Black Spots On Goldfish - Goldfish Care Information Diseases & Treatments

This is grate information but how do you treat it? please help. Thanks Valdilene

Thanks,

I’m glad you like all the goldfish information that I share.

First off the black spots are a result of the healing process in goldfish. These black spots that you see on your goldfish means it has healed in those areas.

Why do your goldfish have black spots? This is because at some time your water chemistry was high on certain properties mostly ammonia. When you performed water changes and get the water quality safe at acceptible levels the healing process beings known as Melanophore Migration seen on fish as black spots.

No need to treat as the healing process has already begun. The black spots you see are fine and nothing more to worry about for the overall health of your goldfish.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

OMG I am so happy to read this ,I felt so guilty when I cleaned the tank and found that my fish had black spots.Thanks

Great info. Thanks!

ok i have a question my black motor goldfish has its fins rotting up but well where it poops it looks like its bleeding end it also just floats around what could this possibly be?

We won a goldfish at a fair. I bought a tank(no filter) and tap water conditioner. Our fish has black spots..I’m guessing due to too much ammonia in the water. Do I need to add more or less of the water conditioner? cb

Hi there,

Congratulations on winning your goldfish at the fair!

The first thing you will need to do is set up a properly running aquarium. You see goldfish are a very dirty fish and the create a lot of waste. With no filter, your water quality will turn for the worse in no time. Black spots can arise but this is known as healing spots with usually was a result of poor water conditions.

Once you get a filter is when beneficial bacteria will start to grow that will help break down waste known as the nitrogen cycle. Taking care of goldfish in a bowl or in a tank with no filter is not recommended as goldfish diseases are sure to attack your fish in no time.

What you will need to do is add beneficial bacteria to your new tank set up. This will help the break down of waste as mentioned earlier. Add this on every water change you do to replenish the beneficial bacteria colonies. Also add water conditioner every time as well.

This will help in taking care of your goldfish. Also you will need to invest into some water test kits as this could very well save the life of your new pet goldfish.

Start here and if you need anymore help with your goldfish please feel free to ask. Also don’t worry about those black spots it’s healing or simply your goldfish is changing colour.

Thanks for visiting my goldfish blog!

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
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Another question from the folks who won the goldfish….if I understand correctly…beneficial bacteria will begin to grow in my tank as a result of adding a filter? I just have a one gallon plastic tank…can i buy a filter to fit such a small tank? cb

Hi there,

Beneficial bacteria begin to grow on rocks, especially porous rocks found in an aquarium. It grows on stuff.

The main beneficial bacteria is mainly in the filter as this is what picks up fish waste causing it to stick to the filter sponge, ammonia bag and charcoal bag (carbon)found inside.

As mentioned a goldfish bowl is not recommended for goldfish. It is too small and you will have problems. You will need to change the water regularly every 2 days to keep levels of ammonia and nitrite to a minimum. As far as I know there is no filter that small for a one gallon tank.

If your serious about the goldfish hobby and are beginning to enjoy it, you should get a bigger tank. Maybe start offf with a 10 gallon aquarium or even a 20 gallon aquarium. The more water the less maintenance will be needed especially with a great filter system on it.

Hope this helps answer your goldfish questions.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
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The fair fish people have purchased a 10 gallon tank with a filter. We actually bought a kit that had everything we needed. We’ve moved the goldfish…”fishy” as my children call him, into his new home. He seems to be doing fine…his black spots are slowly going away. We will purchase 3 more goldfish soon. we’ll keep you posted. thanks for the help. cb

Thats great! Your new goldfish will enjoy his new luxury home 🙂 He will enjoy his much added space.

Glad to hear all is well with your goldfish and the balck spots are beginning to fade away.

Yeah buying an aquarium kit definitely saves you money then buying each piece seperately. Glad to see you and your family starting to enjoy the hobby. It’s definitely enjoyable and once you get in it you will probably end up getting a bigger tank down the road, on top of new varieties of goldfish to make your tank look more beautiful.

Only one thing suggested, just make sure you don’t overcrowd your new aquarium by adding too many fish. This is one of the biggest problems that new beginners have. Adding too many goldfish then a tank can actually accomadate leads to goldfish diseases and goldfish parasite outbreaks. Slowly add new fish to your aquarium slowly so that the benfecial bacteria can accomadate the new waste load to eliminate ammonia spikes and nitrite rising. If you were to add a lot of fish all at one there would be too much waste being created that the beneficial bacteria could not break down with the nitrogen cycle causing levels to increase. And always add beneficial bacteria to the tank always after water changes.

Kids definitely love goldfish as pets. Great way to teach kids responsibility in taking care of their new friend. Feeding them is what kids love most.

Well take care of your new “fishy” 🙂 Hope he lives a long healthy life.

Anytime you have any questions at all send me a quick note and I’ll be there to help.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
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hello. my fish lives in a one gallon tank with filter. but still as black spots.? he doesnt eat or move much.
thank you

Hi there,

Your goldfish with black spots living in the one gallon tank with no filter may be under stress that is why your goldfish may not be eating or very active.

