Sick oto? (again??)

Question
QUESTION: Hi Nicole,

All Experts would not let me reply to the last email, saying there were too many follow ups.  Anyway, I think I might have figured out the mystery! Whenever I turned the tank light off at night, the oto would turn white, but when I turned it back on, he would turn dark again.  So I was about to leave to stay the night at a friends house, when I had an idea.  I would leave the light off the whole time, to see if it has any effect on the fish.  When I got back, one of my Angelfish was sort of pale.  I still have not tested the water, but I am still going to, so I have the info.  Do you think my observation is crazy?

Thanks,

Bekah

ANSWER: Hi Bekah,

Now, it's not crazy! I am starting to think that the lighting IS the reason for this paleness, especially if the fish look active, healthy and are eating as usual. Here's an idea:

Get some floating plastic plants. I personally like the "Floating Philodendron" because it's cheap, HUGE (I cut it into sections and use it on my different tanks) and looks sort of neat:
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754564

See if having this floating cover on the top, and the subdued lighting as a result, makes your fish color up normally. Almost anything will work to subdue the lighting. If you find a big leaf (like a maple leaf) outside, you can float a few on the top just for an experiment to see if this makes the fish color up more. Any floating leaves will eventually sink, and the floating plant I mentioned will sink too, so you need to use suction cups or something like that to keep it at the top. Sometimes you need to get creative in your aquarium!

The light you are using might be too bright and harsh. It might shock them when you turn the light on in the morning - try turning on a few lights in the room that the aquarium is in, and leaving those on for 5 minutes or so. Then turn on the aquarium light.

Fish are paler at night than they are in the daytime, so I wouldn't worry too much about the angelfish. When I sometimes get a flashlight to look at my Synodontis eupterus (he's a big, nocturnal catfish) I notice all the other fish look pale, and they bobble around like they are sleeping....because they are! So don't fret too awful much.

Have a nice weekend,
Nicole

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Ok, ill try out the floating plants!  I went to test my water last night and here are the results:

Ammonia:Good

Nitrites:0

Alkalinity:Good

Water: Hard

Ph: 7

 Again, thanks so much about your help!

ANSWER: Hi again Bekah!

Sounds perfect, so your water shouldn't be what's causing the paleness. I do believe that diffusing some of the light is going to help these fish feel more comfortable. Have you ever tried real plants? Most of them won't grow under normal aquarium lighting (you have to buy a special hood with much more powerful bulbs) but some will. I have had a little bit of success with "live plant bulbs" which come in a blister pack and are commonly available, at places like Petco and Walmart. You drop the bulbs in, and about 50% (in my experience) of the bulbs sprout.  Any bulbs that become covered with a white fungus should be removed.

Once they sprout, you just bury them in the gravel a little bit, about half way. Usually these bulbs sprout rapidly and grow for months before they slow way down in growth. The plants consume nitrate, and this keeps your fish happy because the nitrate levels stay very low. If I could afford it, I would switch out all of the lighting in my aquariums so that I could grow live plants! All fish seem to love live plants.

Take care, and let me know what you think about the floating plants!
Nicole

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,

Hm, yes, I do have one live plant.  I really don't know what its called, someone gave it to me, saying its good for freshwater fish.  The plant looks very tall (It goes all the way up my 30 gallon tank, and still goes a little bit) and has green leaves (of course)  It looks SORTA like seaweed, but not really...  It does look like it is dying, im going to buy some more live plants soon. Ill try to use those lights.  Also, do you know how I can KEEP my plants alive?

Thanks,

Bekah

Answer
Hey again,

Any plants that look like they are dying should probably be removed. They are only helping the water quality when they are growing, if they are withering and dying it won't hurt anything, but it looks unsightly and can clog up your filter with the dead plant material.

Those bulbs I recommended are Aponogeton bulbs. They look like this:
http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Decor%20Aponogeton.htm

They are really the only live plant I have found that will grow fairly well under the light of an ordinary aquarium hood. That is, they will grow under one tube of fluorescent lighting. I have heard that Java fern and Java moss will also grow under this much light, but I've never found any of these plants in my area. I wouldn't bother getting any more live plants except for these kinds, unless you plan on getting a new lighting system. You will have to spend at least $50-80 on a new lighting system, for example a system with T-5 bulbs or compact fluorescent bulbs. In your 20 gallon tank, you would need at least 40 watts of lighting to get moderate growth on low to medium light plants. 60 watts would be able to grow most any plants. Once this kind of lighting is used, it becomes necessary to fertilize. A liquid fertilizer can be used (such as Seachem's Flourish) but some form of CO2 should also be used (such as the liquid CO2 in Seachem's Flourish Excel, or a yeast based CO2 system like Hagen's Plant-Gro).  

Not to discourage you, just letting you know what plants need to be healthy! It's actually a bit of work to keep live plants thriving, and very few plants will grow in 1 watt per gallon of light or less, which is what an aquarium kit usually comes with. If you are really interested in growing plants even with low lighting, you will need to do some research. Start by reading a few articles such as this one:
http://www.petfish.net/articles/Aquatic_Plants/eplant.php
And using Google to search things such as:
low tech planted tank

Then, pick your plants carefully. While you're waiting for them to grow, pick up a book on aquarium plants from the library! I personally like Peter Hiscock's "Encylopedia of Aquarium Plants" and Rhonda Wilson's "The Simple Guide to Planted Aquariums"

I hope that helps, have a great day!
Nicole