why are my goldfish turning black?

Question

I have a 3ftx2ftx2ft tank with 6 fishes in there (2 goldfish, sibunkin, blackmoor, bubble eye and an oranda) and ive just noticed one of the goldfishes lips are going black and the other one has a little black spot by one of its gills and i just wondered why this is?

Ive been told that it could be an amonia spike in my tank, i did a 30% water change yesterday and one 4 days ago so i just wondered if theres any other reason why my fish are turning black

Answer 1

Your tank is overstocked which has lead to a definate ammonia spike. This is the only cause of black tipped fins.



For one you should not keep orandas (bubble eye, black moor etc) with common goldfish and shubunkins.



You need to rehome the shubunkin and commons to a pond. They are pond fish and grow large and make too much mess for such a tiny tank. Your tank fill be fully stocked with the other three goldfish.



If you want to fix this do those water changes with treated settled water every four days making sure you replace bacteria levels and rehome the three goldfish to a pond or it will not fix and your fish will die.



They are basically being burnt by their own waste.

Answer 2

You might get a water test kit to test your levels of ammonia and nitrite to double check, since you never know from just looking at the water or changing it, although that helps. These could be "burns" from the ammonia, which could be from overfeeding (the rotting food makes ammonia) or the water. Do a water change every day, test your water, and keep an eye on them to see if the spots go away or get worse.

Answer 3

it could be ammonia burn but goldfish are also known for sometimes completely changing colors as they age. I recommend buying a professional water testing kit just to be sure ur water is reading safe parameters

Answer 4

They watch to much Fresh Prince