Fading Pleco?!?!?!?

[oscarchick]

Hello! I have a pleco who has just recently started to change colors, on impulse. It is crazy. My pH and ammonia are fine, the food, temperature, and tank mates are all the same. Sometimes the pleco is a very, very light brown color. He is usually light colored when the light is off, but as soon as the light comes on, it turns back to the normal dark brownish/black color. Does he think he is a chameleon??:rolleyes: The skin on the pleco is still very tough, he doesn't act sick. Please help if you may have any ideas. Thanks everyone!!
Heather

[Ronne]

This thread would be better in the Catfish and Bottomfishes forum but anyways...

My Sailfin pleco is always changing colour from beige to dark brown. It depends on his mood and whether or not he's eating at the time.

[NJ Devils Fan]

I was just going to say what Ronne said about this being moved.

My common pleco used to be a darker color then he is now. As time went on, I started noticing light brown spots all over him. Thay have gotten pretty big sinse then, now there are just lines of dark brown over his body.

[clayt101]

Plecos can change colors for several reasons: camaflauge, depending on how the feel, or if they are sick. My guess is that it is probably just nervous or trying to blend in.

[Roland]

Yeah, after I moved house my pleco started changing colour from time to time. If he's disturbed during the day hes light brown but at night hes darker. But hes in good health.

[montanaxvi]

rather than start a new thread, i just added onto this one which kind of covered the problem i am seeing with mine.

test results all listed in ppm as indicated by Mardel test strips kit I have

nitrate 20
nitrite 0
hardness 120
alk 80-120 (strip was between these two values)
ph 6.8

and ammonia was a shade between 0 and 0.25

my pleco is fading to the point of almost looking deathly he has a nice full looking belly bright eyes and is not lethargic, eats well along with his mates in the tank but man does he look rough. he was a nice dark chocoloate brown color a couple years ago when i got him, but now is almost totally faded out to a very pale color, see pic below.

any info anyone has is greatly appreciated, the tank is well established and houses another pleco and an oscar, everyone gets along and looking well except this guy.


http://www.boomspeed.com/montanaxvi/DSC00021.JPG

[montanaxvi]

maybe a mod can move this over to the bottom feeders section for us?