Royal Gramma has faded color

ps2cho · Jun 3, 2016

My Royal Gramma has been faded color and its been like this for almost 6 months now.

I am not sure what to do, and he's impossible to remove from the tank -- by far the hardest fish to catch.

Any ideas what the problem could be?

He's just really patchy and discolored/faded.

No issues eating or anything.

Humblefish · Jun 3, 2016

Some of the spots on him look translucent (like flukes on the body). Do these spots ever move or do they always remain stationary? If the latter, I suppose it could be from him rubbing on the rocks when he goes in & out of his hidey hole.

ps2cho · Jun 3, 2016

They are stationary. I've had the RG for almost 2 years now. It only started after I moved him to my new tank about 6 months ago. I thought it was maybe stress at the time and it would go away with time, but it hasnt.

I haven't added anything to the tank since the move either, or any fish.

melypr1985 · Jun 3, 2016

and it's been like that for 6 months? It doesn't change or get better or worse over time?

Untamedrose · Jun 3, 2016

How old is he/she....best guess as you have had a while.

Learning_uncle · Oct 28, 2020

Humblefish said:
Some of the spots on him look translucent (like flukes on the body). Do these spots ever move or do they always remain stationary? If the latter, I suppose it could be from him rubbing on the rocks when he goes in & out of his hidey hole.

hello, would like to ride into this old post. My royal gramma have the same issue but high chance because he always hiding in his hole while he grow slightly bigger now. My question would be is there any negative effect if he keep doing that? Thanks for the advice

Jay Hemdal · Oct 28, 2020

Learning_uncle said:
hello, would like to ride into this old post. My royal gramma have the same issue but high chance because he always hiding in his hole while he grow slightly bigger now. My question would be is there any negative effect if he keep doing that? Thanks for the advice

Many reef fish tend to lose color over time in captivity. Grammas often do, as do hamlets, blue chromis and many others. People point to poor diet, high nitrates, many other factors, but in the end, many fish just fade. As long as you’ve ruled out disease issues, not much to be done I’m afraid.
Jay