Has my beloved gold fish got a disease?

[Gemma1984]

I have two gold fish in a 5 gallon tank, my boyfriends fish is fine. Mine has a white tail but in the last two days i have noticed black patches on his tail does any one know what this is or if it needs treatment and if so what?

[butter1]

Hi Gemma, have a look on this site and see if you recognise any of the symptoms.  http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/

[Gemma1984]

thanks i looked on there when i did a google search before posting my question but couldnt find anything similar!

[dmsjps]

Hi Gemma1984, I've had five goldfish for a couple of years now and two of them constantly change colour. I don't mean they go from red to white or anything that drastic, but one of them which started off all gold (a fantail) has started getting extra black markings, and another fish which started off vivid black, gold, yellow and white in colour has gradually faded, then his colours started to come back in different places, etc.

 

If you really think it's a disease rather than natural colour change, is there a good petshop nearby that might be able to help rather than the expense of taking him to the vet? You could also try your local library for books on the subject. If not, then I'd suggest taking him to the vet just to put your mind at rest. Some would say that for the price of a new fish it's not worth it, but I don't believe in letting any living thing suffer.

[Gemma1984]

Thanks dmsjps. The fish seems fine in itself, i guess i wasnt aware that they could change colors or develop new colours! hes feeding ok and behaving normally so im sure its just colour change, i have looked at a few websites and cant find a mention of similar symptoms anywhere so im sure hes fine!

[Artful]

I have found, in general, that vets know all about cats and dogs and often horses but when it comes to anything else, well they're not that qualified. The best bet is a petshop or maybe you have a local breeder whom you could ask? (I discovered this through having birds  - lovebirds and other exotic birds.)