Red Discus Fading (pidgeon blood strain)

[jesseliu13]

So recently my Red pidgeon bloods are fading.. i have 2. one looks more like a malboro. but they are fading in the body. is that normal?

[bluelagoon]

Sometimes it's what your feeding them.When I had mine on California black worm Flake with color additives my PB went from orange to a salmon pink,as did my gold albino,which I thought was a nicer color.Now I have then on Omega marine flakes and a blend mix of Kill,plankton and shrimp and dried plain California blackworms.They came back to their original color.

[Braydon00]

Does it matter which food you feed them? I mean does feeding color enhancing flake or worms stunt them in any way? I only feed normal freeze dried blackworms and frozen bloodworms, all seem to be doing just fine.... Is there anything I could be doing better? Besides daily water changes of course.

[Ryan]

Most red-based fish are being fed some kind of color enhancer. Krill is a natural form of astaxanthin, but it's also mixed into most commercial pellet and flake foods. You can also get freeze-dried blackworms with color enhancers added to them. People used to add NatuRose, another form of astaxanthin, into their beefheart mixes.

How large are your pigeons? Most will get more colorful with age, so even though it's fading now, it could darken again as they mature. If not, pick up a good color flake or some of the color enhancing blackworms.

Braydon, to answer your question, color-enhancing foods should not affect the growth or development of your fish. Most of the time the color enhancer is astaxanthin which is simply a carotenoid pigment naturally found in things like krill, algae, shellfish, etc. It's mostly used to enhance red fish, and will turn white and yellow fish orange if you feed it (one of the reasons you don't want to feed your yellow fish any color enhancing foods!). There are natural and synthetic forms of astaxanthin in everything from fish food to health supplements. Even fish foods that do not specifically list it in the ingredients usually contain some form of it.

[fishtanktenderfoot]

This is interesting to me, too. I've noticed the same with one of my fish... When I bought him, he was 4.5". I've had him for 4 months now, and he has grown and faded. I attached pics. He is fed FDBW (plain and with spinach) and Hikari Bio-Gold pellets as his mainstays, but I tend to mix in varying other items on a non-regular basis.

This is WEEK 1:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f195/steph_Boyle/e0fbe028-89db-43dd-af57-fd753ca8482c_zps3082e5ba.jpg (http://s47.photobucket.com/user/steph_Boyle/media/e0fbe028-89db-43dd-af57-fd753ca8482c_zps3082e5ba.jpg.html)

This is WEEK15:
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f195/steph_Boyle/645dfe2f-794c-4c2f-8a63-c34ab8a77ec1_zps1f55aca1.jpg (http://s47.photobucket.com/user/steph_Boyle/media/645dfe2f-794c-4c2f-8a63-c34ab8a77ec1_zps1f55aca1.jpg.html)

Steph

[nc0gnet0]

Most reds are fed a heavy diet of color enhancers at the breeders to begin with, and it is not uncommon for pigeons to change color and pattern as they age. They are typically at their prime at or slightly before age one, and hold it until year 2, maybe three. From there it is not uncommon for them to pale. Not saying it will happen to all of them, but enough to say it is a normal occurrence.

[Braydon00]

Thanks for the info Ryan!

[John_Nicholson]

It can be caused by both diet and health. I see a lot of fish sold that have obviously been either color fed or juiced but improper care can also cause the fading. I am not saying that is happening here but it is possible so you need to concider that.

-john

[nc0gnet0]

It can be caused by both diet and health. I see a lot of fish sold that have obviously been either color fed or juiced but improper care can also cause the fading. I am not saying that is happening here but it is possible so you need to concider that.

-john

That too, but to me, at least in this case, it appears to be the normal progression of pattern. It appears the fish has seen some decent growth in 14 weeks.......

[fishtanktenderfoot]

I don't / didn't mean to hijack this thread, I was only adding my experience, too. If care is causing his fading, I would very much like to understand what I can do differently. He gets 50% WC daily (I've missed 2 days in 4 months) with carbon-filtered, aged, heated, aerated city water. I siphon every day, most days are twice a day. I clean a lot of equipment... What else with regard to care can result in fading... What am I missing?

[nc0gnet0]

Try fdbw bio pigment worms from AL

[Ryan]

I don't / didn't mean to hijack this thread, I was only adding my experience, too. If care is causing his fading, I would very much like to understand what I can do differently. He gets 50% WC daily (I've missed 2 days in 4 months) with carbon-filtered, aged, heated, aerated city water. I siphon every day, most days are twice a day. I clean a lot of equipment... What else with regard to care can result in fading... What am I missing?

In your case it does not appear to be an issue of care. The fish has grown considerably and looks healthy from your picture. It's just a matter of fact that the patterning on pigeons changes as they grow, and you'll probably see his white spots spread out more and the red in between them get deeper as he ages. Mine went through a period where they turned a bit pale, then darkened back up again around 12 - 14 months old. As Rick said, your best bet at brightening him back up would be some color enhancing food. Chances are the breeder he came from was feeding something with a red enhancer, and after several weeks without that in your care they've just faded to a more natural shade. A couple weeks of food with color enhancers will brighten him back up.

[nc0gnet0]

That too, but to me, at least in this case, it appears to be the normal progression of pattern. It appears the fish has seen some decent growth in 14 weeks.......

It just occurred to me that the OP and the poster that supplied the pictures were two different posters, so I missed this originally. Without pictures from the OP it's hard to say, my response about it not appearing to be a health issue was to fishtanktenderfoot.

[nc0gnet0]

I can show you another progression to illustrate my point.

nine months: (fish in middle)

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss118/nc0gnet0/Curipera%20Juveniles/pigeon2.jpg

15 months (fish on right-same fish)

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss118/nc0gnet0/5-1.jpg

[GOOBERFISH]

Wow! what a difference nc0gnet0. Thanks for sharing. what were you giving them?


I can show you another progression to illustrate my point.

nine months: (fish in middle)

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss118/nc0gnet0/Curipera%20Juveniles/pigeon2.jpg

15 months (fish on right-same fish)

http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss118/nc0gnet0/5-1.jpg

[spidy1959]

Spidy1959 here....

Hello all ..., My son and I are in need of some discus, they don't have to be "top shelf" - he enjoys the hobby and the fish itself. We are located in dayton, ohio. I have been in the hobby for almost 40 years now, however breeders near me ask a pretty penny for their grow out discus around quarter size, (sometimes 25.00). I'm a seasonal worker and it's slow now - also being injured doesn't help. Thank god - my wife is working.

Do you or your friends sell/ship? Can you give me some contacts of discus breeders?

Blessings to all...

Respectfully,
Spidy1959
937-608-1896