Gill curl diagnosis

[Slippery K]

id also go with the nutrient deficiency. i took fish and wildlife technician in college and we did studies on fish in different rivers/lakes. the only time i saw gill defects was either close to farm land where pesticides have been used or in the winter time when food is limited. the rainbow trout we caught had it so bad that there was no gill cover left all you could see was the bright red gill filaments. the trout had sunken stomachs from having nothing to eat. and the fry that we found all had it on both sides. the larger ones had it one side much worse then the other.

i feel your pain when it comes to switching the food your fish take. my 3 gatf r an absolute headache right now. i feel bad starving them but ive finally got the middle sized one to constantly eat carnistix. the big one hasnt eaten for at least 2 weeks. but he has just recently started biting and spitting out the pellets which i figure is a start. the smallest one hasnt eaten but hes still fairly new. today i thought he was going to try one but turned away last second. id highly recommend the garlic because it stimulates their hunger. i always add a bit of garlic to my beef heart/shrimp mix that i give to my brackish tank.

Well luckily he still eats and swims around normaly, so I dont think parasites are an issue(never been fed live foods either), I added a half does of prazi pro tonight as a preventive and bumped the temp up to 83. All I can do now is wait and try to get'em on pellets, or at least stuffed foods.

 

[tgroen]

i didnt say anything about parasites i said pesticides but im sure ur not putting bug killer into your water . im pretty sure its his diet. check for preservatives in the food ur giving him. its good hes even eating frozen. my red tails wouldnt touch anything except for live. another thing to try doing is just soaking your talapia in the same water as pellets have been mixed in with. then if he eats that just slowly start adding peices of pellet into the talapia. its probably the taste he doesnt like.

 

[Slippery K]

i didnt say anything about parasites i said pesticides but im sure ur not putting bug killer into your water . im pretty sure its his diet. check for preservatives in the food ur giving him. its good hes even eating frozen. my red tails wouldnt touch anything except for live. another thing to try doing is just soaking your talapia in the same water as pellets have been mixed in with. then if he eats that just slowly start adding peices of pellet into the talapia. its probably the taste he doesnt like.

His diet is 100% preservative free, I buy whole raw talapia fillets then cut it myself and freeze, and whole frozen black tiger shrimp tails, so there shouldnt be any chemicals in them as its fresh delivery daily. When I stuff the food though I dont pre soak the pellets because they get too soggy to work with and wont hold up when I stuff it. I think its when the armatus eats the talapia he'll feel the hard pellet inside and spit it out. So tomorrow ill try my usual method, but soak the talapia in garlic after iv stuffed it so the pellet is more palatable. Iv also considerd breeding live foods like convicts and gut loading them, but since my armatus has never been fed live foods, I really dont want to break that habbit.

I wish these fish werent such a headache to work with lol but they are an amazing species to own.

 

[tgroen]

yea once my gatf get too big for my tank or i end up selling them for whatever reason i will be getting an armatus. hopefully one that is fairly small. like 4-5" just so i can train him to eat pellets and do whatever else much easier. id want to also get another atf to go with him about the same size so i can grow them out together. im sure your armatus's gill plate will get fixed in time, just be cautious of dying gill filaments

 

[Slippery K]

yea once my gatf get too big for my tank or i end up selling them for whatever reason i will be getting an armatus. hopefully one that is fairly small. like 4-5" just so i can train him to eat pellets and do whatever else much easier. id want to also get another atf to go with him about the same size so i can grow them out together. im sure your armatus's gill plate will get fixed in time, just be cautious of dying gill filaments

The main reason im so worried about it is 1: Its a expensive and rare fish, 2: I had a pbass a year ago that died randomly from gill damage. (was missing a decent chunk of his gill from an injury, made it almost 2 months before he lost the will to live)

 

[lix.ma14]

don't you have to trim the gills once they curl to save the fish.. I think that's it for aros and piranhas.

 

[lix.ma14]

Does it look permanently curved?

 

[Slippery K]

don't you have to trim the gills once they curl to save the fish.. I think that's it for aros and piranhas.

When it gets to the point where it starts to labour breathing then yes trimming is an option. My Armatus isnt anywhere near that bad yet. Basically you can just notice a slight difference in the gills on an angle. Directly face on or straight from the side its completely un noticeable.

Too early to tell if its permanent or not. Im hoping with the recent changes iv made, he may heal over or simply grow out of it. I was talking with my buddy Drew over the phone today (owner of the newmarket big als), told him my situation, water params etc.. we both think its a genetic defect as I have perfect water chemistry and more than enough space for this fish for the time being. We talked about everything! Almost an hour on the phone and neither of us could pinpoint an exact cause for this problem.

Iv bumped the temp to 83, added salt, an extra airstone which will run over night as I usualy unplug it before bed (i never sleep so not that it matters lol) and added a dose of prazipro as a preventive against gill flukes etc. So only time will tell now.

 

[Payarakeeper]

Gill curl is distinctly related to poor water conditions or even stress. I've never seen a payara with this before tho. Keep an eye on him as it could turn worse. Keep us updated man. Goodluck

Sent from my LG-P930 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[Slippery K]

Gill curl is distinctly related to poor water conditions or even stress. I've never seen a payara with this before tho. Keep an eye on him as it could turn worse. Keep us updated man. Goodluck

Sent from my LG-P930 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

My guess would be stress then. Water params are all in check, im about to do a waterchange tonight anyways. He still spazzes at night if I walk too close to the tank, during the day hes unaffected by anything around the tank. Iv been wondering about tossing a old bed sheet or something over the tank at night like you would do for a parrot, would this help reduce his nightly freakouts you think? I thought by now the army would be used to the daily/nightly routine of the my family. Its only during lights out is when the army turns into a giant wuss, my other guess was physical damage during one of his freakouts, butthere is no visible scratches or damage that I can see.