First off goldfish are a very dirty fish that create a lot of waste. Your water quality can turn for the worse in a heart beat. To keep a goldfish in a small tank or taking care of goldfish in a bowl needs maintenance, water changes and water tests on a regular basis. If not goldfish diseases may occur due to poor living conditions.

If you enjoy taking care of goldfish you should later on invest into a bigger tank or aquarium complete with filter, air pump, aquarium rock basically the works. This will ensure your goldfish have a suitable living environment that you know they are happy goldfish with more room to swim.

The black spots will fade and disappear over time so don’t worry about that. As for your goldfish not eating and not very active you should test your water right away. A water change may be in order and always add chlorine remover and beneficial bacteria when doing water changes. This will remove harmful metals and replenish beneficial bacteria when doing water changes.

Your goldfish will be fine with black spots, you just need to check your water quality and make sure they are at acceptible levels.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

Hi there, I am quite a newbie on the fishes, and I have the same problem with one of my goldfishes, he’s been having red-ish/black spots on its head and fins for quite a few weeks already. As I can see, it seems to be getting worse.. such as not moving not eating, we have seperated him to another fishbowl from the others.. but I don’t know where to start to treat him.
Seeing him getting worse day by day I felt really upset!
Can you please suggest what I can do for the time being?
Thank you so much!

Hi Cherie,

Hey, I was a newbie on goldfish, koi and other types of fish a long time ago now too. With every problem that you have with goldfish in the hobby is a learning process. You’ll be a goldfish expert in no time 🙂

The red spots and black spots on your goldfish head and fins shows to me that you most likely have a water quality problem. One you either have your water to clean which can cause reddness on the fins and tail or you water quality is the opposite too dirty and certain levels may be off the chart causing irritation and reddness. I suspect poor water quality as you mentioned you have your goldfish in a bowl. As mentioned many times before goldfish are a dirty fish, they create a lot of waste and water quality turns quickly with no filter and air and creates stress on goldfish leading to diseases and parasites. The first thing I would do is check your water quality. Rule out possible causes of your fish being sick. Regardless you are going to need to treat your fish if water quality is in fact bad. You will need to do a water change if so and then treat it with aquarium salt. Salt can be used to treat many issues affecting goldfish. Add 1 tablespoon of Aquarium Salt for ever 5 gallons of water. Salt should help heal your goldfish from red spots which are bacterial infections beginning. Another thing you can do is treat your fish with Melafix. This is a great product used to treat bacterial infections and rapidly repairs damages fins, ulcers, open wounds, fin and tail rot and should be added when inroducing new fish to an aquarium.

Try this and see but as far as the black spots are concerned, your goldfish is already healing known as melanophore migration. The red spots are the ones you need to worry about as these can get bigger and can develop into full blown ulcers.

You can try either or but if you do go with Melafix make sure you follow manufaturers recommended dosage and instructions properly. Always make sure you have maximum air going into tank when treating any fish for diseases or parasites as it can reduce oxygen level.

If you need anymore help please feel free to ask.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

Dear Jamie,

Thanks very much for your reply,
however, unfortunately,
the little one,
has passed away a while ago. 🙁

I’m not sure if I was lucky and fast enough to seperate her before she infected the others…
The fortunate thing would be I still have the other 5 fishes living healthily!

After the poor little one’s incident, I definitely would like to maintain a good health of the others from now on.

Since I am currently living in an apartment, I believed the tap water has been filtered.
It has been 2 months since I got them, they’ve been living and very active in such water without any water conditioner or special treatments except the oxygen pump. They’re eating flakes, and I do change like half of the water once a week,
I’m concerned, if I add any things like the ammonia remover or water conditioner into the water, is there chances that my fishes will not be comfortable to the “new” water since they’ve been used to the plain tap water?

Also, is the flakes good for them to eat in order to have good health? or is there a better choice for them?

Thanks again,
and I do wish that one day I will become a pro like you. 🙂

Cherie.

Hi Cherie,

Your very welcome!

I’m sorry to here that your goldfish has died but at least your other five goldfish you have are healthy and showing no signs of diseases.

In order to keep your goldfish healthy maintaining your aquarium and performing regular water changes is a necessity for good health. As far as the water conditioner is concerned you need to add this to your water when doing water changes. You see water contains heavy metals and chlorine which can have an impact on your goldfish. Chlorine causes irritation of the gills and possible gill tissue damage making your goldfish unable to process oxygen from the water. Your goldfish may appear healthy but the gill filaments could be damaged and basically cause suffocation. Adding water conditioner is not only good for removing heavy metals and chlorine from the water but it also adds to the protective slime coating on the body of the goldfish. This slime coating is what protects your goldfish from diseases, basically like a barrier.

Your goldfish will be fine with water conditioner as this is safe for fish to use.

In regards to what to feed your goldfish. Feeding goldfish flakes is pefectly fine. The best thing that one can do is to feed your goldfish a wide variety of foods as every food contains different nutritional value. Feed them live food, flakes, pellets and even pieces of washed lettuce that they can pick at. This would be a good start. I know a good food for fish to use is Laguna Floating Pellets that are available in all sizes small, medium and large. Your goldfish will love it.

