channel catfish color change

Question
I have had two catfish in my central florida pond, 300 gat approx., for about 3 years. Each are about 24" one black, one albino. As of about a week ago the black one has been steadily fading from black to grey and now almost all white. His feeding and swimming patterns have not changed. Is he sick or this is normal. Thank you for your time.

Answer
I've never had channel catfish myself but have had other species of fish.  With fathead minnows for example, a black one can get some orange splotches from rosy red minnows (the orange version of fatheads).  With them, the color is normally there from the beginning.  Goldfish can change color throughout their lives.  I don't really know about the channel catfish but if the one that changed color has some genes from the albino catfish, he may be able to change color at some point.  As long as the fish is otherwise healthy, I wouldn't worry too much.  Fish that are ill will wash out but that's not normally a gradual or permanent change as it seems you have here.  Washed out fish don't look right but they also don't turn all white.  Good luck!

Robyn
fishpondinfo.com