Stripes vanishing on zebra plec!? = (

sugarandopium · Post by **sugarandopium** » 28 Jun 2003, 12:03

OKAY. I need advice on this pronto. It's unreal. A few weeks ago my l046 lost a TINY BIT of coloration on a stripe by his belly, thought nothing of it. Since then, has been eating & acting fine.

Turn on the lights today, look to him and right behind his eye, kinda near the gill area, there's a decent size area of his stripes vanishing!!! Kinda looks as if it's just fading to white. I got very close with a flash light, and the skin looks fine...really nothing rotting or anything I can notice, just losing coloration in that spot. I'm very sure this happened over night too, I don't see how I could have missed it yesterday or not have seen it coming as I stare at this gorgeous creature daily.

I don't know what to say...what to do...or even what to think.

PLEASE TELL ME it's not going to DIE.

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 28 Jun 2003, 14:17

Hi!

What are the other tank mates?
Any red mark any where on the body?
Cheers
Yann

sugarandopium · Post by **sugarandopium** » 28 Jun 2003, 16:43

Nope, nothing is red. Just a faded patch as described.

It's in 55 gallons with a syno angelicus, 2 other syno cats not sure the names of, 5 corries, and 4 angelfish. I was very skeptic about putting the Synos together with the Zebra! As I only have one established tank at the moment, I don't really have a choice. However! unless all hell breaks loose when the lights are out they dont seem to bother him at all, the angelicus even dosen't act up within the other synos anymore either and the zebra shows no signs of shyness or fear when next to them (this zebra dosen't fit the shy nocturnal stereo-type attached to them AT ALL) There is another tank that is towars the end of it's cycle that will be the Zebra's private home, and hopefully a breeding set-up when I can get a female. Okay I'm rambling.

Nothing red, Bad choices of tank mates but seemingly all get along

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 28 Jun 2003, 21:03

Hi !

No other fish have such problem?
Are the colour vanishing like "stripes" or tooth mark??
Cheers
Yann

ClayT101 · Post by **ClayT101** » 28 Jun 2003, 23:36

In some of the articles that I have read, there are reports of babies having odd coloration or no coloration. Perhaps this is just normal.
Good Luck.

Graeme · Post by **Graeme** » 29 Jun 2003, 00:28

Hope we are not going down That! road ClayT. Tell me it's Natural.

Graeme.

Easy · Post by **Easy** » 30 Jun 2003, 05:19

wow...this is weird...I also have a pure white zebra. It turned white 1 week ago. It doesn't look sick or anything, I was just thinking that maybe it's a bit stressed. I have 2 zebras and the other one is fine and still has the black stripe pattern...They are in a 15g species tank...both are close to two inches in length though the one that turned white is much bigger.

i really have no idea why it turned white...

mokmu · Post by **mokmu** » 30 Jun 2003, 13:41

I understand that as the zebra grows the stripes tend to fade a bit or diffuse (if there is such a term to describe that). But at 2"?! Any comments. I plan to get me some soon and I'd like to know what to do.

EC, can you post some pics?

Regards,
Mike D.

sugarandopium · Post by **sugarandopium** » 30 Jun 2003, 14:10

OMG! Completely white

I am scared now. Mine is 2.5 inches, and yeah it seems to be totally healthy too.

Could it possibly be the diet? Living totally off bloodworms, nothing else. Any color enhancing foods that they will eat?

aeroflight · Post by **aeroflight** » 30 Jun 2003, 15:21

Anyone got some pic's they could post?

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 30 Jun 2003, 21:06

HI!

Well I have 2 H. zebra at home close to 3 inches long and none have vanishing stripe, nor I have ever witness this among other H. z. that I have seen else where!

IS there other Loricariidae with your zebra?
THere are 4 possibilities for me!
the First one: a "ghost " form , but it usually appear at an earlier stage.
The 2nd one: Other Loricariidae tank mate are "chewing " on the back of the zebra during territorial dispute
The 3rd: you have a attack by Costia, so you have to treat the tank...
THe 4th: you have a very strong lightening coupled with light gravel and few hidding place and your fish is just trying to get as less as possible visible....

A picture would help for sure!
Cheers
Yann

sugarandopium · Post by **sugarandopium** » 01 Jul 2003, 01:50

The black is coming back in.

