if i leave my goldfish in a dark room for a long period of time, will it eventually turn white?

ellen

If you leave your goldfish in the dark, you probably have noticed that it becomes a little paler at night. And you should also know that if your Goldfish is left indoors without full spectrum lighting, it will change from a reddish orange to a pale orange color with silver washouts.

The goldfish should not turn completely white for lack of light.

The orange color in its skin is not a "tan" - but the question is a good one, which brings me to a few points.

Color in the skin is enhanced by sunlight or other sources of natural UVA and UVB.

Pigments in the diet, carotenoids to be specific have a lot to do with the maintenence of color. There are a lot of carotenoids in shrimp and fish meal and there are color pigments in spirulina and canthaxanthin, a common additive in feed.

Fish which change color, for example RedCaps which lose the red cap, or Black and Gold orandas which wash out to yellow, or orange fish which eventually turn white are simply following a weak genotype.

Older Goldfish are almost always more drab and washed out that younger fish. And a twenty or thirty year old breeder Koi is usually pale grey or white, and covered with skin defects. But the breeder knows the color and the females' potential.

So no, a Goldfish will not turn white if left in the dark for an extended time.

Thanks

Dr. Erik Johnson