Guppy fish are famous for their attractive and bright colors, especially when it comes to male guppies. But, guppies can lose their color and turn white for various reasons, and finding the particular reason behind it is essential. So, Why is my guppy fish turning white? Let us find out.
Illness is the primary reason behind guppy fish turning white. Other reasons include stress, overcrowded tank, age, and inadequate water parameters. Ensure providing good water condition and feed high-quality nutritional food to your guppies to prevent them from losing color and turning white.
This article will discuss the reason, treatment, and prevention for guppy fish turning white. So, let us get into it.
Contents
Why Is my guppy fish losing color?
There can be numerous explanations for guppy fish losing its color.
Illness is the primary factor behind guppy fish losing color.
Other reasons include stress, age, poor water conditions, low-grade food, and light deficiency.
If you detect your guppy fish losing its natural color and turning white, yellow, or grey, try finding the reason behind that by following the behavior and appearance of guppy fish.
Also read: Why Do Guppies Lose Their Color?
Is It normal for my guppy fish to turn white?
If the reason behind your guppy fish turning white is age and light deficiency, then there is nothing to worry about.
If stress, diseases, and poor water conditions are the factor behind your guppy fish turning white, it is not normal and immediate action is necessary.
Guppy fish under stress will lose their appetite and become prone to various diseases and parasites for a long time.
Contaminated water will result in an ammonia spike in your guppy’s aquarium, burning your guppy’s gills and body.
Guppy suffering from the disease will come into a critical condition if not treated in the early stages.
Also read: Why Is My Guppy Fish Turning Black?
Why Is my guppy fish fin turning white?
There can be various reasons for guppy fish fin turning white, of which poor water condition and low-quality food is the main factor.
Other reasons include stress, overcrowded tank, deficiency of light, and illness.
Guppy fish fin turning white is not normal and requires immediate action.
Let us discuss why guppy fish turn white thoroughly and know how to treat them.
Also read: Will My Guppy Tail Grow Back?
What are the reasons behind guppy fish turning white?
These are the reasons behind guppy fish turning white:
- Your guppy fish is suffering from a disease or parasite.
- Your guppy fish is under stress due to environmental factors.
- The water quality of your guppies aquarium is poor.
- You are feeding low-quality food to your guppies.
- Your guppies tank is overcrowded.
- Your guppy fish is not getting enough light.
Diseases and parasites.
Diseases and parasites are the primary reasons behind your guppy fish turning white.
These are the diseases that can make your guppy fish turn white:
- Ich
- Fin/tail rot
- Dropsy
- Mold development
Ich
External parasites cause ich or white spot disease.
Your guppies get white spots all over their body when suffering from white spot disease.
Ich causes itching to your guppies, making them rub against the gravel or other decors present in your guppy’s tank.
There are two ways to treat guppy ich in your guppy fish, chemical treatment and salt and water treatment.
You can read my article to know how to treat ich in guppy fish.
Also read: How To Cure Guppy Ich?
Fin/tail rot
Fin rot disease is common in guppy fish and other freshwater fishes.
The primary reason for causing fin rot is poor water conditions and stress.
Fin rot is caused by the vibrio, Aeromonas, or pseudomonas bacteria. However, stress and poor water quality remain the main factor.
Fin rot can be the reason behind bacteria or fungus.
If your guppy fish has been injured or been nipped, the fungus is the explainable reason.
Ammonia spike is also the reason behind fungal infection.
If none of them are the reason behind fin rot, the bacterial infection is the explainable reason.
You must know that guppy suffering from fin rot will have a whitish and yellowish edge as a symptom.
If not treated in an early stage, guppy fish will lose their whole fin as they will fall off.
Running a proper medication by consulting a marine vet is necessary to treat fin rot.
You can reach my article to know the complete steps for treating fin rot in your guppy fish.
Also read: How To Treat Guppy Fin Rot?
Dropsy
A bacterial infection causes dropsy in your guppies.
Stress can also lead to dropsy in your guppy fish.