Golfish are not much different then us. In order to stay healthy we need to eat a variety of foods that contain different nutritional value. Our bodies knows what it needs and when we feel weak we need to have more protein in forms of meat. Feed your goldfish different fish foods and they will live a long healthy life.

I hope this helps answer some of your goldfish questions. Use the water conditioner, you have nothing to worry about.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
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Hi we have 2 goldfish one 3yrs old won at a fair, the other we’ve had 6 months. The second fish has black around it’s face. What is this? Also the 3yr old tends to chase the other is this normal?

we have 2 fish. One 3yrs old won in a fair and no probs the other shop bought, 6months old and now has black around mouth area. Can you help.
Also the 3yr old tends to chase the other fish is this normal?

Black around the face of your goldfish can be just simply the colour of your goldfish. Goldfish changes colours when they are young, some stay grey or black and gold their whole life.

I’ve had goldfish with black around the mouth and it’s nothing to worry about.

Black spots on goldfish are a sign of healing too. So keep an eye on your water quality to make sure all is okay.

When a goldfish chases another this can be a sign of goldfish breeding getting ready to happen.

Need anymore help or advice please feel free to comment on my goldfish blog anytime.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
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Jamie-

This is a very helpful site. My 4 year old LOVES fish. He will watch the blue planet dvds for hours. He asked for a fish. We had an old 25 gallon aquarium in the attic. So we cleaned it out, boiled all the rocks and artificial plants and set up the tank, which sat for 36 hours before adding our new fish – 2 little comets, “Sir Peter” and “Sharktooth”. Well, they did great. Then the other two kids wanted a fish, so “King Philip” and “Nemo” (yes, I know.) joined. Well, it was time for a partial water change and I hurt my back, so it got put off about 3 days. Also, we discovered that our 5 year old, despite being warned not to, was feeding the fish on his own. Needless to say, we had a cloudy mess.

I did a 30% change and hid the food. My 9 year old is the only one who knows where it is. The water is clear, but Nemo has the black spots on his fins and body. They seemed to get worse as the water has gotten cleaner. We set out a small bowl of water for a day and moved him out into a small bowl of fresh water. Was this a good idea? Should we put him back?

I know there are more things we can do – gravel vaccum, testing supplies, but my husband is out of work, and money is tight. We got the fish because, well, they are cheap and we already had the aquarium, filter, etc.

Thanks so much,

Kate

Hello, I have a goldfish and it has some black spots on its body and tail. I have only had him for a week and would like to know whats going on with him. He refuses to eat and just floats most of the day? Is something wrong with my water or maybe his tank. He has a filter and all that good stuff. Help please!

Kate,

I’m glad that my goldfish blog is very helpful. It’s always nice to hear comments from people of how my blog helped them or gave them more information on a subject.

As for the black spots this is known as melanophore migration which is shown by black spots on goldfish which is a sign of healing. For me to say put him back in it’s 25 gallon aquarium is hard to say. I know money may be tight but in order to make sure your water quality is safe for fish you really need to buy some test kits.

If the ammonia level is up it can cause irritation and sickness among fish. It can even kill them. I actually just helped someone earlier today. They just bought a 14 gallon aquarium and set it up. You see the nitrogen cycle takes time to set up and it actually can take up to 4 weeks. This is what breaks down the fish waste and whenever the cycle stops working together then ammonia can rise, nitrite can rise and can lead to goldfish diseases, sickness, illnesses and even death.

You should really look into getting some test kits if you are able to. This will help you greatly in taking care of your goldfish. You did do a 30% water change so that water should be getting better but depending on the levels it may take several water changes for the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate to be at acceptible levels. Always make sure you add water conditioner and beneficial bacteria when doing water changes.

Hope this helps you out. If you have anymore questions at all please feel free to comment anytime. I will try and get back to you right away.

Thanks for visiting my goldfish blog!

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy
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Hi Becky,

Black spots on goldfish are a sign of healing. You could have had a water issue before or maybe still do. I think you still have an issue with water quality really.

Have you tested your water lately?

That could be your issue. When you notice goldfish acting weird and no visible signs of illnesses, diseases, injuries etc.. it usually is the water.

Test it to make sure your goldfish are going to be okay.

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

thank you
from chips and bubbles the goldfish

Hi,my goldfish are currently in a tank with 2 glo-fish and 1 female guppy.one of the goldfish have a whole tail black and some of its dorsal fin black.The other only has a bit of black on its dorsal.The other fish look very fine.I have been reading many blogs and some cases are 1.Color changing.2.ammonia burn.3.its carrying a disease. They are very active and playful to the other fish.I would just really like to find out what is wrong with them.

Thanks.

Hi Peter,

Yuor goldfish that has black spots or actually black trimming on his tail and dorsal fins is completely fine. In this case here it’s simply changing colour. Sometimes you can buy goldfish with both orange and black colouring. Aquarium owners love these as they are unique. The downfall is that it will change colour to all orange. Maybe you want that which is great but most people like it’s unique colour.

If for instance these black spots on your goldfish would have appeared on its body itself then I would have told you these were a result of ammonia burn and black spots is the sign of healing known as melanophore migration.

Nothing to worry about at all. from what you told me your goldfish is completely healthy.

