Sick Fish?

[jurme]

My albino oscar has dark spots around its face and gills...is this some sort of fungus?

 

[Ren&Stumpy]

picture would help alot

 

[indigoj]

and a lot more info - tank size, water stats, any other occupants, filtration etc and any behavioural changes.

 

[jurme]

well then I'll restate the question. Is it normal for an albino oscar to have black specs around it's faces and gills?

 

[minxfishy]

No it is not normal, when did the spots appear?

Other members are asking the questions above as it can help to diagnose what the problem is. Tank size, filtration, how long the tank has been cycled and most importantly tank water stats for ammonia, nitrIte and less importantly nitrAte and ph can all help in finding out why the spots have appeared.

Without knowing those, I would only guess at ammonia burns, which can appear as black spots/marks on the fish skin.

Help us to help you and give the information so we can help your Oscar and you

 

[jurme]

No it is not normal, when did the spots appear?

Other members are asking the questions above as it can help to diagnose what the problem is. Tank size, filtration, how long the tank has been cycled and most importantly tank water stats for ammonia, nitrIte and less importantly nitrAte and ph can all help in finding out why the spots have appeared.

Without knowing those, I would only guess at ammonia burns, which can appear as black spots/marks on the fish skin.

Help us to help you and give the information so we can help your Oscar and you

the filtration is excellent, amonia levels are higher then they should be, but not too high. shares the tank with a pleco and red tailed black shark. My friend bought us a goldfish of some sort, i didnt get too look at it before it was put in the tank, (as i was at work at the time). it was killed very soon after of course, but i thknk prehaps the goldfish introduced some disease. oh yeah, ph is just bellow 7.

 

[minxfishy]

Ok, well it could be ammonia burns if the ammonia levels are higher than zero for a length of time. Feeding Oscars or any other large cichlid feeder fish (goldfish or similar) is not ideal and can introduce diseases into the tank, they are far better off being fed a good quality cichlid pellet as a staple food with frozen/live bloodworm/prawn/shrimp etc as a treat with some vegetables occassionally to aid in digestion.

I would advise some extra water changes to get the ammonia levels back down and then keep on top of the water quality, if it is burns, they should heal over time with good water quality.

 

[shelaghfishface]

gonna need to be a little more accurate than excellent and higher than normal...
what size is the tank and what filter is running on it.. when /how much of the water do u change? does he eat only live foods?
im with Minx in thinking that he has ammonia burns to his face....and if its still high when you read this .. it will kill him if it hasnt been dropped yet