I made a \"down arrow\" in illustrator and saved it as a png with a transparent background. When I put it into my webpage as an img, it shows up in the original color, which
If you target modern browsers, you may use CSS filters.
The hue-rotate
filter is suitable for changing colors:
filter: hue-rotate(180deg);
-webkit-filter: hue-rotate(180deg);
The exact amount of degrees depends on your image and expected results.
Note that CSS filters is a new feature, and its browser support is limited.
Alternatively, you may use CSS sprites technique, which works in all browsers of reasonable age.