Could small amounts of ammonia cause fish to permanently lose color?

[alex277]

I've heard fish can appear a bit 'faded' and lose color when things such as ammonia, nitrite, etc. are present in the water column - but would this discoloration of the fish be permanent or is this only temporary? I've never experienced fish losing color due to stress or imperfect water quality, but I was reading a bit on this and was curious. Do fish we receive, such as ones shipped to you and not necessarily in the greatest water during that time, have permanent damage done to their color potential? Or is this simply something short term, and when the water chemistry issue is resolved, would go back to their full potential?

 

[brandon429]

Did your ammonia event suspected happen in a display or a quarantine

That matters tremendously in verifying etiology

If in display: didn't happen I'll bet a false read

If in qt low surface area: possible

Fish disease is most likely cause going off logged causatives on the site_disease forum vs chemistry forum

 

[brandon429]

If your issue comes from a display it won't be ammonia causing your issue

Fish disease is what kills fish in display setups, occasionally hardware or procedural mistakes

But not ammonia, those are false read posts.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I've heard fish can appear a bit 'faded' and lose color when things such as ammonia, nitrite, etc. are present in the water column - but would this discoloration of the fish be permanent or is this only temporary? I've never experienced fish losing color due to stress or imperfect water quality, but I was reading a bit on this and was curious. Do fish we receive, such as ones shipped to you and not necessarily in the greatest water during that time, have permanent damage done to their color potential? Or is this simply something short term, and when the water chemistry issue is resolved, would go back to their full potential?

Ammonia can cause stress which cause color loss as will poor diet as well as the potential to cause wounds that burn the fishes' skin, eyes, fins, and gills. Once these infections become advanced, survival becomes low
The loss of color will occur when oxygen levels are diminished due to high ammonia levels

 

[Malcontent]

It could simply be dietary. I borrowed some caretenoid supplement from my bird and started adding it to my fish food and my fish are much more orange/red now. There are different pigments for different colors.

The usual case is that only plants can synthesize these pigments so if they're not in the diet it can't be produced by the fish and it'll fade.

They're expensive so manufacturers tend to skimp on them in their food products.

 

[Dan_P]

I've heard fish can appear a bit 'faded' and lose color when things such as ammonia, nitrite, etc. are present in the water column - but would this discoloration of the fish be permanent or is this only temporary? I've never experienced fish losing color due to stress or imperfect water quality, but I was reading a bit on this and was curious. Do fish we receive, such as ones shipped to you and not necessarily in the greatest water during that time, have permanent damage done to their color potential? Or is this simply something short term, and when the water chemistry issue is resolved, would go back to their full potential?

Where did you see this information?