Your guppy fish will turn white as dropsy will result in discoloration.
Your guppy will suffer swimming because of the bloated body.
Move your guppy fish to a hospital tank and treat them with Epsom salt.
Make sure to keep the water parameters adequate and feed your guppy fish high-quality nutritional food while treating your guppy fish.
Also read: How To Treat Dropsy In Guppy?
Mold development
Mold development means the development of white fungi in your guppies aquarium.
White fungi turn your guppy fish white.
The reason for white fungi is poor water conditions.
The other primary reason is the open wound of your guppy fish. White fungi thrive on your guppies’ open wounds and floating body parts.
Maintaining a good water condition by performing a regular water change and adding a good filtration system will help you prevent such issues.
Stress
Stress can make your guppy fish lose their color.
Guppy fish under stress will lose their appetite and become prone to various diseases and parasites.
There are numerous reasons which can make your guppy fish come under stress.
Some of the reasons are;
- Inadequate water parameters
- Poor water conditions
- Aggressive tankmates
- Overcrowded tank
- Illness
Also read: Are My Guppies Stressed?
Poor water quality
Contaminated water can result in your guppy fish losing its color and turning white.
Usually, ammonia develops in a new aquarium but can also appear in an established tank when there is poor water quality.
Also, poor water quality will make your guppy fish lethargic, and they will lose their appetite.
Also read: Can Guppy Survive In Muddy Water?
Low-grade food
Feed your guppy fish poor-quality food also make them lose their color and turn white.
Guppies are omnivore fish and require various types of high-quality nutritional food to ensure their enhancing color.
Feeding them low-grade food will affect their growth and color.
Also read: Why Is My Guppy Not Eating?
Overcrowded tank
Keeping your guppy fish in an overcrowded tank will make them lose their color.
These are some issues that come with an overcrowded tank:
- Your guppies aquarium will become polluted faster than usual.
- There will be a lack of oxygen in a crowded tank, making your guppy fish suffer from breathing.
- All of your fish will not get able to eat the food.
- The risk of an ammonia spike will be high in an overcrowded tank.
Also read: How Many Guppies In A 20 Gallon Tank?
Lack of light
Light also plays a major role in your guppy fish color.
Lack of light in your guppy’s aquarium can make them lose their color and turn white.
Providing artificial or direct sunlight to your guppies for some time in a day is necessary for their enhancing color.
How to prevent our guppies from losing their color?
Ensure these things to prevent your guppy fish from losing color:
- Ensure good water quality for your guppies.
- Provide adequate water parameters to your guppies.
- Feed high-quality, nutritious food to your guppies.
- Avoid overcrowding your guppies tank.
- Isolate new fish, plants, and invertebrates before adding them to your guppies tank.
- Provide a stress-free environment for your guppy fish.
All of the above points will prevent your guppy fish from diseases and parasites and ensure that your guppy fish don’t lose their color.
So following these points will also cure your guppy fish and help you regain their color.
Good water quality
Provide your guppy fish with good water quality by regularly performing a weekly water change of 35%.
Consider adding a good filtration system with biofilter media to keep your guppy’s aquarium water clean and safe from harmful chemicals like ammonia and nitrite.
We advise you to purchase a Fluval High Performance Aquarium filter to maintain your tank’s water quality.
You can buy it from Amazon Fluval High Performance Aquarium Filter.
| Particular | Guppy Requirement |
|---|---|
| Nitrate | Below 25ppm |
| Nitrite | 0ppm |
| Ammonia | 0ppm |
Also, you can add lots of live aquatic plants to your guppies aquarium to keep the water clean and ensure enough oxygen for your guppies.
We advise you to check the tank’s ammonia level with API TEST KIT as it provides accurate results.
You can buy it from Amazon API TEST KIT.
Keeping good water conditions will prevent your guppies from a lot of issues.
Also read: How Often To Change Guppy Water?
