Need help fast, calico male body turning white

Hey guys, my calico male hides all the time so I hardly see him. Today after I threw some food in the tank, I saw him and on both sides of his body, from peck fins back to his tail is no longer brown but a super light light light tan, almost white. I have never come across this in all my years of fish keeping. What is it? Is it contagious ? How do I treat ? Do I have to worry about the other Plecos and fish in the tank ? And last but not least, what the hell is it? I know pics would help, but that will be hard. If I can get a pic, I will post it. He is normally brown with lighter patches like a normal calico, but it looks like someone took a pencil eraser, and erased the color from the sides of his body to his tail. That's probably the best way to explain it! Please help!!!!???
Water:
Ph 7.2
Am 0ppm
Nitrites 0ppm
Nitrates 40 ppm
Now mater what I seem to do, all my tanks always stay at 40 ppm for nitrate level

Hi,can you answer a few questions please to enable people to get a better idea.

How long has the tank been running?
How long have you had the fish?
How big is the tank?
What other fish/inhabitants are in the tank?
Any new additions recently?
How often is the tank cleaned and vacced etc?

Do the white areas look furry,or are there any other symptoms at all?


Bristlenoses

Hey Bristlenoses, here we go.......
90 gal with 2 marineland 360 canisters, 2 marineland 400 hob, 1 internal 24w U.V, and 1 24w U.V. Connected to return line of one of the canisters.
Water temp 80f
Fish. Three albino bn, with the male guarding 8 day old fry, the calico male in question, female calico, pea puffers, 2 rams, 6 guppies, 2 glass cats, 3 Cory cats, and about 10 asst tetras.
Tank been up and running for years
I have had the calico male for 3 months, and was quarn for first 5weeks before put in my 90
Tank gets 30-50% water change once a week, gravel vacced while doing water changes, and I move all decor and clean gravel underneath once a month. Filter media and pads are cleaned off set of each other, and done about every month and a half. Per filter sponge on intake tubes for the canisters that I clean every 3rd week or so, or as needed.
The white areas look like color pig is going away. No fuzz, or cotton strands that I can see. He is eating, and acting normal so far, and don't know how long he has been like this, as he hides all the time. Nothing noticeable on any other fish so far. No other symptoms. I wish I had a pic and will work hard to get one, but it looks like a pencil eraser was use on him and rubbed the color off his body.

I was reading in the hospital section, a post titled " discoloration " and the pic of his common on his photobucket link, looks like the same thing but my calico male is a lighter brown normally, and the area in question is almost white. If that helps while I try to get a photo for you guys!

Hi,I had a look on the discolouration thread but all i can see on the link are clown fish.Sometimes these white changes in colour can just be stress related colour change but also can be signs of parasites or bad water conditions.Sometimes it is caused by the over production of mucus by the fish.There are a few things which can cause over production of mucus such as parasites,very high or very low ph,bad water conditions.

If he seems o.k and is eating and acting normaly it may be just a stress induced discolouration.It is very hard to say when you can't actualy see the fish.

If i decided that it wasn't stress related change of colour then my first course of action for this would be to quarantine him and higher the temp a little to approx 84 and add AQUARIUM salt at 1 TEAspoon per every 2 gallon of water.Also supplying plenty of water movement and oxygenation.I would see if that brought about any change over a few days before deciding to medicate.


Bristlenoses

I got a really good pic of him, just can't figure out how to post it from my iPad mini. Anybody with an iPod mini know how to post pics here?

http://s1302.beta.photobucket.com/user/Aidenh48/media/image_zps76d7f1fe.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1
See if this link works. Tried to get URL but don't know how to get it to copy here. Not great with computers, and this is a new iPad I still learning to use.

aidenh48 wrote:

http://s1302.beta.photobucket.com/user/Aidenh48/media/image_zps76d7f1fe.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1
See if this link works. Tried to get URL but don't know how to get it to copy here. Not great with computers, and this is a new iPad I still learning to use.

I could be wrong, but the pic looks a lot like one of my male browns looked after attempting a "takeover" of another male's cave. I had just returned him and his cave after a break, and evidently he fancied some new digs. I assumed he rubbed off scales trying to squeeze/fight in the confines of the terracotta cave.

Pulling him out and keeping his water extra clean was all I did. He healed up nicely.

Sarah

Hi,That's a good picture of him.Is he the same on both sides? It Looks like he has some damage to his fin and also missing skin but that could be just colour pigment missing also.Doesn't look like he has any kind of illness,it looks more like what Sarah suggested.If he was my fish i would put him in a tank on his own (a fully cycled one) and just keep my eye on him for a few days to make sure no fungus or anything appeared.He should recover without medication unless it turns nasty.Keep us updated so we can advise further if it changes.


Bristlenoses

Yes he is like that on both sides. Now that you guys mentioned it, he is real aggressive to all other Plecos (male or female) no matter where he is. If any other pleco comes anywhere near him, he is attacking them, or chasing them away. Even if he is just swimming around the tank and comes across another pleco or Cory cat, he is all over them until they take off. My big long fin male is sitting on some free swimming fry that he hasn't let out of the cave yet, and he is the ONLY fish in the tank that has a known territory. The breeding tube he is always in, is his and no one goes near it except for the females for hokey pokey time, but I have not seen the calico male anywhere near the long fins cave..
I will take him out, give him his own space, and see what happens, I guess! Thanks again guys!

Update.....
The calico male is getting better. I have not done a thing. I was gonna move him to a new tank, but when he sees me coming, he takes off. So he still in same tank as he was.

Hi,that's good news,just keep a close eye on things for a while.


Bristlenoses