Thanks for stopping by my goldfish blog!

Sincerely,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

Recently, I purchased a feeder fish from a pet store. When I first got it, I noticed a slight bit of black on it’s dorsal, and told my friend that it was probably sick from being in such messy conditions with the other feeder fish. Our reasoning was that if it died, at least it was happy and not crowded before going. Well, I put it into a quarantine tank with the other fish I’d bought with it, a rosy minnow, while I got my new tank full accomodated.
The tank the fish are in now has a real plant to provide oxygen, I treat the water, and do 25% water changes every two days. The two fish are doing fine, however the black spots on the goldfish, which I named Sparkless due to it’s lethargic nature, have gotten bigger, and spread to it’s mid-section. I was thinking it’s probably an amonia burn, and I hope it is, because that’s easy to deal with.
The reason I’m worried is that not long ago, I had a platy, which sadly died of what I believe to be velvet. I did all I could to keep it alive, but to no avail. The plant that was in the tank with it stayed, but first I did a dip to remove all disease, and kept it in various different water bowls to make sure all infection was gone. I also cleaned the tank with boiling water, put it in the sun to soak, and repeated the process about five times. After that, I put the plant back in the tank, added the water treatment, and let it sit for 48 hours, which is when I brought home the two fish.
Now, Sparky (the minnow, who sic onsiderably more active) is a bit of a nipper, and I’m wondering if maybe the spots have increased due to healing from areas where Spark had bit sparkless?
Either way, thank you for your help in advance, and thank you for this page

Hey Jamie,

my fish were recently affected wit white spots for which i a got a heater and added some medicine to the water, the fish have all been cured, but the gold fish tat was affected the most has some discoloration, its getting black spots, i jus wanted to no if these are the after affects or some other kind of disease , if so wat sud i be doing, i have a bio-logical filter in my tank…and was told tat i need to change the water only if it gets dirty…. i have this tank for over a month now but dont see the water getting dirty, except for dirt settling on the pebbles and the artificial plants, do i need to clean the tank?

Thanks

Hiya jamie,my 2 big goldfish have black spots on them but none of the others do,i changed the water when i first started noticing them and added the tap safe solution and it didnt seem to make much difference,i used my water kit to check the water and everything was normal,so i asked in a pet shop and they said it could be old age,(but i wasnt having that) so i went home and took out a plastic plant and a new tower i had brought for the tank and cleaned the tank and pump and filter again and now the black spots seem to be fading….could it of been the plastic plant or the tower?(yes i cleaned them both before placing them in the tank). thanks from Nadia from fulham.

i have 2 comet goldfishs.I also won them at a fair .I have moved them to a mixing bowl until tommorow when i get a new tank.the 2 goldfish seem to act very weird.I have had them for a day.All they seem to do is just stay still.Not moving about or anything -just sticking to the side.One of the goldfish has the black spots but the colour is orange and silver,i am supposing the colour is changing?I am a total newbie to fish and i think they might die

HI

My Goldfish has got a few black spots and has also lost its tail? could you tell me how this could have been? Its only a small fish.

Thanks
Danielle

Hi Jamie.
I'm a fish lover as well, and there were so many comments I didn't check but I thought I'd mention, because I didn't see it in your article, that black spots on the goldfish in reference to ammonia burn almost always mean that the condition causing the goldfish harm has been resolved. The black spots would not appear had the level of ammonia not dropped, while I worked upkeeping tanks at a pet store this was a fairly frequent problem for new aquarium users at the time. 🙂

My gold-fish had black spots.
It lives in a tank, with a bunch of fish.He's not moving.

Hi, Nice to read all the informations provided here. Its just great.
I have a little question, my Gold fish is also having black marks on its gills and some even have balck marks on its fins, tails and on the head. Even I am achnging the water regulerly, every week. My tank is a bg one 90x50x40cm. Is it that I have added some new stones to the tank that is creating the black marks. I never notice it before. Even teh water is little smelly of nitrate or ammonia.
Can you advise please.

Hi, I just bought 3 new fish and have never taken care of fish before. Before they were kept in poor water conditions but we soon bought them a new tank and filter. I have one small gold fish and two black moors. The gold fish has begun to show black spots at the top of its body right before the fins and also (I do not know the gender of the fish) it has started to get an increasing large abdomen. Since I have no idea what Im doing I was wondering if I should be worried about either problem. Any advice?
-in serious need of help!

The information you provide is great and helps alot. Can you tell me where can I buy a water test kit from?

Hi Jamie,
This is great site!
We got 4 Gold fish in one tank (20 ltr capacilty) for last 2 weeks now. I am changing 50% of water every 5 days. But for last few days 2 of these gold fishes are going to the bottom of the tank and kind of sitting there. Almost no playing in the tank. Also continously opening and closing their mouth. One of them also has got black burns on its Fins.
I need some serious help. Can you please suggest what I should do?
I am changing water every 5 days, (50%), giving them food once in a day. I have oxygen pump and air filter in the tank running for 24 hrs.

Please help.

ketsh

I won goldfish at the fair. They are together.At first they were fine but now the have black spots on his head body and edge of its fines. They are in a small tank with no filter but i change the water daily and i use water conditioner every time. IT seems to be getting worse and worse. Can you please help me.

