YoYo Loach turned (almost) white?

[Vampyre]

Hi all,

Over the last 2 hours, my yoyo loaches seem to have turned almost
completely white.
You can still see the general outline of the 'YoYo' stripings, but
it's more an off-white colour rather than the usual black.

I found an old post that describes their behaviour at
http://groups.google.com/group/The-Freshwater-Aquarium/browse_frm/thread/78a43a2ffd949f4c/ef1675631e2aad8e?lnk=gst&q=yoyo+loach+white#ef1675631e2aad8e
From that post:
"I have 3 yoyos in my community tank, 2 of which love to spar...I
haven't noticed any damage done in my fights but they certainly do go
at it with vigor. Mine go nearly white and circle and roll in a
fashion that looks like they are going for the gills"

Can anyone else let me know if this colour change is normal? I've had
the loaches for about 4 months, and they've never changed colour
before today. On the other hand, I bought them when they were pretty
small, so maybe it's just a dominance thing now that they are getting
older. Up till now they've always hung out together and seemed to be
good friends...

There are 2 yoyo loaches in the tank, along with clown loaches,
platies, tetras, bristlenose catfish and a beta. The only other fish
that might be stressing them is a black ghost knife, but I've never
seen them bothered by it in the slightest.

Water conditions are all stable, tanks has plenty of hiding spots and
is has about medium plant cover. The loaches were treated for white
spot about 1 month ago with methylene blue (half doses).

Thanks

[marypage]

Are you feeding the loaches algae wafers? If there's not enough light
to create enough algae for them, or since you have several of them
they need extra food, from what I understand, and the only case I've
read of where the loach turned white was where he was starving to
death. I'm new so maybe someone else has some advice. I do know that
tropical fish lose their color when they are stressed, and being
hungry would constitute a stressor.

Just a thought.

marypage

On Aug 15, 8:26 am, Vampyre <sans.s...@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Over the last 2 hours, my yoyo loaches seem to have turned almost
> completely white.
> You can still see the general outline of the 'YoYo' stripings, but
> it's more an off-white colour rather than the usual black.
>

> I found an old post that describes their behaviour athttp://groups.google.com/group/The-Freshwater-Aquarium/browse_frm/thr...

[Vampyre]

On Aug 21, 11:29 am, marypage <mpt1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Are you feeding the loaches algae wafers?  If there's not enough light
> to create enough algae for them, or since you have several of them
> they need extra food, from what I understand, and the only case I've
> read of where the loach turned white was where he was starving to
> death.  I'm new so maybe someone else has some advice.  I do know that
> tropical fish lose their color when they are stressed, and being
> hungry would constitute a stressor.
>
> Just a thought.
>
> marypage
>

<snip>

No algae wafers, but they are pretty well fed (see my other posts
regarding the snail problem, plus they get frozen blood worms once a
day in addition to pellets)
They turned back to their normal colour later that evening, after the
'fight' was over.
One of them turned white again the next morning for about 1 hour, then
changed back again.
At this stage I'm assuming it's something to do with asserting
dominance. Maybe they just get stressed during the fights and calm
down once they've established a pecking order.
(That's just my uninformed opinion, I haven't been able to find out
anything further online.)
If it happens again I'll try and get a photo to post here. They've
been stable for the last few days though, so I might not have much
luck.

[NetMax]

Fish use colour to express status, emotions, intent etc. Generally,
fish from North & South America brighten their colours to show an
aggressive posture, while those from Europe,Asia & Africa do the
opposite. Sounds like it was a pecking order incident.

NetMax

[Adam]

I remember that post! I still have never pinned down the triggers but
my yoyos still go at it every couple weeks (although color changing
seems less frequent these days). If I had to, I'd say the first
feeding or two after water changes are the likely triggers for my
fish.

It still freaks me out when they fight.

[marypage]

NetMax is a wealth of info, I didn't realize they use color to express
status. That is fascinating. Hope my post didn't scare you, that's
just the only incident I'd heard of concerning white loaches. Always
learning something here.

[denizen]

On Aug 15, 8:26 am, Vampyre <sans.s...@yahoo.com.au> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Over the last 2 hours, my yoyo loaches seem to have turned almost
> completely white.

Given your Google nickname, I think you should read the children's
book "Bunnicula". In that book, vegetables would mysteriously turn
white LOL!
d.

[Mister Gardener]

The flip side of Netmax's observations is that while some fish intensify their colors in a show of aggression, some fade their colors when they are frightened.

MG