fading goldfish

Question
Hello,
I have 3 feeder goldfish, and have had a 10 gallon tank set up for about 8 months now, with 4 live plants.  One of my fish is fading, and has been for about 3 months now. the other two seem to look jus fine and are holding color like normal.  they dont act different, swim just fine, eat well, no abnormal behavior, no scraping or any other problems.  He/She is just loosing color.  Can you help me out on what to do

Answer
Good afternoon Dawn, thank you for your question.

Feeder goldfish are reared in less than ideal conditions, to put it mildly. They are packed like sardines into the dealers tanks, and by the time they get to you they have been exposed to high levels of ammonia, parasites and other unpleasants. Like any fish with such exposure, they are not as healthy or long-lived. Many articles have been written to inform the public that feeding fish feeder goldfish is a bad idea - their nutritional content is next to nil, but most of all there is a substantial risk of introducing pathogens into the tank, and worst of all, directly into the fish.

While comets - feeder goldfish - certainly can be kept as pets, they are more vulnerable than other goldfish to genetic problems, much like the over and interbed guppies of today. The best you can do to overcome these difficulties is to provide the best care you reasonably can...

1) Feed a varied diet. You can try feeding your goldfish color enhancing foods. Carrots are a natural color enhancer - shredded carrots may be accepted by your goldfish, peeled oranges are another food to try.

You can find out lots more by reading this article:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/gldfshmalnut.htm

2) Maintain high water quality, and monitor your water quality periodically. If you don't have a test kit of your own, consider purchasing one. Nitrates should be under 20 ppm (high nitrates can cause the fading color you describe among many other otherwise unexplainable health issues such as tumors) and ammonia and nitrites must *always* be at 0 ppm. A healthy, cycled tank will always show undetectable nitrites and ammonia - this is extremely important!

Also, even though 3 feeder goldfish in a 10 gallon may not seem like much - and certainly this is a much better ratio than what you will find in feeder tanks - a goldfish really needs a 10 gallon all to himself. To keep all 3 goldfish healthy, you will need a minimum of a 29 gallon in the future. Goldfish are messy fish, so filtration will need to be adequate to keep water quality high. Read more here:

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=16&cat=1979&articleid=2749

Good luck! Follow these guidelines and your three goldfish will live many happy and healthy years.

Nicole