Okay, I have to keep my goldfish in a bowl, with no filter. One of my fish has black spots near its mouth, but I can't buy a filter anytime soon, or get water quality kits. Is there any other way to keep my fish healthy?

Hi Jamie,
I have a few questions for you.

I've had my calico ryukin goldfish for about 5-6 years now. When I first bought "Sushi," he was tiny and the sides of his head were red, like his gills were showing thru his skin… but now they're not…
and he's lost some of his black spots, but he's still white and orange now…

also, I recently changed his food from floating pellets to sinking pellets => and he didnt eat the sinking ones; soon after he just sat on the bottom of his tank and stopped eating and moving… =(
I took him to the aquarium people and bought stabilizing solution with good bacteria. However, 3 days later it's made little difference (he's still sitting on the bottom of his tank but swimming a little more).

furthermore, I've noticed 3 little black dots on his fins.

I hope you can help.

~ Nurse

I have a new 650 gal pond with a 26 gal DIY bio filter, waterfall and spitter. In the pond I have 2 common comets and one Sarassa. A few days ago one of the commons developed a blacked area between his eye and gill slit on one side. A couple days later, the same thing developed on the other side. Now the other common is developing the same black mark in the same area on one side. No marks are noticeable on the Sarassa. I have had the fish for 3 weeks. Two weeks ago I had the expected algae bloom, but water levels tested normal. I don't notice any flashing. The fish are very active and eating well. It looks like it could be black spot disease. I have many birds that use the lower spillway as a "spa" but I have no snails. I don't see tiny black spots on their bodies though. (Looking very close up, within inches of the fish, they are very friendly) My concern is that this is so close to the gills, but they show no sign of air hunger.
Any ideas on cause and needed treatment?

I have a goldfish living in a 2 gallon tank with no filter, and he has black spotches. im only 11 so i cant buy any special equipment. what should i do if im lookinf for a cheap way of helping my goldfish? im not sure if i should purchase fake rocks, or anything so i need your advice! please get back to me soon!

Hi,

I have a new comet joining our old one after 1 of our fishes died due to ? fungal mouth disease ( though my kids were convinced he was growing a moustache!)We did get the water tested and it was fine but have still treated the surviving comet.
The new fish is developing black spots but is very active.
We are considering adding some other varieties to the aquarium but are unsure of which fishes enjoy the company of comets. Any ideas?

Not sure how to use this site. This is a question for the goldfish guy Jamie Boyle.
PLEASE PLEASE HELP! My poor goldfish keep dying….and i dont know why? 1st our bubble eye after we had it apprx 6wks, he just began to float around the tank,getting sucked in by the pump 24hrs later he was dead. then a pearlscale in my daughters tank died the same way, then another pearlscale in the same tank as the bubble eye. Except this time he began getting black patches on him, then he too became disorientated and unable to swim,2 days later he died, and now the last pearlscale in the tank has black edges on his tail and fins and he too is floating about, dying. Im fed up with the lack of advice i get from the shop i bought the fish frm,and hate the way they look at me asthough im silly for getting upset. I cant bare the thought of this one dying too…..please help. Angie

does that mean my fish will die because i have cleaned the tank and everything but it wont go away

hi i have and orange gold fish i have had it for about 1 month when i got the fish i set it up corectly and tested the ph levels they were all fine then about 2 weeks of having the fish it developed this little black spot on its side around iots mouth and on it pectoral fins so i put this stuff in the water that was recommended to me by my nursery where i brought the fish as they suggested it mey be a fungal disease. After putting the st3uff in the water i thought that it would help but it didnt the spots got bigger and bigger and have now cover at least 85 percent of the fishes body and it has seemed to stop eating is there some help or suggestion that you may be able to give me please
Thanks

My goldfish got a really bad case of ICK and I treated him and it went away… then as I noticed him acting better and the ick basically gone I saw a black spot on his side. I purchased some fungus treatment and have started treating him but the black has started overtaking his fins and now also on his other side. Could this be due to the "healing" of the ick he had or something else?? Thank you! 🙂

i got 2 goldfish from a garden center's aquatic shop and now one of them has tiny black spots and a black stripe on its tail (it was orange when i bought it). is this due to ammonia poisoning?

Thanks a lot! I went on a holiday and left my maid and told her how to take care but I guess she did something wrong. But thanks for the advice. One question, What should I do to decrease the ammonia level in the water?

my goldfish has black spots but im not sure if it's it's colour. how can you tell the difference?

hi, i have a goldfish who is about 6 inches long. he was sick with bleeding through his skin. so i treated him and now it's gone. but a whole bunch of black stuff has appeared on his body. it looks like blood clots, but i'm not sure. i think it may be the healing process you talked about but i'm unsure because there is so much of it. i'm still currently treating the fish just incase it may be sick still. i'm treating it with maracyn two. and another question, how long does the healing process take? because my goldfish has had the black stuff on him for like a week now. hope to hear back from you soon. Thanks.

thank you for all your help.my fish has black spots as well. and we cleaned out the water. but my fish has a black spot across her mouth is this also amo burn or is this something else? i am also a newbie and i hope to someday be a pro like you :} meghan

Anonymous,
I am very thankful for your site and I hope that I will be able to have my goldfish healthy again. I was reading all the comments on the black spots on the fish and I realized that these poor fish were having a painful death. I now realize why I lost 2 little "fisheees". When I visited my local pet store they did not have any water conditioner (other than the one for Beta). I was unsure if I should buy this product so of course I DIDN'T and that was the wrong decision. Well, I guess after reading all of these questions and answers I found out that I better really start to focus on these little "fisheees".