I was afraid I was going to peek into the tank at a white zebra!~

yannfulliquet wrote: The 2nd one: Other Loricariidae tank mate are "chewing " on the back of the zebra during territorial dispute

This is the only Loricariidae I have, but I do have a Syno angelicus , do territorial disputes occur between intertwined species? hmmm But also it never looked like a wound, the flesh always looked fine only discolored, so maybe it was stress?

One more question, I hope this gets read, how do the Queen Arabesque's do living with Zebras? lfs has gorgeously marked queens this week.

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 01 Jul 2003, 06:54

Hi!

Hypancistrus sp L260 "Queen Arabesque" are quite shy like the zebra but they are a bit more territorial than the zebra, if you provide enough hiding place fo bith it should not be a problem
Cheers
Yann

zebra046 · Post by **zebra046** » 01 Jul 2003, 11:22

While we are on the subject about stripes, what can you guys tell me concerning this female zebra and its crooked stripes L046 or L098 I already got the answer but I would like to know your opinion?

I will try to post more pics when I get a chance

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 01 Jul 2003, 12:26

Hi!

TO me it is a regular Hypancistrus zebra...
Anyway L98 is just a variation of the stripe of Hypancistrus zebra...and so is L173
Cheers
Yann

ClayT101 · Post by **ClayT101** » 01 Jul 2003, 23:38

I agree, L046. I would imagine that a pure white zebra would probably be worth more than a normal zebra. It would be interesting to try and breed that characteristic.

zebra046 · Post by **zebra046** » 02 Jul 2003, 03:06

opium you where asking for a picture of how to sex a zebra pleco sorry if it took me so long to post.
male has longer wiskers on the cheek and pectoral fin, the females pectoral fin has a more crescent shape too. If you stare at the picture longer you will see the difference in shape, the females belly region is more rounded also I will try to post more pics but I need to go change the oil of my wifes car. the female is the fish with the crooked stripes

sorry if the picture is too large I just want to show the detailes of the odontoids.

Post by **Dinyar** » 02 Jul 2003, 04:18

I recall seeing some photos -- I think it was in Erwin Schraml's Import News some years ago -- of naturally occurring freak zebras. The one that sticks in my mind had the colors flipped -- white stripes on a black background. I also recall a pure white specimen. Most such oddballs are shipped to Japan, where they command prices in the thousands of dollars!

BTW, if you don't already subscribe to Erwin's Import News, you should check it out. For a $ per 10 issues or whatever, it's well worth the nominal price.

Dinyar

Yann · Post by **Yann** » 02 Jul 2003, 06:57

Hi!

Well it seems as well that a pure black Hypancistrus species is comng from Colombia or Venezuela, Shane have you ever seen one of those?

In Ingo Sedeil article it clearly show a picture of a juvenil speciemens having vanishing/ fading black stripe, this specimen occur in a batch of regular Hypancistrus zebra, all its brothers and sisters were totally normal...

Zebra046: be careful, red (blood) mark on the hard ray of the pectoral fins is never a great thing to have...

CheersYann

zebra046 · Post by **zebra046** » 02 Jul 2003, 10:17

Dinyar how do I subscribe to Erwins import news,
Yann thanks for the warning I was wondering what that was, the only thing I can think of is that the male is always in its cave and I had to shake it out in order to take the photograph, that pic. was taken last year, the male is fine and need to be photographed again and see if his stripes have changed and also to asses the health of the fish.....
here are the pictures of the female that answered the mystery of the irregular and vanishing zebra stripe, all pics are from the same female shown above with the dates it was photographed

a much closer view of the affected stripes, if you look closely the white squiggly pattern that looks like a part of one large scale this has not changed, as the female got older the wiskers on her cheeks are getting longer too

I will try to send another group of pictures of a male with a vanishing stripes
http://eheim-uk.com/planetcatfish/galle ... exing-L046

Post by **Silurus** » 02 Jul 2003, 13:22

To subscribe to Erwin's import news, look here.

Chill · Post by **Chill** » 02 Jul 2003, 14:04

The red marks on the hard ray of the pectoral fins are actually quite normal when they stay in caves. I have had a lot of troubled moments with the same thing, espesially since its also a tell tale of a pleco in trouble (sick).

My L-066's have them all the time, but its simply because the females try to get into the caves all the time

sugarandopium · Post by **sugarandopium** » 02 Jul 2003, 14:19

Those are great pics, probably the best I've seen as far as sexing examples.

This is asking alot but do you have any full head shots of the male and female like the one you posted above aimed towards the side, but a pic taken from the front perhaps?

Thanx again