Taiwans loosing blue colouration ?

[dao]

The issue I am having is that my taiwans (bought not bred in the tank) are loosing their blue colour.

Regular bluebolts sometimes go almost completely white, while after some time their regain the intensity of the colour and loose it once again.

I have one steelhead bluebolt - his head was deep blue when I purchased him, but now after around 3 months he has patches of white visible.

The shadow pandas I have bought, all started to look like regular pandas, really quick - one exception was, when one of them was ready to get berried, she regained the colour, after she got berried she looks like regular panda again. Interesting thing is that when I bought her, the blue was more on the violet side, in my tank the 'shadow' colouration was like dark turquoise.

And my shadow mosuras which had beautiful intense blue lost most of it, and now display slight pale turquoise colouration.

The white colour on all shrimps is intense, and they look active and healthy besides that (although I had some random deaths over the period of last three months, and I can't find the reason).

My water parameters are in an acceptable range I guess -

ph 6.2-6.5
kh 0
gh 4
TDS: 135
No3 No2 NH3 good.

I use RO water + salty shrimp GH + azoo vita plus + bt9 + mosura old sea mud + montmorillonite + shrimpnature fulvic (which is something like azoo black water) - water changes once a week

To topup the water I use RO + salty shrimp GH

What might be the reason? And are there any ways to help the shrimp regain the blue colour intensity?

 

 

[DETAquarium]

What type of filtration do you use? Were these imported or domestically bred?

[EricM]

one of the first things that pops out for me is you are using a remineralizer for water top offs. thats a no no. when water evaps it leaves behind all minerals. you should only be topping off with RO water. 

 

I'm also surprised your TDS is that low with all the stuff you are using each water change. 

" salty shrimp GH + azoo vita plus + bt9 + mosura old sea mud + montmorillonite " all will raise TDS.

[dao]

Thanks for the responses, I really appreciate that.

My shrimps are all domestically bred.

I never thought my TDS is low. I add salty shrimp to TDS around 100 and then the rest. The TDS raise is really small after adding the rest of the supplements, and I did not notice any change in TDS when adding azoo vita plus. My TDS is probably higher anyways because I have topped off with RO + GH water all the time - just once a week, but still.

One thing that someone suggested is that it might be due to excessive lightning time - I actually do have the lights on for 13 hours a day, just because I like to look at the shrimp before my work and late after work, and I could reduce it significantly - whats your thought on that ?

 

 

 

[Soothing Shrimp]

I don't think the longer lighting would play an effect...

[thekonexperiment]

I've always notice that blue bolts will change their colors throughout the year.  Most of my females BB will usually get really intense blue just before mating time (usually around Spring/Summer).  Once the eggs are hatched, they will lose their intense blue for about a month before getting blue again.  I have always thought it to be normal for blue bolts to change colors.

Also, who you bought them from may play a factor in the blue fading away. Example; i have a tank that i use only Shrimp Daddy products in and the blue bolts in that tank tends to have very intense blue.  If i were to add them into another tank, the blue usually fades. I'm not sure what is in shrimpy daddys products that makes my blue bolts bluer, but i assume this could also be a factor.

 

[maylee]

I have this issue with color changes in my blue bolt and shadow panda tank too. I have almost the exact water parameters as you. The only difference being is my GH is 5 and TDS is slightly higher at around 145. I keep the tank at 72 degrees. I don't use any of the extra products you use though and I only do 15% water changes about every 2-3 weeks. RO water remineralized with blue diamond. 

A couple of the blue bolts look more like golden bees now. Others look fine.

For a period there, my shadow pandas looked like regular pandas too. Eventually, the blue came back. They haven't lost the blue ever since but it feels as if the intensity of the blue is changing almost on a daily basis. Some days, it'll be darker and some days it'll be lighter. One day I noticed it was almost a dark blue and a couple of days later, it's almost a teal color.

 

With that being said, I honestly don't even recall ever having a death in this tank. So, whatever the reason for the color changing, it doesn't look like it's serious enough to be fatal. At the same time, I haven't had a berry in there for a while either. They're all still very active in this tank and they feed well too.

 

 

 

 

[svetilda]

I don't have much experience neither I have many BB's or shadow pandas but in my tank my 2 blue bolts females and 1 shadow panda become realy dark while berried. Interesting that one of slightly blue male BB becomes dark too when the ladies are berried.

[OMG Aquatics]

Could it be improper balance between minerals in tank?

 

Many people have used SD's line and most have reported a huge different in coloration and intensity of their blue bolts including me!

I believe using just Revive Minerals would make a noticeable difference in coloration.

 

[Soothing Shrimp]

I would think it has to do more with hormones, mood and food/mineral ingestion than something floating in the water.  Saltwater shrimp get floating water minerals for their shells, however it has not been proven that freshwater shrimp do- at least not in my research.  Even then, the minerals are for hardening and thickening their shells, not to add pigment.

Many people report that BB become more blue while with berries.  That leads me to believe hormones play a larger part and they have the ability to enlarge or contract pigment on their shells due to the environment.