BGK's color is fading....

[roper930]

Hello all, I luv my Black Ghost Knife and noticed that the black along the bottom of his body is faded and is whitish looking. Also, the rim of his gill plate (or whatever you call it) is white, too.
Anyone know what the problem might be?
He eats mainly frozen blood worms and then eats up left over shrimp pellets and any other fish food that makes it to the bottom of the tank....He is acting perfectly normal.
Please, someone know what's wrong & how to fix it!! He's one of my favorites! :(
Oh, he's about 6" long if that helps any....

Thx!
Beth

[VoodooChild]

How long have you had him for? Old fish tend to loose their color a bit before they kick. Check your water parameters also. That's probably what it is. My experience with black knifes (knives?) is that they had to have very good water. Is anybody chasing him around? There's also a whole host of parasites/maladies that could stress him out enough to make him loose color.

[roper930]

He isn't very old...he was only about 2" when I got him less than 6 mo. ago. My water params are great. I'm a bit over due for my weekly cleaning, but all is okay. He's had the fading for a few weeks now anyway.
He isn't bulied, he's the one that does the chasing in the tank! :) NO ONE is allowed in his tube at all! Except for the snail, he just pushes his way on thru whenever he pleases and the BGK just sqeezes up along the top of the tube as the snail creeps thru.
:) Pretty soon, tho, that snails gonna be too big to fit inside. He's getting HUGE! Much bigger than a ping pong ball...
Anyways, I hope it's not a parasite or anything. Maybe I'll try some Maracide on him and see if that has any effect....

Beth