peppering

[arjones]

I purchased a pigeon blood and on introduction to a community tank he has got some black spots come up around the head and the base of the dorsal fin. also his tail and pec fins have gone darker. I've heard this can often happen does any1 know y? will/can it go away?

[ILLUSN]

its usually enviromental, darkening up to camoflage better with the tank, its much less of a problem in bare bottom non decorated tanks.

[fud]

I've just had the opposite happen.My pigeons went from a low-med. light tank to a high light tank & their black fins & peppering have nearly disappeared.When the lights go out they darken up again.
The tank is much more heavily planted than the previous one & they have more places to hide,not that they do,they're always too busy begging for food!.So I think that light must play a big part with the peppering as well.

[djceri_g]

ive got a bare bottom tank with a few potted plants and bogwood, and a black background. My pigeons have developed a lot of peppering and i really dont like it! this is a pic of my tank

[Matt15]

Guys i'm pretty sure that Peppering being the little black spots which are more common in the light coloured varieties i.e. pigeon blood/melons etc. are caused from the fishes "genetics" and "water quality".

[djceri_g]

so the cleaner the water, the less peppering?

[dwilder]

peppering is genetic but it will usually show less when the fish are in a bright light colored tank.the peppering also can be worse when the fish are stressed,and water quality can be a reason fish get stressed

[djceri_g]

thatnks dwilder, i know it cant be the water quality as I do 40% wc every other day, or maybeydue to recent bacterial bloom the water is irritating them? ive recently purchased a uv sterilizer

[Matt15]

i know it cant be the water quality as I do 40% wc every other day
That will depend on the quality of the water your using?
Its great that you do such regular water changes but if your using tap water are you treating it?

[nicholas76]

its genetics.

and yes environmental factors can make it worse or better. Colour enhancers will also hide it too.

you can source pretty clean pigeons but you really need to find them from a quality importer.

[djceri_g]

they where cllear of peppering before i bought them. i am using tap water and also treating it. i also have a uv sterilizer in the tank. They eat all sorts of different foods. Beef heart, tetra bits, white worms, blood worms, beef heart flake, earth worm flakes, sometimes primafix and diskusin. they have a bigger food coupbard than me!! lol

[nicholas76]

they where cllear of peppering before i bought them. i am using tap water and also treating it. i also have a uv sterilizer in the tank. They eat all sorts of different foods. Beef heart, tetra bits, white worms, blood worms, beef heart flake, earth worm flakes, sometimes primafix and diskusin. they have a bigger food coupbard than me!! lol

yep totally normal . Your water is fine and your feeding them a great variety of food.

[djceri_g]

its ashame really, the perppering is not very nice. dont look as bright! thankks for the info. ohh, one question. 2 of my pidgeons have started showing stress bars. does this mean they are stressed or it it because they are growing up?

[the german]

when you would paint the back of the tank light blue or similar the peppering would be less.

[samir]

now all you need is a marine setup to put beside it, then you can have salt and pepper.

[djceri_g]

now all you need is a marine setup to put beside it, then you can have salt and pepper.hehe, lol!!

[djceri_g]

when you would paint the back of the tank light blue or similar the peppering would be less.yes, i have thought of that in the past but i am no good with painting! id have to get someone else on the job! lol

what i did once was buy a light blue background but it looked funny really! cos all the pipes, filter box and uv unit etc really stand out and looks very untidy!

[nicholas76]

now all you need is a marine setup to put beside it, then you can have salt and pepper.

LMAO!!

[Matt15]

now all you need is a marine setup to put beside it, then you can have salt and pepper. lol :lol:

[mistakes r crucial]

I'm glad you never change Samir.
MAC

[samir]

:lol: a lighter background will remove some of it , but you have plants and driftwood so it wont make much difference.

when buying its not a good idea to judge pigeon peppering ,in a bare tank.

[albatrozz]

hmmm, i got the same thing with my tangerine discus i bought, in the shops tank it is VERY nice and bright orange but as soon as it hits my tank, in a matter of days the spots appear just above the mouth and near the gills. now i FOR SURE know that it is NOT my water quality as i had 8 discus in my tank before i bought it and none of my discus alrdy in my tank had ANY peppering on any part of them. But this is what i rlly wanna know, if peppering is probably through genetics... then why didnt it show at the shop? and it only came up when it came to my tank... weird..

[Matt15]

But this is what i rlly wanna know, if peppering is probably through genetics... then why didnt it show at the shop? and it only came up when it came to my tank... weird..

As already said the two main factors are believed to be water quality and genetics.

If they were clean of peppering before being placed in your tank then water quality is your answer. This includes all the other information that has already being discussed in your other thread about "having no filter".

The degree or percentage of the peppering will depend on there genetics. Genetics = "Change is inevitable". As they grow peppering will increase or decrease if already present.

[albatrozz]

once again.. i have a eheim canister filter which had been running for 6months... i introduced the discus to my community tank which has the effective filter.

[Matt15]

Albatrozz your not reading/listening to anything which is being said/typed.

You said:
11 discus in my 45gal tank and have had them for about 8 months.

This is an over stocked tank regardless of your filter. Overstocking will result in bad water quality.

[albatrozz]

yeah i get what your saying matt, im going to seperate half of them soon to another tank to balance it out a bit... hopefully the tiny spots on my tangerine's will dissapear :?

[Matt15]

Yeh mate you'll only find the peppering in the lighter coloured varieties.

I bought a nice melon afew months ago which had ZERO peppering. But over time peppering has slowly started to show up around the face and in lines on the body. Its just something which can't be helped.

Thats why my checkedboard and red melon were purchased at full adult age.