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Okay...So noticed on the littlest one of my [link=rescued goldfish]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Coldwater/56817.html" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link] this morning markings on the gill cover, tail and side. Little black splotches. All three are still about an inch to an inch and a half but when do goldfish get their pattern and colors? Do they hatch with them and it grows with them or does it show more as they get older?
Could this be an illness/infection/parasite or is it just coloring
T'anks in advance.

^_^
[hr width='40%']"I'm alright, I'm alright
It only hurts when I breathe"

Sounds just like the normal coloring Babel. Many goldfish are a brownish/copper color when very young and loose this color as they get older. Some with still keep some of the blotches, but for the most part will loose it as it ages. Coloration seems to develop with age in the goldfish that I have kept.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Hey - I bought a 2.5 inch red capped oranda that had a gorgeous pearly white body and fins, with a red cap....until parts of the white body and fins started to turn orange. So, he's no longer a red-capped oranda. He's just an oranda.

They do change. Lighting can have an effect too. Many people will bring home a black moor that is velvet black, only to see it turn more dull or brownish. Some will even begin to turn orange in spots. Moors do best in cooler water, and really good lighting. The lighting actually helps them to retain the black velvet look.

Cory_Di, I'd rememberd the point about the lighting from another thread or two about loss of color. I know the goldfish from 3 years ago (goodness has it been that long !) started out as a deep dark orange...he's white now *sigh*. The pond isn't lighted but I moved the 11W light from the hex I have over to one end of the pond, I'll look to getting more light on it hopefully these guys won't lose their color too. Looks like one might be as it's got a bit of white on the tail and like a saddle on the back...then there are the brown spots on the one I mentioned earlier. I was just concerned seeing them on the gill coveres ...these were "feeders" after all...who knows what' they could have gotten into or in them :%).

^_^[hr width='40%']"I'm alright, I'm alright
It only hurts when I breathe"