It's a slow fade...

[iwishweallcouldwin]

Hi guys,

Bought these ember tetras for quite some time now, say close to 8 months. But over the span of two weeks, this particular piece of ember tetra slowly and gradually faded in colouration from strong orange to light orange to what it is today - completely transparent. Pictures for comparison:

From this...


...to this within the span of two weeks, with gradual decolouration daily.


Well obviously these two sub-standard pictures do not belong to the same tetra. But the dis-coloured piece looks like a totally different tetra altogether as compared to before. Its counterparts don't seem to be bothered by its transformation at all, they are all still schooling happily together in the tank, and this transparent bugger is still as greedy as every other ember tetra in the tank. Basically doesn't look sick at all.

I'm not inclined to do anything to it, as it is still as healthy as ever. Nonetheless, I'm hoping to find some form of explanation to it, or at least hear from others with similar experiences. Do share. Thanks.

[Saiberg]

wow... a 100% change..

[hyun007]

Some Tetra are "painted" on.
They will all eventually lose their colour.
Some lose their colour fast, other lose it slowly.

Try to get a tropical fish book.
If the fish colour don't exist, it usually mean it is painted, unless they come up with new hybrid.
You can also ask the person who you bought the fish from, they should be able to give you an answer as well.

[BFG]

Could it be caused by diet?

[iwishweallcouldwin]

Some Tetra are "painted" on.
They will all eventually lose their colour.
Some lose their colour fast, other lose it slowly.

Try to get a tropical fish book.
If the fish colour don't exist, it usually mean it is painted, unless they come up with new hybrid.
You can also ask the person who you bought the fish from, they should be able to give you an answer as well.

Thanks for digging up this thread and giving the first suggestion! These ember tetras aren't with me anymore, so I can't decide if they are 'painted' or whether they will eventually lose their coloration or not. I'm not very much into tetras so I can't comment whether ember tetras are 'natural' or not either.

Could it be caused by diet?

Not too sure about that, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the particular piece took in something 'alien', like a flying ant or something. But I do know that whatever it swallowed did not seem to have any adverse short-mid term effect on its health (at least at face value), nor did it affect it's social behaviour. It remained a very active, social, and feeding piece, at least until I offloaded it to an "oddball collector".

[hyun007]

I could be wrong about the painting.
It might be something else.
Sorry to hear that you have given them away.