HELP! RAM LOST COLOUR!

[mukundam123]

Hi,
For the past week-ish my male ram cichlids colour keeps fading away, until he's almost completely white! It then returns to normal for a bit, before going back... Any ideas why this is? He was always colourful for the firt 2/3 weeks, but since then, he's been 'on and off'. The female always has her colour, which makes me even more worried!
Can anyone shed some light on this please!

Thanks

 

[japes]

If water quality is good (Nitrates sub-20ppm, everything else 0, stable pH) and he's feeding then there's a good chance he's just being skittish, just keep an eye on it.

Is the water well oxygenated? What temperature is the tank?

 

[elting44]

We need more info, such as water quality and chemistry.

 

[ksfishguy]

I've never been able to keep rams. They do great for a few months then up and die on me. I haven't had problems with any other types of cichlids...

 

[kscichlidfan]

Yeah it may be a water hardness issue too. Might check the kh instead of ph.

 

[mukundam123]

Water chemistry seems fine - no ammonia or nitrates. I've got peat moss in the external to help decrease pH and kH, and will be putting in some mopani wood to further help (once i've removed the guppies, because they don't seem to like it!). Pretty well oxygenated - got a air stone running, and he doesn't seem to be hanging near the surface. The temperature stays around the 78-78F mark.
I was hoping that I would be able to breed them, but have had no luck so far....not sure if the conditions/environment is right though....

 

[itzacraze]

rams are crap for quality a majority of them are imported and are shot with hormones... the rest are inbred and are very weak ...... they require tight parameters and are very skitish with that said your ram will go through mood swings easily and color comes and goes.... keep consistant water keep him eating healthy leave him alone for a while and make sure he doesnt have a killer light shining on him.... do a few bigger water changes as well see how he goes in a few weeks