Golden danio turning yellow - is it ill?

Question
QUESTION: Hi! I've noticed that one of my albino golden danios have turned from pale translucent white to yellow. Could it be velvet disease? It is still eating & swimming around. Many thanks if anyone could help. This is a great site, btw!

ANSWER: Good evening Leigh,

Coloration depends on a number of factors - food, lighting, and mood are probably the most significant. As anyone who breeds fish will tell you, spawning colors in fish are magnificent! Stress colorations are often times very dark, I have seen fish turn almost black in response to stress...

My gut feeling is that there is nothing wrong with your golden danio. The yellow coloration which only this one exhibites, is probably a genetic anomaly, since albino varieties are manipulated more than the non-albino strains.

Do keep in mind that what you feed has a cumulative effect on coloration. Generally speaking, red foods are high in carotenoids (like beta carotene) which enhance coloration naturally. Cyclops (Cyclop-eeze) and krill are two such foods. More on foods here, if you're interested:
http://fish.mongabay.com/food.htm

My advice to you is to keep an eye on the water parameters, especially if this is a new tank. Using a water test kit, assure that the water tests 0 ppm for ammonia and nitrite (a must!) and nitrates are 20 ppm or below, preferably.

I also recommend you check out this page...
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwdistrbshtart.htm

...as well as the main site, wetwebmedia.com. I find I refer back to this site more often than any other! Another simpler aquarium website is http://freshaquarium.about.com - both sites are searchable. You may find that useful.

In conclusion, I believe your albino golden danio is fine, but keep an eye on everything for a while just to be safe.

Thanks for writing. Take care!
Nicole

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QUESTION: Thanks for the quick, detailed reply, Nicole! It has certainly put my mind at ease, although the other "golden" danios seem to be picking on this little yellow guy - his colour is now more befitting their name than his pals! I've actually tried "quarantining" the little guy in a separate tank with a sprinkling of sea salt. Hope I do not end up making a healthy fish sick :(  Btw, I feed them and my zebra danios and dwarf gouramis with a combination of coloured flakes & "complete" pellets. Could the colour change in the danio be due to the colouring of the flakes or the yellow aquarium salt (which gives the water a yellow hue)?  Yes, it is a new tank - how did you guess? ;) The other headache I have is that the gouramis eat so much slower than the danios that I end up putting in more food (& generating more waste) than I should. Sigh.
ANSWER: Hi again, Leigh!

You're very observant. Indeed, when you see a fish picking on another, there is usually a reason behind it. Sometimes it has to do with when you added the fish. I have had two brilliant rasboras for a long time, and I decided a while ago to add a third one. They still don't school as often as I had hoped, often times the newer one keeps to himself.

Other times, it can be an illness. Eliminating a sick member of the "tribe" is a behavior almost all animals exhibit - after all, they're slowing down the bunch, using up limited resources such as food, and obviously someone sick is not going to further the gene pool any. The fish probably do not "think" these thoughts, but an animal behaviorist might say that these are their ingrained, innate behaviors.

So, maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to quarantine the fish. However, I'm wondering about your yellow water. Where do you find yellow sea salt? I have some kosher (non-iodized cooking) salt and also sea salt in a grinder, and it's very white! So I'm wondering if your tap water may just have a naturally yellow color. Or maybe it's time for a 50% water change, since water does yellow over time. This is due to organic matter building up, such as the uneaten food that you state. Activated carbon would help brighten the water.

Oh, and I assure you, the salt didn't hurt the danio! Just don't add it to the aquarium on a regular basis, since there are a few fish (neon tetras, corydoras) who are sensitive.

I know what you mean about slow feeders! I have a tank full of little tetras that take the cake. I also have a female blue ram in there (who was getting picked on in my community tank) and she refuses to eat from the top at all. Instead, she sifts sand - it comes out of her gills! I suppose she's getting something, since she's slowly fattening up again.

