Sick Blood Parrot Emergency!!

Question
Hi Ron,

I have a well established 55 gallon tank with 5 BP and 1 Leopard Pleco. I have had all of these guys for over 5 years now and they all have grown together. Back in early October I changed filters from a basic external whisper piece of junk to a nice eheim canister filter. Everything went well no cloudiness or levels going haywire. Recently (in the last week) one of the BP has started to loose his color and turn a sickly shade of white with the exception of his head, fins and ridge on his back and is now not eating. He used to be one of the more dominant, vibrant and aggressive, now he just hangs around the tank. I have always done 25% water changes, I added a little extra Aquar. salt and stress coat, the temp is regulated around 78-80 degrees. I haven't done anything different as of lately and all the other fish are fine, vibrant and eating like crazy. I just don't know how to help my poor Cosmo (that is his name because that used to be his color a bright orangey red).I tried to put some melaleuca in the tank thinking maybe he had and infection of some sort. None of my guys has ever had even a spot on them or any kind of disease. What am I missing here? Please help! Thanks so much!

Answer
Hi Elicia,
 Unfortunately it just might be that he is getting old...  particularly if none of the other fish show any symptoms of discomfort.
If it were my tank, I would do a couple of extra 25% water changes just to make sure that water is in tip-top shape. That certainly cannot hurt.

-- Ron C.
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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