Adequate water parameters
Provide your guppy fish their adequate water parameters to prevent such issues.
| Particulars | Guppy Requirement |
|---|---|
| Water temperature | 72-82 °F |
| Water pH level | 6.7-7.8 |
| Water TDS level | 400-600ppm |
Guppy fish require a water temperature between 72-82 °F.
Make sure to maintain the water pH level between 6.7-and 7.8.
Ensure keeping the water TDS level between 400-600ppm.
Making sure of all these things will help you keep your guppies healthy and comfortable.
Also, you must know that with adequate water parameters, stable water temperature is equally necessary to prevent your guppies from such issues.
Consider adding a heater to your guppies tank to ensure stable water temperature.
Also read: Best TDS For Guppies?
Feed high-quality food
Food plays a major role in your guppy fish life.
Providing low-grade food to your guppies will affect their health and color.
Consider feeding your guppies various high-quality, nutritious food to ensure their enhancing color and longer lifespan.
| Guppy Food | Serving Quantity | No of Times |
|---|---|---|
| Mosquito larvae | 10-15 pieces | 2-3 times a week |
| Brine shrimp | One small pinch at a time | 1-2 times a week |
| Bloodworms | One small pinch at a time | 1-2 times a week |
| Tubifex Worms | One small pinch at a time | 1 time a week |
| Veggie Pellets | One small pinch at a time | 2-3 times a day |
| Cooked peas | Half pea per guppy | 2-3 times a week |
| Blanched zucchini | One small slice at a time | 2-3 times a week |
Feed your guppies live, freeze-dried, and frozen food like bloodworms, daphnia, mosquito larvae, tubifex worms, and brine shrimp to fulfill their meat-based requirement.
Feed them blanched zucchini, cooked peas, and carrots to fulfill their plant-based requirement.
Also read: Best Food For Guppy Fish.
Avoid overcrowding your guppies tank.
The overcrowded tank can make your guppy fish come under stress, and they can start losing their color.
Also, an overcrowded tank lacks oxygen, making your guppies suffer breathing.
Follow the one-inch one-gallon rule to avoid overcrowding your guppies tank.
One-inch one-gallon means one inch of fish per gallon of water.
Isolate new fish, plants, and invertebrates before adding them to your guppies tank.
When we buy new fish from a pet store, we never know if they are suffering from any disease or parasites.
So, isolating them for 4-5 weeks will give you time to detect if any of them is suffering from any issues or not.
Directly adding new fish, plants, and invertebrates to your home aquarium can make your guppies vulnerable to diseases and parasites if any of the new fish is carrying such.
Provide a stress-free environment.
Providing a stress-free environment to your guppies will ensure good health and enhance color.
Ensure these things to provide your guppy fish a stress-free environment:
- Provide your guppy fish water temperature between 72-82 °F.
- Maintain water pH levels between 6.7-and 7.8.
- Perform a weekly water change of 35% to keep the water clean.
- Avoid overcrowding your guppies tank and follow the one-inch one-gallon rule.
- Avoid adding aggressive tankmates like angelfish to your guppies aquarium.
- Provide your guppy fish hiding spots by adding lots of live aquatic plants and other aquarium decors.
- Keep your guppies in a ratio of 1:2, which means one male guppy for every two female guppies.
- Regularly check the ammonia level of your guppies aquarium by using the API Ammonia test kit.
- Feed your guppies high-quality nutritional food regularly.
- Avoid overfeeding your guppies by serving them food in a quantity that they can finish eating in one to two minutes.
Also read: What To Do If My Guppy Is Stressed?
Conclusion:
Illness is the primary reason behind your guppy fish turning white.
Issues like white spot disease, mold development, fin rot, and dropsy can make your guppy fish lose their color and turn white.
Other reasons include stress, poor water condition, overcrowded tank, low-grade food, and inadequate water parameters.
Age can also be the factor behind guppy fish losing their color and turning white.
Provide your guppy fish with good water conditions and feed them high-quality, nutritious food to prevent such issues.
Reference: NCBI, ResearchGate, Wikipedia