TigerShovelNose catfish color morphing?!

[remme]

Was a standard shovel nose then about a month ago started to lose his coloring. Water parameters are fine, He's eating ...ALOT, and he's actually grown in size. His fins and barbells are in perfect shape and hes swimming around actively. What gives? Has anyone ever experienced this? Could he just be turning into some sort of albino? Can it be possible for a healthy fish to lose all his pigment?!

 

[strollo22]

It could have a lot to do with the white gravel washing out his colors. It happens to a lot of fish. I know when I tried white tile and have bichirs, they basically turned into ghosts.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Note that in this similar case below, the substrate is also very light in color, albeit I doubt it is just that - if it was, then we'd see this often as plenty of people use very light-colored substrates. Yours is a second time I saw it. This was first:

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=37515&hilit=+TSN
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=37969&hilit=+leucistic

But also note the post by Unblinded: "I experienced something similar with my Synodontis Grandiops about 6 months after I first got them. They started to turn white. In my case it was a water quality issue. A poison of some type got into the tank. More than likely an aerosol my wife sprayed around the tank :-O . I moved the fish out to a temporary tank, cleaned out the tank out completely and set it up again. Their color came back gradually over the next few weeks. They were as white as your fish. The wife quit with the aerosol after that."

Also note that that TSN went through a highly traumatic experience of 70 pebbles being removed out of him forcefully: http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=37031&p=253193#p253193

 

[remme]

No such trauma occured to him. I do bi weekky water changes no aerosols or anything like that come in contact w the tank since its in a aquarium only room. The tank has 4 peacock bass and several smaller veija species and all their coloring remains normal with no signs of stress....I just wanna know if hes healthy

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[wednesday13]

Could possibly be a piebald...my buddy had a piebald tsn for several yrs that changed patterns like this as it grew. It was almost completely white first time I saw it and years later it was patchy with normal colors. Amazing if it is a pie, not good if its something else lol...


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[thebiggerthebetter]

Could possibly be a piebald...my buddy had a piebald tsn for several yrs that changed patterns like this as it grew. It was almost completely white first time I saw it and years later it was patchy with normal colors. Amazing if it is a pie, not good if its something else lol...

Wow, really? Not that I read much about piebalds but I thought their pigmented and non-pigmented areas don't change much over their lifespan. Looks like I was wrong.

Anyone else noticed it? Walking cats are very commonly piebald. Have their keepers noticed patches change, migrate, come and go, etc.??

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

No such trauma occured to him. I do bi weekky water changes no aerosols or anything like that come in contact w the tank since its in a aquarium only room. The tank has 4 peacock bass and several smaller veija species and all their coloring remains normal with no signs of stress....I just wanna know if hes healthy

If he is eating and behaving normally, I'd see no reason to be worried but IMHO there is a reason to be very curious.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Wow, really? Not that I read much about piebalds but I thought their pigmented and non-pigmented areas don't change much over their lifespan. Looks like I was wrong.

Anyone else noticed it? Walking cats are very commonly piebald. Have their keepers noticed patches change, migrate, come and go, etc.??

Jreeper reports that the spotting does not change on growing walking cats (post #10) http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?550756-Wat-s-the-name-of-this-fish

 

[MonsterMinis]

I recently added 2 tiny tsns to my collection that where similar.. and I can say they where 100% washed out... one unfortunately passed away (less then 24 hours in my tank) the other is healthy, eating and now in a "natural" tank has colored up to look like anyother TSN juvi his size. This looks very similar only its an older fish. Has he been on the white gravel long? how long have you had him? he may just be "stabilizing" in your tank, much like people refer to w/ Dats.

 

[remme]

Ive had him since april. Ive had nothing but white gravel in all my tanks for years and I have never had a fish lose their pigmentation because of it. Hes still very active eating like a champ and has clear eyes and intact fins and barbells...