Weird observation in hongkongensis larvae

[louise]

Me again with yet another larvae saga!

Yesterday I noticed, that for the first time since week one, a couple of larvae had died. I removed them from the tank and thought nothing of it.

I fed them at tea time and they looked fine. 2 hours later, when I went to switch their light out, I noticed that every single larva had gone from being jet black to very pale grey, almost transparent. I immediately panicked, as they tend to look like this after they die.

As a precaution, I did a partial water change in the tank and siphoned out any detritus I saw. They share the tank with 4 adults, and they were all fine.

I spent a sleepless night worrying about them and beating myself up about doing something wrong. I got up at about 3am to check them, and although still grey, they were all alive. When I came downstairs at 7.30am the larvae were all alive and kicking, and back to their normal black colour.

I can only assume it was a water quality problem that was fixed after the water was changed. I couldn't believe they were all OK again the next morning!

Has anyone else experienced this with paramesotriton larvae?

 

[juraj]

Hi Louise,

there is nothing wrong with them. They switch their coloration at night from black to pale. Many animals do this.

 

[louise]

Hi Juraj,

This happened at about 6pm. Their light doesn't go off until 10pm, and I have never seen them so pale so early before.

I wondered if perhaps stress caused them to go pale, as one small larva was pale during the day after being 'snapped at' by a bigger one.

 

[madelene]

I have a couple that seem to stay pale grey all the time, I thought this was normal just a variation on colouration.