Hi Meghan,

The black spot across your goldfish mouth, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Sometimes goldfish change colour from time to time and this may be just that.

Just concentrate on doing regular water changes and maintenance on your fish tank and your goldfish will be just fine.

You'll soon be taking care of your goldfish like a pro!

Hello,

I recently purchased two gold fish, they are living in a spacious tank with a filter etc. I've been using oxygen tablets also. I noticed one of them has grown a black tip to its tail.

Do you have any idea, what I need to do/change to help my fish?

Many thanks

The black tip on your goldfish may be normal and nothing to be drastically worried about. Is your fish otherwise relatively active, eating well and how have your water tests shown up lately? If you haven't checked your water, you should purchase water test kits so you know exactly what your levels are.

How big is your goldfish tank and why are you using oxygen tablets? What you should do is buy an aquarium air pump that will help put oxygen into your fish tank and save you money at the same time instead of using the oxygen tablets.

I would begin on checking your water chemistry and finding out what your PH levels are, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate etc.. The biggest problems people have with taking care of goldfish and end up losing fish is due to water quality.

I hope this helps you and if you have any other goldfish questions please feel free to ask.

Sincerely,

Koi Fish Expert

Hi! I bought 2 fantail goldfish 3 days ago. The bigger one, when we got it had black spots on it, and now the smaller one has 2 spots. Is that the ammonia burns, can it happen as fast as 3 days?

my bubble eyed goldfish popped one bubble, for about a week it looked fine but now the area where the bubble was is black. do i need to be concerned, and if so what do i do

Hey, I have a question, I recently got a new goldfish (Iran) and I have several issues… I have a under-gravel filter in a 2 gallon tank that has an air pump. I also have a Betta (Marcon) that lives in a separate tank but is right in front of Iran's tank. Iran's tank is brand new, and I recently had to change all the water in it because the water was foaming. Is this somehow due to soap or something that might have somehow been on the tank? The foam only appeared when I had the air pump running. Also, at the same time as it began to foam, Iran developed black spots on his mouth, side, neck, and fin tips. Does this have anything to do with the foaming? Might it (the foaming) be a result of ammonia?

my gold fish has black spots on all of its fins and kind of by his gills

Hi Jamie, your site is great. It's a really useful source of fishy information. Thank you for taking the time to help us amatuers. I'm sure we will be better fish keepers because of it. Regards, Dawn

Hi Jamie:)
Thaks for all your help.
I bought 2 normal goldfishes and one of them had a tiny speck of black on its tail. Now, black spots are all over that fishes body, while the other goldfish is still unaffected. Does this mean that my goldfish is suffering from high amounts of ammonium, or is it because of colour change?
thnx 😀

Hi,
My son won 2 goldfish at a fair about 2 years ago. They have been living happily in a bowl till about 2 weeks ago when we bougvht a 10g tank for them. When we moved them they were stressed and stoped swimming. After a few days they started swimming but I noticed that there fins looked shorter and ragged. I have been testing the water and it looks good. A few days ago the ph was low now its high. But anyway now the one fish has black spots all over its fin and body. The ammonia hasn't been high in the new tank. Could it just be from stress?

We have had several problems in the past, can't seem to keep fish alive. We decided to give it a go again, using distilled water, changing 1 gal tank every 3 days, we just lost another fish last night & he/she aquired several black spots. Obviously, we need a bigger tank but is distilled water ok for them? Our tap is so caroded w/ minerals we are afraid to use it even w/ conditioners.

Hey, I just found this blog when I googled black spots. We just got our fish and the spots developed almost immediately upon introducing them to the tank. I guess the store had water quality issues before we brought them home and now they're healing.

Anyway, way back in June of 2003 we used goldfish as part of our centerpieces at our wedding. Almost all of them survived the few hour ordeal, but over time they all died for different reasons (we let people take them home as pets). Well one is still alive after almost 7 years. My mother-in-law has had this guy alive and kicking in her 10-gallon tank for the better part of a decade now. He's massive and super healthy looking and loves having the tank all to himself. I just thought I'd share since people think these things are disposable, but if you take care of them, goldfish can live a very long time.

Hi,
I had a question I have goldfish (10) and just got a 5gallon aquarium,I was wondering if you can help me with this problem, my goldfish are getting black spots on the fins; and also i have put my tank and it has been cycling for 12 hours.Can I put my fish in now?because i dont want them to die by the ammonia in the other tank.

My goldfish keep getting black spots on their fins,and also i got a 5gallon tank and it has been cycling for 12 hours now. Can i put my (10) fish in there now?

