shebunkin losing all pigment

[flowergardener]

I bought a new shebunkin at the beginning of summer. Primarily white with some red spots mainly on top of body. I just noticed in the last 2-3 weeks it was losing pigment.....now she looks transparent with pink insides coloring her. I have never had this happen to any of my fish. It seems healthy otherwise. Is this normal?

[Cliff]

It could be a lot of things

I would first suggest to check you water parameters. Many times, this could cause a loss of color in almost any fish

Is this fish out in a pond? If yes, maybe he is not getting enough direct sunlight. From what I have read, fish start loosing there natural colors when not exposed to enough light.

[Compass]

Can you get us a picture of your fish?

[flowergardener]

Here are 2 pictures of the fish I posted about a few days ago. The other 2 fish have not changed. You may see a black net in the photo which I just put over the pond 2 days ago because the trees are about to drop tons of leaves. The fish started losing pigment at least 2 months ago (family emergency in June so it might have been sooner)

pond2.jpg pond1.jpg

[Cliff]

Same fish that you were talking about in the below thread ?

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...d.php?t=119223

[flowergardener]

Yes. It acts normal and is eating normally otherwise

[Cliff]

I have merged your two threads about the same fish together into one thread.

This will make it less confusing for other members who are trying to help

Have you tested your water parameters ? Also, how much light does this pond get and how big is this pond ?

[flowergardener]

Thank you very much for merging the posts....I could not figure out how to do it myself. I will have to get back with you on the water testing....I took my kit over to my best friends house to test her son's water and forgot it. I do have those dipsticks which show the pond water to be fine (the same it has always been since I got in over 10 years ago) but the dipsticks are not as accurate as the test kit. The pond is about 4 x 6 feet and about 2 feet deep. I've always had 3-4 fish in it. The only problem I ever had that I can remember is several years ago when a snapping turtle got in it. I've had the red comets for about 3-4 years. I got the new shebunkin at the beginning of summer when it was white with a few red spots along the top. The pond is partly shaded and partly sunny.....sunny enough to still have algae. I've been thinking about it more and remember seeing a "lump" on the fish a few weeks ago where one of the red spots were. I remember thinking it couldn't be a parasite because it was the same color as the scales. The "growth" is gone now and so is the pigment. Sorry I didn't remember this earlier as it probably helps but I had a sudden death in my family and haven't really paid a lot of attention to them and the memory kind of went for awhile.

[CarpCharacin]

Thank you very much for merging the posts....I could not figure out how to do it myself.

i do not think that it is possible to do it yourself. I think that it is an administrative tool that only moderators and administrators have access to.

[AquaGeek10]

I am no expert with goldfish but when I got into the hobby it was because I had to take down my pond with some goldfish in it, so here what I think maybe happening, so when the water gets cooler, some fish lose color, some gain color, but this is a goldfish they can stand freezing temps, so I don't think that is it, see how it is pinkish, a lot of the time with my fish when I do a teacake, they all turn a whit or pink color, and it is from stress, which I am think maybe something took up residence in the pond and it is stressing the fish, and the particular fish losing color could have bad slime coating, bad genes or something and they could get stressed easily, so in turn they could be getting stressed while others aren't, I have no clue what could be in there whether it be a water snake to a parasite I have no clue but above is just what I think MAYBE be happening.