"Derek Broughton" wrote in message
...
Benign Vanilla wrote:

A week or so ago, I noticed a pretty big goldie swimming around in the VF.
It was in the upper pond which tells me, it took a ride through the pump,

That or it did the salmon thing, swimming up the waterfall.

When we brought him in he was distinctly black colored,
as he swam around in my SO's salad spinner.

eewww! I've gone right off salad.

After letting the water warm a
bit, I dumped him into the aquarium. I noticed however over a few hours he
changed from distinctly black to a golden color.

I don't know if he is a goldie, koi or koidlie as he seems to have
features of all three. Either way, do goldies, koi or donkey koi/goldies
change color over hours?

I can't say for sure about goldfish, but I've watched markings on many fish,
including koi, appear out of nowhere. Black pigments seem to be
particularly easy to turn on or off - though I'd normally expect the more
pigmented form to be the less stressed (sick fish often look very washed
out) but that seems to be the opposite of your case.
--
derek

I've not seen it happen in hours in my goldfish or Koi, but my yellow tang in my
sal****er tank will become almost completely white after the lights go off.
Next day, when the lights come back on, he turns yellow again. Most likely a
defensive adaptation. I've always believed that goldfish being black at birth
and for a time afterward is a defensive adaptation. Many animals have this kind
of adaptation.