RTC gill color?

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Texasrockwell

Candiru
MFK Member
Sep 6, 2015
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Saved a large RTC last week from LFS ( about 12") with pretty bad gill curl and noticed his gills are very dark brown. Is this normal for a RTC? He is eating and swimming well, seems pretty healthy. Just want to make he is ok. I looked, but couldn't find any pictures or info on color variations.
 
Are you referring to the gill flaps themselves or to the gill plates inside his mouth? I think you should try and post a picture.
 
If the filaments are changing color that's not good. My guess would be oxygen deprivation. If all of them change color it's likely he will pass as it means he has basically stopped breathing. The filaments are red because they are filled with oxygen rich blood. If they change color that means there is less oxygen in the blood.
 
Well thats not what I was hoping to hear. Is there anything that can be done to possibly reverse it?
 
Air pump with air stones. Big ones. Not the little one inch .25 ones. What size tank/pond/pool are you keeping him in? What does the filtration consist of? When mine hit 12" they get moved to a very large tank/pond/pool. Whatever has room for them at the time.
 
Right now I have him in 100 gallon tank, but I have a 3500 gal pond outside I can stick him in, I was just a little worried about the water temp is still in the 65 degrees. Do you think I should risk moving him out there?
 
Not if the water is that cold. It wouldn't do him any good unless you heated it to the upper 70s and in that large of a pond at 12" he could disappear or get taken by wildlife.

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What kind of filtration are you running?
 
Brown gills usually means brown-blood disease aka nitrite poisoning (methemoglobinemia). It's the result of long-term poor maintenance. It can be reversed if it's not in a latent stage where the fish no longer has any healthy red blood cells. We have marrow to produce new red blood cells. Fish blood cells are nucleated and must divide to produce new red blood cells. If the RTC has any normal red blood cells left, it can recover. But, it takes time and rigorous maintenance/aeration to help it towards restored health.
 
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