My black sucker fish tends to turn white

Question
I have an nice eclipse tank with a filter and with the usual things...a rock, gravel and two fake plants. I'm not quite sure how big my tank is...maybe 10 gallons...and i have about 11 feeder fish and a sucker.

One of my feeders recently died. and i changed out some of the water. While doing so i noticed my sucker fish that is usually dark black was almost translucent.Yet when he becomes active he goes back to black.

Is there any particular reason this is happening?

Answer
Good afternoon, Amanda! Thank you for your question.

The fading in coloration you describe is common with these fish, known by the name plecostomus. Permanently pale, washed out colors are usually a sign of poor water quality and/or an inadequate diet. However, if your plecostomus colors up again, then paleness is just the way he looks in a "resting" state. Make sure you feed him algae wafers and some vegetables (like slices of zucchini & cucumber) to get variety into his diet. I hope that answers your question.

Here's a link with a short article about plecos: http://www.aquariacentral.com/fishinfo/fresh/pleco.shtml

However, you have a much bigger problem...which you may or may not be aware of. Did you get these feeder goldfish to cycle your tank? That is not a recommended method of cycling, but some people do use cheap hardy fish for this purpose. That being said, please consider trading in your fish, or at least drastically reducing the population in your tank. Eleven feeder fish in an Eclipse 12 (I know which tank you have, I have the same kind myself) is a recipe for disaster! You obviously have spent a good chunk of change on your tank...I assume you want it to be healthy and for the inhabitants to live a long time. However, I can assure you that maintaining your current stocking level will bring you nothing but problems. The built-in filter that you have cannot even begin to handle the amount of waste your 11 goldfish will produce, especially as they grow up.

Please read the links below to get a better idea of appropriate stocking levels for your sized tank:

http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/modules/zmagazine/article.php?articleid=62
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/beginnerinfo/a/fishcalc.htm
(Two short articles on stocking your aquarium.)

http://www.fishtanksandponds.info/resources/calculators/stockingcalculator.htm
(A calculator for stocking levels.)

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news! It is just not possible in the long run to maintain a healthy tank with such a high "stocking level of fish" to "gallons of water" ratio. Your plecostomus, in time, will get too big as well (mine grew to 10" over roughly 2 years)...so you might consider a dwarf variation such as the bristlenose plecostomus, or even some corydora catfishes instead. Both kinds of catfish will occupy the bottom and keep the bottom clean in their own way, but the plecos will be the only ones to eat algae.  

Good luck to you!

Nicole


P.S. If you care to read more about goldfish, these are the sites I have recommended to others:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com (A wonderful site I read every day, with a search feature on the main page.)

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com (They have a message board here, as well as links on the left side.)

http://www.goldfishinfo.com (Looks like a good site for general information on goldfish and their care.)