Goldfish Q?

Question

Does anyone know what it means when your goldfish begins to turn brown on the top of its body? Does that mean that it's going to lay eggs?

Answer 1

This has nothing to do with laying eggs. I doubt that this is a fungus either, as fish fungi are typically white or grayish. Unless the area is raised, sunken, or stringy, I think your fish is okay.

So why the change? There are a number of possibilities:

1) lighting - do you have your fish under high light levels or natural sunlight? In pet stores, people often pick out a "gold" fish with black/brown markings along the top and fins and are disappointed when the color fades after they get it home - this is because their lighting is poor and is needed to maintain the color. You may have the reverse situation if your lighting is better than where you bought your fish! Simply put, this is like getting a sun tan - spend time in the sun, you get darker, in the winter, the color fades. With fish this is controlled by special pigment producing cells in their bodies.

2) quality of the food your fish is getting - are you feeding a "color enhancing" food? These foods contain pigments that are absorbed by the fish.

3) genetics - some fish will just change color because their DNA says it should happen when some environmental trigger occurs

4) injury - like a bruise

Here are some websites (some with photos) documenting color changes in goldfish:

http://thegab.org/Articles/ColorChange.html
http://www.goldfishconnection.com/articles/details.php?articleId=121&parentId=10
http://www.goldfishconnection.com/articles/details.php?articleId=137&parentId=12
http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryfaqs/f/goldfish.htm

Answer 2

Sounds like ammonia burn. Actually healing area due to ammonia or Ph burn. It's ok now and it should go away in a week or so. Sometimes fish change color when they get bigger but chocolate (brown) is usually an unstable color that disappears and is raplaced by either red or orange. I have never seen a fish change to this color. Only the other way around.

Answer 3

No. It means the fish has a fungus of some sort. If the spot os fuzzy its a fungus, if not, go to petlibrary.com/goldfish and look under diseases for anything that matches. Watch and see if the spot grows too. If your fish is acting strange call the vet and keep it away from other fish if you have any others.

Answer 4

Its not going to lay eggs. At least this is not a sign. It may be getting it's colors or as someone said before it might be fungi or a disease.

Answer 5

Never heard of that one before.