What Your Poop Color Reveals About Your Health Stool Colors and What They Can Tell You Your stool color can carry important clues about digestion, diet, or even disease. Most shades are harmless, but some changes signal the need for Dark Stools and Abdominal Pain: A Case Study of Mr. Arnold's Course Hero GASTROINTESTINAL HEMORRHAGE (2): Melena. Melena, the passage of black, tarry stools, usually implies blood loss greater than 500 ml originating anywhere between the oropharynx and the right hemicolon. Melena occurs most often,