Has anyone seen this before?

[DHarris]

I've been thinking of buying this L273 but I've got no idea what's going on with it's color.
It had been suggested that this is the result of ammonia burn. If so, and if the fish is otherwise healthy, should it return to it's original colors?
If this isn't ammonia burn, anyone know what's going on here?

[bekateen]

Ammonia burn? Are other fish in the tank with similar coloration?

Regards, Eric

[DHarris]

I don't believe so. It seems the fish arrived from the wholesaler like this. I did just see updated pictures and the front third has darkened quite a bit. The very white areas are still washed out.

[bekateen]

How long has it been like that? I would expect ammonia burn that bad to have wrecked the gills. I would expect that fish to be dead within a day of such a burn. For this fish to be alive if it's been a week or more, I would question ammonia burn as the cause.

[DHarris]

It's been around much longer than that. I guess it's not ammonia burn.
Any ideas?

[TwoTankAmin]

Two thoughts here and neither may be correct. First, it may be from fighting. Second, it could be natural fading caused by stress or because of aging. I have seen this sort of thing on older plecos, especially the ones which are darker to start. Check out these two older L260s.

[Janne]

Malnutrition, lacking some nutrients and it does look to thin too, try variate the food and make sure it eats well.

[Bas Pels]

This is the second posing by LenSwite I see today which simply does not make sense.

I wonder whether he is genuine.

[bekateen]

I googled the first post, which seemed at least to be fish related. But alas, it was a verbatim copy from a British cichlid forum. Posts gone, user banned.

Cheers, Eric