My 1 year old Oscar has an area that I am concerned about - indicated by the red arrow. It just looks like some of the skin is gone - not red/swollen/injured looking. Just gone..... I noticed it a couple of weeks ago. He's in the tank alone so it can't be another fish.

He's otherwise very healthy, eats well.

Any ideas?

how big is tank
what are your water readings and are there any ornaments that he could of
hit or rubbed against ??

Can you please take a more close up photograph?

yeah, there are some big rocks on bottom - so I guess he could have. The rocks aren't really jagged or anything. Strange that there are no other signs of injury.

PH 8.1, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20

Thanks, Karen

Karen, that looks like a normal Oscar gill plate to me... I just checked mine out and they are all the same...

It's hard to get him to stay still!!!

This may just be a just a little deformality. How long has it been like this? What is the other side like?

I would keep a close eye on it to make sure it doesnt get any bigger

yeah, I'm kindof hoping that's the case. The other side is definitely not like this. I noticed it a couple of weeks ago.

I'll keep an eye on it unless someone has seen this turn into something worse....thanks

just keep close eye on him and keep water pristeen clean =]

was this fish ever in a tank with an aggessive fish that may have damaged its gill plate?

thanks - I'll keep an eye out and I've been doing 1/4 water changes every couple of days just to be sure. I'll let you know how things are in a couple of weeks.