Hi! I have two large goldfish living in a 70 gallon aquarium. The older one is about 9 years old and is white in color. I was on vacation for 5 days and now that I have returned, I notice he has black spots on his body – most heavily concentrated near his dorsal fin. His activity level seems normal. I tested that water and ammonia was a little high – I did a 50% water change, treated the water and am wondering if there is anything else I should do. I will continue to monitor levels. Also – his scales seem to be standing away from his body a bit. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much! I was wondering what was going on with my goldfish (lil romeo)! Okay no here goes the battle to rid him of the spots!

Hi we bought a big tank with a filter about 2 weeks ago done what we were told we already had 2 orginal goldfish that we put in there and bought 2 new ones. One of the older goldfish started getting dark colours in the white bits of its fins about a week ago and recently its body has started to get dark spots on it! None of the others have this what could it be?

Can you help me? My gold fish has black spots and can not swim/floats. What should I do?

Hi, My goldfish had ick lastweek it was very sick. I come home and found it laying in the bottom of my tank lifeless. I pick it up and started rubbing it's fins and then I told my husband right away I need to go to walmart and get some medicine.I came back drain 50% water out and put ick med. in and took filter out four 3 days and bought salt for aquar.Believe it or not my goldfish survived,now it has black on it's fin edges and on his gill where it breaths what is it?? It seems to be doing so good poor honey i thought I was loosing it what can I do now? I been changing the water 25% but for the last 3 days or so i left the water alone and put filter back in..robin

hi i got mydaughter to goldfish one is ornage n other white n orgne but i noticed last few days more n more black spots on the whiteone n now the ornage one has it on its fins i wondering if it something worry bout n what i can do

Hi Tegan,

The first thing you need to do is check your water quality in your goldfish tank.

Have you checked the water yet?

You could have poor water quality and it's very important to check this often and perform regular water changes in the aquarium.

Let me know what the levels read.

Thanks,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

my goldfish has little black strips forming on his tail dorsal fin and we are constantly checking the water quality. we have 5 other fish which seem to be alrite. two of them came with black tail and dorsal fins but the aquarium said it was alrite. is there anything we should be doing to treat it? will he be ok?
thx francii girls

Your doing everything right! Some goldfish come with black strips on the tail or dorsal fins like you've purchased yourself from the pet store.

I don't think you have anything to worry about. Just keep your water quality perfect and your goldfish will be fine.

Thanks,

Jamie Boyle
The Goldfish Guy

When medicating goldfish, since there is a good chance that the biological filter will be disrupted, should I be adding in something such as Ammonia Lock, while medicating?

Thanks

Hi Jamie,

I've got 2 goldfish (one slightly bigger than the other). The smaller one has black patches on and around his gills but i don't think it's due to the water quality as the other one is fine.

The bigger one tends to bully the smaller one at feeding time and pushes it around the tank. Is it possible the black marks are damage from this (or the resultant healing)?

Thanks,

Gemma.

one of my little comets started to get black tips. BUT all my other comets are perfectly fine. i first had only three comets who have been alive for 2 years and they've never had black spots. and then i got a dozen comets and had placed them into the tank with my first three. the one that got the black tips is small in size and is the only one who is getting the black tips. i dont get it. i hope he will be ok.

PLEASE help my goldfish! i am a huge animal lover and i do not want my fish to die, but i also, do not want him to suffer. i have 2 long living goldfish, but only the oldest one, 11 years old, has suddenly had black patches. i feed my fish pellets and although i do feed them as if they were people, they have lived for an extremely long time and i would love to keep it that way. My mom put a clean water solution that contains potassium permanganate. i LOVE my both of my goldfish with all of my heart! They can't leave me!

hey jamie. .read ur whole post. .the r worth and helping still i need a personal advice. m in india. i have a arnd 20 gallon tank.i got 2 gold fish and 2 shubunkin. a week over now they r bhaving diff. goldfish has got black spots on head and body.and also that all ma 4 fish dnt look happy and jst stay at the bottom ideal. . i havn't got any filter. jst a aerator. . m dam afraid if they r burns.as i read ur post i changed arnd 25% to 30% of water, n thought not to feed thm for a day or two. what shld i do more and will ma fish be fi9? and wil adding iodize salt help?if yes how much and how shld i do? plz plz guide

Hi Jamie,

Your blog is really informative and helpful for all the gold fish users.

I have 5 pairs of different gold fishes and one of them is a lion head one which I have kept it in a 10" bowl with filter and oxygen.For last couple of day I have noticed that one of them have developed a black spots around its gills and tails.

What should I do to now and going forward what are the preventive measures you recommend to avoid this in future. Also, is this infectious and will affect the other one.

Kindly Advise.

my fish got black spots yesterday. r they black ich?

