Gouramiguy17

This has happened to me every time. The first time I bought 8 feeder goldfish and about half were white. Well I noticed they started to turn gold. While I was at summer camp my mom over doses on algae killer and killed all my fish. I bought 8 more feeders and most were white and they turned gold too. Is this normal?

Lucy

As goldies mature, it's natural for them to change color. I'm really sorry you lost your others.

Shawnie

I agree with lucy...goldies are constantly changing colors as they mature....

Gouramiguy17

It's strange because I have orange goldfish that never change and I have hold and white goldfish that never change colors it's only the white ones.

gremlin

It is not normal for a true white goldfish to change to orange. All goldfish are born black. The black fades and their adult colors come in. If you have white goldfish turning orange, than they were originally orange and their color faded due to poor water quality and/or lack of proper lighting. Now that they are back in a healthy environment, they are going back to their normal coloring. All of my goldies started out as feeder goldfish. All of the white have stayed white, the white and orange have kept their coloring, and with only one exception all the black have turned various shades of orange. The feeder fish are not kept in the best of conditions - either by the stores that sell them, or by the breeders who supply them. The mortality rate is well over 50%. I have actually had WalMart Managers tell me that they will always order 3-4 times more than what they want to have in stock just to meet the quota with live fish. You have to be extra careful in picking them. If you want ones that are truly white, and have not faded due to bad handling, then pick one that is very active, and a good bright white color with no muddiness to it. Check the bases of the fins - cloudiness will usually show there the most. Also look around the eyes. Those two places will hold the orange coloring longer than the body of the fish. Bear in mind too that there are different shades of white.

fish_newbie

You should be glad that your white goldies turn orange, looks a lot more attractive. I had a white/orange ranchu, after a few months he went all white, but he happens to have metallic scales so all the white shines up, looked pretty .... weird....

whisper

I have a beautiful big white Ryukin in my pond. I do know that with the commons and comets the breeders cull the baby white ones considering them inferior. I do have a white comet that was born in my pond and I think it's pretty. It's out of a Sarasas and a comet but it's all white and I think it will stay that way it's a year old now and so far no changes.

sirdarksol

Goldfish do sometimes go through color changes. It is most common for a goldfish to go from black to its adult color, but it's happened before that a pond-raised goldfish turned pale as it shed its juvie black, and then later developed other colors.
It's most likely that their color had faded because they were being kept in a high-nitrogen, low-nutrition environment, and that your pond has offered them the ability to grow their color back, but it's still a possibility that they're just growing into their true color.

As far as orange being better than white, that's a matter of opinion. Personally, I really don't like the orange color. Metallic gold is good, black or white is better, platinum is the best, in my eyes. Others have different opinions.
My favorite koi, the butterfly koi, is actually a "junk" koi that gets pulled from the breeder tanks and either culled or sold to pet stores for a fraction of the price.

whisper

I have a Butterfly Koi in my pond and she is my favorite. She is so beautiful with her long flowing fins. I also have a pure white Dragon Koi and a regular tri colored koi.