Swollen/Red gills

[Cathy G]

Hi,
Some of the young adult/juvie rams in my grow out tank have developed swollen red gills. They exhibit no symptoms of oxygen deprivation, no scratching, no flashing, they are eating and swimming around normally. This has been going on for a couple of weeks now. I am stumped. There are probably around 50 fish, maybe 15 at most seem affected, they are in a 50g tank, nitrates less than 10, 50% water changes every 2-3 days, etc.

Any ideas? Aquarisol was recommended, but I hate to dump anything into a tank without know what I'm treating. I have not seen any ich in any of my tanks ever. I added a few otos about a week ago but they did go through 1 month of QT and the gills of these fish were swollen before I add the otos.

Any ideas? I removed one dead body this afternoon...

Cathy

 

[Randall]

Swollen red gills

Hi Cathy,

Sorry to learn of your gill problem.

In the absence of poor water quality, over crowding, or extreme pH levels, swollen red gills could be due to a number of things. A parasitic infection could be the culprit, but you note that there are no signs of scratching/flashing. How about clamped fins and/or swimming in place (wagging back and forth)? Also, although you see no signs of ick, the parasite may be present but is not visible to the naked eye yet. Should the condition worsen, Quick Cure dosed at one drop per gallon daily for 2-3 days should clear up the problem. After applying the first dose, bring the water temperature up to at least 82 degrees F, if it is not there already.

The second possibility is a bacterial infection, but you don't mention any signs of fin rot, ulcerations, protruding eyes, or redness on the body. Should the redness spread from the gills elsewhere, Paragon II is a good general purpose antibiotic/antiparasitic blend that is more gentle on small fish than Paragon I.

Whatever is going on, before dosing with anything, a partial water change should done, and all carbon should be removed from the system.

Good luck!

All the best,

Randall Kohn

 

[Mike Wise]

If there are no symptoms ... could it be that some of your fish have thinner/paler gill covers, and you are seeing the gills through them?

 

[Cathy G]

I've been carefully watching and don't think so Mike. It almost looks like the gill covers are too small to actually cover the gills... weird huh? No symptoms, they don't swim in place and are eating normally, no sores, no ulcerations. Nothing is showing up and I had actually begun to wonder if this is some kind of genetic defect.

I'm going to test my tap water and see if anything is going on with it - I have RO water and have been adding increasing amounts of tap water in my water changes to acclimate the rams to a slightly harder water. My city water folks just informed me that they only add chlorine, no chloramines. So I don't think there is anything going on there.

Jeff (aquaclarrity) advised me to lower the tank temp to 82, I think this is a good idea and if I can't come up with anything soon, and the situation doesn't improve, I'm going to think 'gill flukes'. I would have thought ich would have shown up on some fins by now if that was the issue...

I could also add some salt - say 1T per 10'gs and see if that helps. (In case it is ich, that would help)

Thanks for ideas,
Cathy

 

[eranu]

I am in no way an expert but a friend of mine breeds numerous central americans and malawis and I do remember an a visit to his fish house that he mentioned looking out for deformities in his broods that had small/missing gill covers, from genetic defects.

 

[aquaticclarity]

Hey Cathy,

Can you post some pics of the fish in question? Mike may be onto something about a thin or short gill cover. A picture would really help to rule that out or prove to be the answer.

Jeff

 

[Apistogramm-Sam]

A shortened operculum usually results from genetic defects. I see it a lot in angelfish that come in from certain breeders who have used the same broodstock for way too long.

 

[Cathy G]

Well, I tried, I just can't take good pictures of moving fish and the little buggers won't cooperate by staying still. Here is a shot of one of them. It is a bit blurry, but you can see clearly why I'm concerned. Those gills don't look right. There are still no symptoms btw.

Any ideas?
Cathy

 

[Mike Wise]

Sam seems to have got it right. The gill covers are too small for the gills. This is often seen on angelfish, but I've seen it on many other fish, too. I've been told that it can be a genetic defect or caused by elevated NO3 levels when the fry are young & rapidly growing. I would test it by breeding the pair again, doubling the number of water changes on the next fry, and checking the nitrate levels. If the fry have the same problem as the first & the NO3 level are not higher than normal, then it is a good chance that you need new blood in your stock.

 

[Cathy G]

Ok, thanks for answering. Just as an aside, these are fry from my original pair still - so the parents aren't related... I do have more/younger fry from these parents and will be watching and changing the water very carefully.
Cathy