# Bristlenose Pleco with white patches that fade in/out over time



## eklikewhoa (Aug 29, 2006)

I've seen my BN do that and it seems to be all mood dependent.


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## TheNailman (Feb 3, 2011)

same. mood or stress perhaps?


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## cHiBi_sCeNe (May 22, 2011)

Mine does that too. It is nothing at all to worry about. It is just normal colors that come and go depending on the mood of the fish. I have a bristlenose exactly like yours,
and as long as there is no itching (rubbing on tank objects), and the water quality is good then there is nothing to worry about.


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## WhiskeyD (May 10, 2009)

It could very well be stress related. Sometimes they seem to flare up after a water change. I don't buffer this tank very much with crushed coral like I do my 180g so the pH drops from 7.0 out of the tap to about 6.6 in the tank. My water has 0 hardness out of the tap so without any CC buffering it, it crashes to a 5.8/6.0. I buffer my 180G so it stays at a constant 7.0 like the tap water but I found it was a lot trickier(?) to keep the 29G stable at 7.0 so I settled with just one tablespoon of CC which gave me a stable 6.6. If the spots are caused by stress, I bet it has to do with this. 

Then again.... I only change the water every two weeks in this tank since it has a very low bio load with only 5 tetras, a guppy, and the pleco. So the pH swing doesn't happen very often, I would think if the spots were caused by the stress of a W/C they would disappear by the time the next W/C came around.


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## WhiskeyD (May 10, 2009)

cHiBi_sCeNe said:


> Mine does that too. It is nothing at all to worry about. It is just normal colors that come and go depending on the mood of the fish. I have a bristlenose exactly like yours,
> and as long as there is no itching (rubbing on tank objects), and the water quality is good then there is nothing to worry about.


Thats great to hear! He seems completely happy and never shows any sign of stress. He's actually quite aggressive when it comes to defending his algae wager :red_mouth He has much more of a personality than the females in my 180


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## cHiBi_sCeNe (May 22, 2011)

Ok. Glad I helped.
It should be fine to move him to the 180 with the females as long as they are all healthy.
Good luck.


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## WhiskeyD (May 10, 2009)

Anyone else ever experience this?


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## bpb (Mar 8, 2011)

Mine does that too. Seems to be when he is sleeping and then awoken or startled. His nose also tends to go from yellow, to normal color. Overall he changes color quite a bit.


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## StygianSteel (Apr 2, 2010)

BN Plecos have a mild camouflage ability and can change their color/pattern a bit. It's nothing to be concerned about at all. When I kept em they'd do this all the time. No need to worry about him spreading anything.


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## garfieldnfish (Sep 25, 2010)

Nothing to worry about, except when you put him in your 180 gal with 3 females expect to need another tank for the kids. And 3 females could wear him out, causing more stress and more patches. But I bet he will be a happy guy for a while.


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