outdoor pond goldfish

Question
We have approximately 14 large goldfish in our backyard pond.  They've always been healthy and given us a lot of pleasure to watch.

Yesterday I discovered that one of the fish has something brown on it which covers most of his back.  At first I thought it was merely an old brown leaf which somehow floated into the pond and attached itself to the back of the fish.  But my husband feels it might be some sort of disease and we need your advice.

Answer
Hi Darlene,
 Sadly I can't help you with that one.  I've never kept large goldfish in an outdoor pond and I've never seen that sort of a thing.  It sounds like some sort of fungus but it would be highly unusual for it to be brown -- fungus is usually white...  
Hmm... you have me stumped unfortunately.  Sorry.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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