as has everyone else in the tank, ive been doing a suggested 80 water changes as my tank is a bit over stocked but i make sure to do waterchanges atleast once a day until my new tank arrives

im going to post some pictures for you guys to get an idea as of what he looks like
the pale fish started out the same as the smaller one but just seemed o have lost its color over the past few weeks which i dont understand because the other one i purchased with it looks the same if not better in color

here are some pics, any help would be greatly appreciated i have no clue what to do

as i said i do daily waterchanges to keep water as good as possible and have been adding salt here and there to try and see if it helps as one of my smaller ones had 1 cloudy eye i think from an injury

thanks

700417004270043

[Sean Buehrle]

I don't think your fish is sick.

Discus change colors, it could be anything. Stress, dominance on his part or another fish in the tank , anything. They do change color.

Good goin with the water changes, keep it up.

I would ditch the salt.

[frinklinduds]

could this be a sign of breeding, i have noticed it do the "wiggling thing" towards the other albino yesterday a few times, but they are not that large yet mabye 4.5"???

[Sean Buehrle]

could this be a sign of breeding, i have noticed it do the "wiggling thing" towards the other albino yesterday a few times, but they are not that large yet mabye 4.5"???

It could be sure, they are pretty young but getting to that point.

It looks like there's 3 fish in the tank ? If so that could have a lot to do with it.
As long as the fish is eating and your water is good I wouldn't get overly worried, he looks fine to me.

[frinklinduds]

there is actually six fish total in the tank :( i know its a little crowded but yes i do keep up with waterchanges i do atleast 1 80% change a day, the other three fish are juvies and much smaller than the bigger 3 in those pictures

[PAR23]

Are those two the same strain? I also don't think your fish is sick. I bought 6 Albino Pearl Diamonds (striated).......4 are golden yellow while the remaining 2 are off white/light yellow in color. They o/w are doing well. I think it's just genetic variation.

[frinklinduds]

yes they are the same strain as far as i know they are "albino intermediates", they were patrick's fish and i got them from al's house..... yeah im not sure i just fed some live black worms, everyone in the tank ate all fish seem to be doing fine i just dont understand why this one is turning so pale, it was the same color as the orange when i got it and slowly started to lose its color, it first started just during waterchanges but now just seems to stay that color

[PAR23]

I wouldn't do anything else for now and just watch closely. Keep the water clean.

[frinklinduds]

alright ill keep up with my water changes and keep you posted, hopefully all works out, i feel as if it could be a number of things.... so weird that it would change color like this and the other one stays fine

[rdiscus]

yes they are the same strain as far as i know they are "albino intermediates"
Are they albino or intermediates?

[frinklinduds]

i specifically remember the word intermediates, so that must be them, im getting an answer soon hopefully from the previous owner of what they are

ill post back as soon as i find out 100%

[frinklinduds]

alright i got the background on these fish, the previous owner got these from "kenny" and were called albino cobalt throwbacks

[frinklinduds]

alright so here is another thing is that when i woke up this morning this is what i saw

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/7243/sdc11883z.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/440/sdc11883z.jpg/)

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/2488/sdc11884m.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/26/sdc11884m.jpg/)

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/3483/sdc11886f.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/31/sdc11886f.jpg/)

as the day goes on he seems to become pale, or during/after water changes, he is the only one though.....

acts normal, eats, but seems to change color from the morning util night then changes back in them morning

????? so confuse with this fish

like i said i was told these are albino cobalt throwbacks from kenny originally

[PAR23]

I had 2 ACTs from Kenny also. Grew them out and sold them to make room for the Reds. They look fine. Wouldn't worry too much.

[rdiscus]

haha ... nice color now ... magic of the night

[fishcrazed]

i like it better pink =p lol but like others said he/she looks fine so no worries. i got an albino millenium gold and hes more white than he is gold so yea i think it has to do with generics.

still love him though

[frinklinduds]

yeah he looks nice and orange in the morning but by 2 o'clock he'll be whitish again..... idk mabye just stressed during waterchanges...... i've got to get these guys in a my 100 gallon asap, hopefully it comes soon

[rdiscus]

He's just night guy or morning guy :)

[frinklinduds]

alright so i think i have found what might be the problem, my pb who is the boss of the tank seems to be bully just about everyone in the tank, especially during feeding time. I dont think its the usual nudging and pecking but seems to be more of repetitive bullying, basically he gets the tank while the rest are forced to corners..... fish are healthy just seem like they are afraid of this one fish........ anyone got any options on what to do..... mabye put a divider in for a few days?

[Wes]

I have pulled the bully' a pb also, out put it in its own tank for 3 weeks. The pecking order changed a little pushing and shovingnothing like before. When the pb terror came back he became 4th in pecking order and was much calmer.

[frinklinduds]

mabye i shud do this im not sure thoughi dont really have room for another tank, im really waiting for my 100 gallon to come so they can all exept juvies go in there and have some space to leave eachother alone....... its funny i refer to my pb as the terror aswell lol

[Wes]

When you move them into the 100 do it in reverse of pecking order. The lowest 1 or 2 first and a week or so later the new lowest and so on. This gives the weaker ones time to settle in. The PB terror would be moved in last into the new spacious digs.
P.S. you don't have room for another tank. You are a discus there is always room. We all know there is an extra dresser, fridge or bed we can put in the garage to add a new tank in the house.:jester:

[brewmaster15]

Hi Frank,
I think your issues are just over crowding in a smaller than optimum tank size. You can try a wire mesh divider for the time being...but my guess is once they get in larger tank with more elbow room they'll settle in fine...Keep up with the water changes, and as long they are all eating and otherwise acting normal...don't worry at this point...Theres a saying in the The discus hobby...Keep it simple....often times we do more harm micro managing our tanks and trying to solve small issues, than we need to and end up causing bigger ones,IMO. :)

hth,
al

[frinklinduds]

very true al and i will take this advice, and i should know this.... tank is to small to begin with... just going to keep water clean, make sure they all are eating and hope for the best until the end of this month (when the tank arrives)

btw... how is the other pb doing, i am still taking it even though it is taking longer than expected to get my new tank :( but im sure that the one i have already will be happy to see an old friend again when the time comes haha