King Kamfa translucent fins

[yanyan729]

Hello there fish keepers,

I was wondering if anyone can help me figure out if there's anything wrong with my King Kamfa flowerhorn finnage being translucent.


I purchased a king kamfa last year on May. I just have a question since I don't have a good source of info regarding flowerhorn care. My flowerhorn's fins are turning translucent along the edges. It's not white nor signs of any fungus. What do you think it is? I've attached some pictures. I appreciate the help and just want this issue or if it is even an issue be known. He's had this for awhile now and I thought maybe that's just how it is, but I'm concern about it still since I don't see this on some of the flowerhorns on youtube.

I got him on June 1st.
1st pic is August no signs of finnage translucent.
On October pic there's a clear sign of translucency.
March and April pics he's healthy but translucency is clear, but since I feed him blood parrot pellets it's reddish in color.
Today, he is kind of constipated and dark in color but you can see all his finnage edges are different in color from his body color.


I normally do 75percent water change weekly, and ph is around 7.8 to 8.0 last time I checked which was months ago and keep him in 82F. I feed him varied pellets like sumo, hikari, okiko and varied freeze dried foods like red shrimp, mealworm, crickets, blood worm, anchovies and have recently been feeding him frozen large shrimp from Costco which I defrost throughout and cut to 1/8 to 1/4 slices.

I appreciate you looking into this. Thanks and hope to hear from someone soon. I'll be doing my weekly water change today and will be adding salt to his water.

If you have any questions feel free to message me anytime. The pics are dated as their name file.

 

[Man-made Monsters]

Looks like your Short Body Kamfa is starting to fade. The dark patches on his fins and body may eventually turn orange, yellow, and red in color. A PH of 7.8-8.0 is really high for a flowerhorn. They are bred from central american cichlids that live in waters that are 7.0-7.6. Some might argue that higher ph between 7.6-8.0 helps them grow bigger heads but its at the cost of the fish's health in my opinion, and the opinion of many others. Your fish has a hard kok anyway so the higher PH is not going to help his head grow anymore. I would buy a test kit and test you PH, as well as your other water parameters. Also, I would not feed a short body flowerhorn like yours any freeze dried food. Their intestines are very compressed and freeze dried foods can cause blockage problems for them. Anytime I have kept short bodied flowerhorn I made sure they had a good amount of spurlina in their pellets.

 

[yanyan729]

Thanks for the reply.

I will look into lowering PH. I like his head as it is and not freakish looking and not looking into trying to get it bigger. I just want him to grow naturally. I forgot to mention that I do feed him SERA spirulina tablets that have been cut to smaller pieces. He is dark color right now because of constipation which he's had before. He normally returns to pinkish color when he's no longer constipated. I'll keep an eye out on him and update you guys aswell with his condition.

BTW, what amount of salt do you guys put? I've been putting 1teaspoon per 10 gallons which in total I put 6 teaspoons in his 60 gallon tank only whenever he is feeling lethargic/constipated. But when he isn't sickly, I don't put salt when I change his water.

 

[Nilsafeller]

Looks like your Short Body Kamfa is starting to fade. The dark patches on his fins and body may eventually turn orange, yellow, and red in color. A PH of 7.8-8.0 is really high for a flowerhorn. They are bred from central american cichlids that live in waters that are 7.0-7.6. Some might argue that higher ph between 7.6-8.0 helps them grow bigger heads but its at the cost of the fish's health in my opinion, and the opinion of many others. Your fish has a hard kok anyway so the higher PH is not going to help his head grow anymore. I would buy a test kit and test you PH, as well as your other water parameters. Also, I would not feed a short body flowerhorn like yours any freeze dried food. Their intestines are very compressed and freeze dried foods can cause blockage problems for them. Anytime I have kept short bodied flowerhorn I made sure they had a good amount of spurlina in their pellets.

Does ph really have an effect on many fish.... I keep my flowerhorn in 8.0 from the tap and no problems... just like all my fish... I understand fluctuations in ph can be terrible... but if they are born and raised in it then I see no problem... but I may be wrong

 

[yanyan729]

I just did a ph test and my tap water is indeed 8.0ph. He is looking better and lighter in color after that water change and salt, or he may have just finished with his constipation.

and Nilsafeller, yeah he's been with me since June 1, 2018 with the same tap water of 8.0ph. I wonder about the effects of changing it now if for better or not so good.

 

[Nilsafeller]

I just did a ph test and my tap water is indeed 8.0ph. He is looking better and lighter in color after that water change and salt, or he may have just finished with his constipation.

and Nilsafeller, yeah he's been with me since June 1, 2018 with the same tap water of 8.0ph. I wonder about the effects of changing it now if for better or not so good.

I dont think I would bother... from learning keeping flowerhorns myself... overfeeding is ez with them as they will more than any other fish I've kept continuously eat and that creates problems for them and quit easily death... so it's good to take a day off every week on feeding them and watch there poop.. I dont think ph will do much good but if you decide to change the ph do it slowly... maybe with just drift wood?

 

[yanyan729]

Yeah today he is just nibbling his food which I gave very few and will be removing whatever is left. I may have to skip tomorrows meal for him and let his constipation pass.

I may just keep his ph as it is now. And I've been trying to child proof his tank . As you can see his tank right now, he'll have close to no chance of hurting himself except the output nozzle of my Fluval 406s which I'll be replacing with black 1/2 pvc elbow joint from Home Depot which will be arriving within a week.

 

[islandguy11]

Most all Flowerhorn here in Thailand are bed and raised in water that is high 7's to low 8's; if your water is already around that I personally wouldn't go messing with your PH, even though somewhat lower might be more ideal long-term as Man-made Monsters says.

 

[Ruturaj]

Digging up the old thread as I was searching around this topic, before sending my fish from NC 2 weeks ago, it was at 7.6-7.8 pH and looked like this,



After setting him in a new tank at WA and pH of 8



Day before yesterday



Since yesterday



Not sure why he is darker and not showing flowerline anymore, maybe lack of background? Or the pH?

 

[Flowerhorn Supply]

My tap water is 8.2. I don't mess with my pH as I beleve it is more important to have a stable pH than to have a specific pH. I have heard that a higher pH aids in KOK growth and a lower pH is better for color?‍. I'm not sure how true it is though.