Fire eel becoming paler

[Irecruitfish]

It's been eating great and getting good growth but over the past week I noticed it's color is becoming more and more pale.

Nothing has changed other than I noticed the tank temperature dropped from 80 to 76.

It's been fed bloodworms and brine shrimp.

 

[Rocksor]

Have you tested ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates with liquid tests?

 

[Irecruitfish]

Have you tested ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates with liquid tests?

Oh wow definitely forgot to do that! Will do soon and report back. >smacks forehead

 

[Irecruitfish]

Didn't feed the eel in 2 days because I got pulled away for work and noticed the light color. Fed it a cube of hikari frozen blood worms and it became darker. Water test results are good.

Ph:8.2
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 20 ppm

I only feed it once in the evenings. It's gaining good size. Maybe this is normal?

 

[Irecruitfish]

Here's a video of the eel in case that helps gather more input.

 

[Rocksor]

So you have had the eel 1-2 weeks? My guess is the lack of substrate and reflection of the overhead light, causing the bottom of the tank to look lighter, hence the colors of the eel is getting washed out. Adding something as simple as pool filter sand can cause a fish to look darker.

 

[Irecruitfish]

So you have had the eel 1-2 weeks? My guess is the lack of substrate and reflection of the overhead light, causing the bottom of the tank to look lighter, hence the colors of the eel is getting washed out. Adding something as simple as pool filter sand can cause a fish to look darker.

No should of clarified I've had it in this tank for 9 months now. It's never been this lighter of a color till recently. I planned on moving it to my 125 soon till this pale color issue popped up.