What I suggest you do is, get yourself a little gadget called a feeding ring from the pet store. Have a look:
http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?familyid=10900

In fact, this purple one is exactly the one that I use. It really does work. A teeny pinch of crushed flake will float for a while and slowly fall. Some pellets sink right to the bottom (New Life Spectrum) while others will not sink no matter what (Hikari Bio-Gold betta) so if you would like a compromise, check out Hikari's Fancy Guppy pellets:
http://www.hikariusa.com/fancy_guppy.htm

It's almost like a powder, the pellets are so tiny. There is something about it that is very palatable to my fish, every  single one loves this stuff! And since it is used for conditioning fancy guppies into breeding, it has color enhancers such as krill. It even has a special ingredient, Astaxanthin. Lots of vitamins too! Give it a try...

I suggest that 2-3 times a week, you try giving your fish a little frozen treat. Vitamin or spirulina-enhanced brine shrimp has laxative properties, as does daphnia. Bloodworms are very palatable, and mysis shrimp is awfully nutritious. All these foods are available in frozen form, I personally prefer to use Hikari or San Francisco Bay Brand frozen food.

Oh, and don't forget to gravel vacuum! I prefer to use the smallest size for tanks less than 15 gallons. The brand I use is Elite, although Lee's makes fine products too. All gravel vacuums are basically the same, just choose ones with a tried and tested, straight-forward shape and design.

I hope that helps. See if you can add a little more decoration to your tank, such as a few more tall plants, in case the one danio needs more places to hide. They might sort themselves out by themselves, you know, since a hierarchy sometimes takes a few weeks to develop. However, do not beat yourself up if he should unexpectedly die. Danios (like many fish, especially livebearers) breed readily. Mass production in Eastern fish farms makes it inevitable that a few will have genetic defects that cut their life short, although most do get culled. Not much you can do, except provide the best quality of life possible.

Take care, feel free to write again!
Nicole

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

QUESTION: Thanks much again, Nicole, for the advice. I'll try as much as possible to do as you say. Actually, have been looking for a small gravel vacuum since Day 1 but my local fish shop doesn't sell it. My tank is now going through the setup cycle, with the help of a cycling supplement. I'm also mixing conditioned tap water with bottled mineral water (read somewhere that bottled water is good for new set-ups[?]).

I've just placed the little yellow guy back into the tank and will keep a close watch. The pesky danios do like to chase each other around & he's the tiniest and most different, so... :-\ Other than danios & a couple of dwarf gouramis, the only other fish I have is a Siamese algae eater, so I guess a little salt wouldn't hurt too much? Actually, I'm not sure what the fine yellow crystals that make the water yellow are but my vendor dropped a pinch in when he placed the gravel - I just assumed it is "aquarium salt" & didn't to ask. As for the sea salt, I took from my mom's kitchen ;) I'm really learning as I go along & advice from seasoned hobbyist like you guys really helps a lot. :)

Answer
Hey Leigh,

If you did in fact use salt, it's fine, but like I said, no need to continue using it. None of your fish need the salt added to their tank. I used to use salt as a tonic too (along with a whole bunch of other things, such as blackwater extract) and many years later, I am happy to report that all I use is dechlorinator and rinseable media. The "keep it simple" approach has really worked for me!

I used to worry about the quality of my tap water and used to lug gallons of bottled water from the Culligan machine back to the house. What changed my mind was reading the daily FAQs from wetwebmedia.com - a fantastic site, BTW!

I read my water quality report here in Central Florida and realized that our tap water is of a high quality, so nixed the bottled water. Plus, the minerals and earth elements in the tap water are actually good for fish, so there was no need to give them "purer" water after all. I stopped using the filter cartridges that came with my filter and instead switched to sponges, ceramic rings, and filter floss. All but the filter floss is reusable (the polyester floss, which looks like and basically is the same as the batting from the craft store, gets replaced twice a month or so) so I don't have to spend much money on filter supplies or discard much.

In fact, if I decide my tanks should have that sparkling crystal clear look, I use a bag of Chemi-Pure or Purigen. Either one polishes my water so clear, it really looks as though the fish are floating in the air! Other than that, I do big (40-50%) water changes weekly because this, and a varied diet, are really the best things you can do for your fish. Weekly water changes and quality diet = happy fish!

Anyhow, don't fret. You haven't done a thing wrong. If you can, get a little gravel vacuum online here:
http://www.petsmart.com (who often offers free shipping on orders of over $50)
http://www.thatpetplace.com
http://www.petsolutions.com
The one I use has a 3" diameter head and about a 5' tube.

I hope that helps, let me know if I can help again! :)

Nicole