left gill flap not closing

[haynboy8]

well i got it into a bigger tank today. put it in my 100 gal. but now hes pretty beat up because when we were fishing him out of the other tank he jumped and landed behind the tank/stand. missing a few scales and busted his lip.

his gill curl seems to be getting worse. looks like its starting to flare farther out. gonna have to watch a couple more days to see what happens. still hasnt ate anything for 3 days.

 

[Bderick67]

That's an early sign of the development of a gill curl on aros. Some have it on both side and some have it just on one side. One of the causes of gill curl are bacterial infection and also if aro is keep in a narrow tank and turn mostly on just it's left or right side. It forces the gill to curl.

If the curl is only on at gill membrane, there is chance that it can be fix by cutting off the gill membrane. But if goes to at gill plate, there is less chance that it will go back to normal.

This happened in many asian arowanas that are being keep in a small tank.

This is interesting and I can see this being true, the 22" silver that I had experience this had only been in my care for a short while. Previous to that it had been raised in a 4' long tank and rather poor water conditions. This guy even had developed a hunched back. Took a few months in my care for all to be normal.

 

[haynboy8]

more pics. been a few days and its getting worse. looks like the ends are curling in now.

right gill for comparison.

 

[King-eL]

Cut the gill membrane now before the gill plate start to curl. Once the gill plate curls, the gill plate won't go back to normal, but the gill membrane will. It will look very uglu once the gill plate curls. It's a simple procedure and it won't harm the aro.

 

[jlnguyen74]

Gill curl. Could be from narrow tank, dirty water, or doing water change without dechlorine the tap water. Put a strong powerhead to create strong flow may help to fix the problem without cutting the curly part. Surgery is the last option.

 

[Moneytrain8276]

I dont know what happened but i just notice my 20 inch aro's left gill flap isnt closing all the way. the right side is fine. it also looks like its breathing harder/faster through the left gill. when it opens you can basically see the red gills on the inside cause it opens so far compared to the right. is this infant stages of gill curl?

I do water changes once a week. but now i guess i should do it every 2-3 days till this thing subsides.


need some help to see whats up. or maybe it hit himself by jumping?