Parrots losing colour?

yogias

www.justgiving.com/susanmoseley
Jan 23, 2007
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West Wales, UK
My parrot cichlids appear to be losing their colour. The female seems to be fading more quickly than the male. They don't apper to be stressed, all water parameters are fine, it just appears that their orange colouring is fading to white. Is this normal?
 
re temp

the temp was a little high, but i have lowered it to 82 degrees.
 
Ammonia and nitrite 0 nitrate <15, ph 7.i am very vigilant about my water checks and do 50% changes weekly.They do not appear to be stressed, eating normally, plenty of activity, i just ont know what it can be. could it be that they were dyed and it is now fading? i have had them for about 3 months with no problems. they have spawned once but as the norm, they were sterile.

While i was writing this, one of mu Guppies has given birth in her trap...YAY!!!!!!!
 
They are orange, rapidly fading to white lol
 
are they regular blood parrots or are they the smaller jellybean parrots? can you find a picture of what your parrots looked like before they started to fade?
 
Blood Parots are often dyed, and if they are, they will start losing their color in about 6 months and never regain it. It's one of the reasons (besided cruelty and shortened lifespan) that I dislike dyed fish industry. Unsuspecting people find that their fish lose their color.
Not that your fish are dyed, it could be stress! And orange could be a something else.

I don't keep these fish, but it could also be hormones. That's something else common in the SA Asia market(and why i avoid buying fish from this region). Hormoned fish will show color earier than they should(you see this a lot in Malawi Haps and Peacocks). You get them home, they lose their color, then regain them when they should have colored up... adulthood... but I don't think Blood Parrots fit into this category.
 
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