I am a newbie to fish, and I have the same problem with one of my goldfish had red-ish/black spots on the head and fins made a couple of weeks. As I can see, it seems to be getting worse .. does not move as not eating, we have separated another bottle of others .. I do not know where to begin to treat it.

my goldfish is very slow, usually stay a point for longer duration, when we brought it, everything was fine but after the death of its partner, my fish react in this way, we buy a red headed for him but donno what is going on…??
this is because of black spot on my fish or something else….?
please reply soon…

I had gotten my grandmother a goldfish about 9 months ago. She cleans the water every time it is dirty. We have these fish tank drops that go into the water for 24 hours before you can put a fish in there so the water is safe and clean for the fish. We have notice the fish has been getting black spots all over him. It's on his belly and one whole side. It is starting to go to the other side and his tail has a black tips now. The fish is being less active and is eating less. We know it's not the drops or water because we use it for another tank with other goldfish and they have been alive for over 2 years without a problem. So can you please help, my grandmother is very attached to this fish.

Hi,

I've had my Goldfish Klouse for about 6months now, he had ammonia burn wen I 1st got him but I started testing for both ammonia & nitrite.

He's been a bit poorly the last few days, he's got black spots on his body, by his mouth & thin black streaks on his fins (he's apparently a fancy Goldfish!?), and he's been laying on the bottom of his tank & seems to be struggling to swim slightly! I've tested the ammonia & nitrite & both are fine! I've done a partial water change & added some general Goldfish treatment!

I'm hoping it will work! Any idea what the black marks are? They aren't big, & not uniformed in shape or size! I've read about a kind of fish parasite called 'black spot' but apparently it is very rare in aquariums & comes from bird poo! Really don't think any bird poo has gotten in my tank & the spots aren't raised at all (like they should be for parasite 'black spot'.

I would be really grateful if anyone can give me an indication of what might be causing the black spots & making poor Klouse poorly, so that I can try to prevent it or treat it properly.

Many thanks in advance!

Vicki

P.S site really helpful!! Advice great & really knowledgable!

Vicki,

I wouldn't worry too much about the black spots on your goldfish. Goldfish do tend to change colour.

The black spots on a goldfish due to high ammonia are a sign of healing. Think of it like a scar on humans. You mentioned that your water quality is perfect so no need to worry. Your goldfish will be fine.

Just keep an eye on him and keep up with regular maintenance, water quality checks and you should be fine.

Hi,

Thanks for that! He seems to have picked up a bit now since putting the treatment in -no longer sitting on the bottom! But the black spots seem to have grown!

Somebody mentioned it could be stress, this might sound a bit daft, but whats a goldfish got to be stressed about???? His life seems pretty good to me ha ha! And surly if he was stressed he'd forget about it 5 seconds later!?!? Or isn't that true?

Any idea what the black spots could be? Know u said he might just be changing colour but surly he's not gonna turn into a black (slight contradiction ha ha) goldfish????

I'm quite attached to him & am interested to learn as much as possible so he can live for years! So any further info would really be appreciated!

Thank you for replying!

Vicki

I have a water fountain outside, receives a few hours of direct sunlight in the afternoon. The bottom tub, apx. 15 gallons is where the seven comet goldfish live. I have sea grass in there as the fish seem to like to hide/swim through it, 12" air stone for oxygen.

I pump out about 50% or more of the tub's water weekly, replenish with fresh water and Prime solution.

My filtering system only consist of this: 1" filter material (debris filter material) over the water pump's intake, this I change daily.

My question; do I need a more involved filter, I see some people have charcoal and so forth in theirs. Fish seem to be doing ok (for now anyway).

I won 7 Goldfish at a fair, by the time i got them into a proper tank with a filter, 4 of them had died. I have had the 3 that were left for about 2 weeks now, 2 of them were doing great, but there was one that wasn’t eating very much and just developed black spots. He would lay on the b0ttom all the time. I was worried that the other 2 would get the spots too, so i took the one with the spots out and put it in another container with the proper water. After about 2 hours, he died. There is another one with black spots now, i seperated him and i am worried that he is gonna die now too, is there a way to “save'” or “heal” him???

thank you so much,i thought my Gold Fish was going to die!

🙂

Hi
I won a goldfish at a october fest. I put him in a tank thats a little less than a gallon. He used to have fuzzy stuff on his mouth. I went to another web site and they told me to pu a little bit of salt in his bowl. The fuzz went away but theres a big black spot on his forehead and the end of three of his fins. Im worried and dont know what to do

Ps please do not send e mail

Hi ,

i had 5 (3 inch goldfish) goldfishes in my 89g tank (340 ltrs), 4 goldfish died 10 days back due to fin and tail rot within 2 days, i am left with 1 gold fish with same symptom, i dont want to looze this one, now today morning i observed tail is turning in black border but fish is still very active. we have changed the water, added anticlorine, salt, one Terramycin. will it help my fish to recover? some one said i should not add salt for goldfish? water temp is set on 28 degree celcius. powerfull filter. few questions:
1) salt requred or not?
2) how to start nitrogen cycle in fish tank.
3) what are the things we should add after changing the water?
4) what should be immidiate medicine for fin/tail rot?

Hi
About the end of July, my sister got a goldfish from our town carnival. He’s been doing really well until I walked into her room today and discovered that all around his gills and mouth he has these weird black marks. He also has them on the top of his head… my sister really loves this fish so I just need to know if there is anything I can do to help it..

hey my fish is swimmming loside and has black spot on on side. I scared could you get what it has!!!

97 replies on “Black Spots On Goldfish”