I have an albino oscar who has a black spot (much too large to be ick or other diseases i've looked at) below his dorsal fin on his tail side. The tip of his dorsal fin used to be a whitish see-through membrane, but its starting to turn a grayish black. Also, his two bottom fins are starting to show some black discoloration. I got the water tested and the woman who tested it described it as "excellent."

I have black gravel. Some of the gravel is starting to turn white (as the black coloring comes off) and i thought this could be causing my problem, but the more I think about it the less it makes sense. It could possibly be causing the discoloration on his dorsal fin, but not the black spot (which has been here for a few weeks and would have certainly gone away by now; also, it would not be in a concentrated area). Does anyone have any ideas?

I might also add that the skin that covers his gills is starting to turn a darker shade. oxygen deprivation maybe?

Post a photo dude.

Does it actually look like there is something growing on the skin? Now, I've said this a million times, we need to know what your exact water readings are. For all we know, the lady who tested your water may think that .5 ammonia is okay, when actually it is not. We need to know the ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and especially PH, sometimes PH can have an effect on the fishes health depending on how high, or how low it is.

Have you got another tank that you could possibly put the fish in? The reason I say this is because recently, one of my red Oscars turned almost black. I moved into a 20 gallon hospital tank and it regained its colour almost instantly. Sometimes fish will change colour so that they don't stand out so much, normally if they are not feeling too good, or maybe they are getting bullied. Moving your fish out of its tank may determine if a problem does indeed lie within the tank that it's in at the moment.

a picture could help.

do the fins look gray like this?

Thor84 wrote:

Which I think is very beautifull.
Dutch strains of O don't often have that feature.
Hope that's the point and your waterparameters are actually good!

Often albino oscars get a black tinge, some can even look dirty. I suspect this is the case with yours, post a pic and we can be sure

Often coloured gravel loses it colour over time. As long as your tank is maintained well this will not harm your fish and certaintly wouldnt cause a colour change in your fish

It looks a lot like that picture, only not that pronounced. It's only at the very tips. Ill take my water back in and ask for the numbers tomorrow and ill try to get a picture of the fish. Thanks for your help.

My albino looks like that too. I think its normal. The guy at the pet store had a name for it but I can't remember... something about it having albino genes as well as black/tiger.

As long as he seems to be happy and healthy otherwise I wouldn't worry about it.

If its like the picture then its nothing to worry about

I think you should buy yourself a test kit, the liquid bottle types. Test your water weekly. They will act as a early warning sign. I wish i had done this when i first started keeping fish, it would of saved me a lot of money and heartache

this one will give you an idea how do a lutino change color:
at 1 inch long:


a month later:


then follows:


and now: