Help. Apistogramma steindachneri sick?

[Bran1012]

I have two apistogramma steindachneri females that I have had in the same tank for over 3 months now. They are in a 10gal, heavily planted aquarium by themselves and one kuhli loach and a couple pest snails that come and go. I have had zero issues with them, until yesterday. I noticed one of the apistos wasn't out and about like it normally is. After searching for awhile I found her hiding in the in some plants in back of the tank hardly moving. I let her be and fed them normally that night and she didn't come out to eat like she normally does. I did eventually see her get a little bit to eat but definitely not as much as normal. This morning she was hiding in the plants again not moving around. I was able to get a net back to where she was and she went in the net with fight. I pulled her to the front so I could look at her. I noticed that one of her gills was very swollen, but I did not see any white or red spots on it and the other gill looked completely normal. It also didn't look like it was injured. She has not been going to the top for oxygen at all. She has just been sitting under plants near the bottom of the tank. The other apisto seem completely fine and normal as well as the kuhli loach. I don't have the numbers on the water parameters but I know that they are all in normal levels and the temp is good. Does anyone have any ideas what could be going on? Thank you so much in advance.

 

[MacZ]

Sorry, the infos are not enough for an educated guess. Besides tanksize. the fish having a swollen gill and barely eating all other infos you give are subjective.

A picture of the fish and the tank, actual water parameters (GH, KH and/or TDS, pH and temp) your maintenance schedule and your feeding schedule (and what you feed) is the least necessary.

 

[Bran1012]

Sorry, the infos are not enough for an educated guess. Besides tanksize. the fish having a swollen gill and barely eating all other infos you give are subjective.

A picture of the fish and the tank, actual water parameters (GH, KH and/or TDS, pH and temp) your maintenance schedule and your feeding schedule (and what you feed) is the least necessary.

I get that but I'm at work right now so I don't have those numbers. I know the PH is around 7.2 and the temp is 78 degrees. I do a 30% water change weekly. I feed high quality flakes, then blood worms or brine shrimp 3-4 times a week. I attached a photo of my tank I took a couple weeks ago.

 

[MacZ]

I get that but I'm at work right now so I don't have those numbers.

Not saying I would need them immediately. We're also likely on two different continents, so timezones will strech this conversation anyways.

pH is within range, temperature as well. Diet can take some improvement (pellets instead of flakes, more variety in frozen foods, as little bloodwoms as possible), waterchanges could be turned up to 50% weekly.
The substrate is not optimal for Apistogramma, regular sand chewing is a requirement for Apistos. Keeps the gills clean among other things.

That's all I can say right now.