Black moor changing colors?
 

I will have pictures of this odd phenomenon up in a moment, but I had to ask about it.

I have had a fantail Black Moor for the past eight or so years. True to his name, he has been black for seven of those years--but during the last month or so, he had begun turning a quite beautiful golden-color. It started around his belly and pelvic fins, and has been creeping its way up. He now only has a "toupee" of black around his bulgy little eyes and his dorsal fin.

Aside from the interesting color change, the fish is fine. No ich, no dropsy, no tail rot--and I change his water and vacuum his gravel every week. I know it's not a disease...so what is it?

Oh, and as for the specs...
He (I just assigned him a gender, not really sure if its a "he") lives in a freshwater 5 gallon tank. He's been in there for about six of the eight years I've had him. No plants in the tank, and it is assumeably at room temperature because I don't use a heater. He eats Wardley shrimp pellet food, and the last time I did a water test (with the droplets in a sample, not test strips), everything checked out normally. He's the only one in his tank because he's pretty big--about four inches if you count the fan tail.

Has anyone ever experienced or heard of this before? I will have pictures up as soon as I upload them off the camera--give me about an hour.

So sorry for the double post, but it won't let me edit the above message.

Anyway, here's some pictures.

Dusk in 2005--

http://www.fishforum.com/userpix/5058_dusk2005_2.jpg


And today

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b1...r/dusk2008.jpg

As you can see, the change is quite dramatic.

.

That is a very common change to happen for goldfish. Some fish undergo more drastic changes while others only change a little. Genetics are the culprit here. Just keep and eye on him as your would normally do.

I am just a little concerned with the tank set-up, I'm surprised he's been living in there for so long. Do you plan on getting a bigger tank? Being so cramped in the small tank must make your water change and tank maintenance schedule pretty frequently, goldfish generate huge amounts of waste. I have 2 fancy goldfish in a 75 gallon tank and I find myself doing multiple 30-50% water changes a week, just to keep the parameters, preferably nitrates, in check.

Do you run a filter in the tank?