Ok, so I just got back from dinner and went to feed my fish. I have a bunch of different cichlids and some oddballs. My largest is an 8-9 inch female Jaguar. Everything was fine, the fish were all excited at the front of my tank waiting for the food. I measured two scoops of Hikari Gold sinking and floating pellets to which my fish all went for. Suddenly, I'm looking at my Jag, and I thought she was crushing the red pellets and the pulverized food was coming out of her gills. Not that I have ever seen this, but thought...that's weird. I keep looking at her and everyte her gills expand and close a puff of red powder is coming out of her gills. I realize, oh crap, she is bleeding out from the inside. There are no visible wounds, her gills look normal, but for 2-3 minutes, blood clouds are coming from inside her gills and scaring the crap out of me. Finally, out of no where, it just stopped. I had no idea what to do in this situation if she keep bleeding, I mean how much blood can a fish lose. So she seems ok now, it has been like 10 minutes. I googled blood coming out of fish gills and read that this can happen if oxygen is low or ammonia is high. But all my levels are normal, none of the fish are gasping or look like anything is wrong. It is the weirdest thing and the scariest experience I have had with my fish. I have never seen blood just come out like that...What could it be? Will it happen again? Does anybody have any idea what could have caused this. It happened right as I was feeding them, could the pellets have torn some of her lining if she swallowed a lot and they went down the wrong way. I don't know, I'm just freaked out cause this is something I am not prepared for...So Crazy...
My Managuanse was bleeding from her gills???? WHAT'S GOING ON?
- Thread starter rmkblades
- Start date
I have never seen this happen before, the only thing I can think of is the pellets scraping the inside of her mouth? Seems pretty odd, but if she seems ok now, I wouldn't worry about it.
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Thanks, she looks ok. It was just disturbing to see "octopus ink like clouds" of red blood coming out from under her gill flaps. It stopped after a couple minutes, she is ok now... but hindsight is 20/20. At the time that it is happening, you have no idea if it is going to stop or is your fish going to just bleed out while you watch helplessly. No fish vets that I know of, lol. Honestly, what I am think is that I have a bunch of hungry cichlids all shooting towards the top for food. Plus I have an African odoe pike who literally torpedoes himself blindly at the sight/smell of food. I think one of the fish must have rammed her gills during feeding trying to get to the food. What is crazy is that I feed them three times a day, and they act as if they haven't ate in months. Oh well, that's my story.
I've seen fish get gill injuries, especially in a crowded or competitive tank at feeding time. Had 1 get a dorsal spine from another jammed into the gills as one came over the top of the other to snag food. Their gills can be exposed a bit when they flare to engulf food items. Although the gills are easy to make bleed, they are also very quick to heal as long as the fish is healthy and no massive trauma was caused. Just keep an eye out for a day or two.
I had a large dovii who got his side finned bit and pulled by a large arowana and the inside of the gills would have blood coming out right after. Basically his whole fin was pulled hard on by another larger fish in my case. I noticed the few following days he kept his fin close to his side but that was it and very soon he looked like nothing happened. It sounds silly but I saw this happen. Maybe your jag could have been tugged on by someone else. Jags have large side fins.
It's amazing how tough and resilient these fish have adapted to being. I mean they have to be... considering the trials and tribulations that their natural habitat would presumably have in store for them. Yet, at the same time I realize that even within our controlled micro-ecosystems... we in fact...are not always in control. Needless to say, she is doing well. Thank you for sharing!