Kribensis losing color on his face!

Question
Hi there,

I hope that you can help me.  My Krebensis has lost alot of color in his face.  It is almost a yellow white.  His regular color(on his face)is completely gone.  It almost looks raw looking.  I'm very concerened.  I just noticed this 2 days ago.  He usually just stays in his cave.  I have abeen adding maracaid to the tank to treat ick that a couple of fish had while in the tank.  I took them out.  Nitrites are fine amonia is fine, other fish in the tank are fine.  This is a 25 gallon tank with 1 gold ram and 1 sword tail, and the krib. I know kribs are very shy fish.  That is why I don't see him much.  I've never seen anything like this on any of my fish.  My water is kept at 78 degrees.  I feed the krib new life spectrum sinking pellets.  I do water changes on the tank once a week.

Thank you for your help.

Diane

Answer
Hi Diane,
Well, as long as you've made sure the ammonia and nitrites are both ZERO and nitrates are 20 or less...The Krib could be sickly. I can't be for certain with what because diagnosing fish diseases is very difficult especially when you can't see the fish. A picture would help. If you like, you can email me a picture to: nature_girl2u@hotmail.com

Maybe perhaps it is a shy issue. Cichlids like Kribs are in fact quite moody fish and they often express their mood in color changes. I do know that 'dither' fish are very helpful for shy cichlids to help boost their confidence. Dither fish could be Danios, Barbs, or Black skirt tetras. The few other fish in the tank likely aren't enough to make him feel safe.

But if you aren't sure yet that your fish are healthy. Then just wait on the dither fish of course.

It's always good just as a precaution to do daily 30% water changes for a while just in case. It can really help fish that are not behaving/feeling normal as they should.

Best wishes and I hope this helps!
Karen~