Ok well i know i gota do something about this was hoping it may have been the stress from being in a plane to get to my house lol, but has been slowly getting worse if anything....... so open to some advice before i go trimming heres pics:
RTC Gill Curl Advice
- Thread starter Mayo
- Start date
Hi mate, sorry to hear. I know it is unsightly. From all I've read on the subject, it does not hurt the fish at all - people remove it for purely aesthetic reasons. And, yes, I remember you paid like $700 for him so you may be more motivated than many others to have him look "perfect".
Two known reasons are long-term poor water (before he came to you) and inheritance. AFAIK, it does not happen from non-bad-water-related stress and neither from short term bad water - hence, if you were promised a "perfect" specimen, you might not have been shipped one as, if I was forced to guess, the fish had the gill curl before it came to you.
There are nice vids on YouTube, especially of people trimming (very pricey) Asian arowanas curled gills.
From what little I gleaned, the cut off gill flap may grow back straight, curled again, or not at all - I hope someone with more knowledge will chime in.
Two known reasons are long-term poor water (before he came to you) and inheritance. AFAIK, it does not happen from non-bad-water-related stress and neither from short term bad water - hence, if you were promised a "perfect" specimen, you might not have been shipped one as, if I was forced to guess, the fish had the gill curl before it came to you.
There are nice vids on YouTube, especially of people trimming (very pricey) Asian arowanas curled gills.
From what little I gleaned, the cut off gill flap may grow back straight, curled again, or not at all - I hope someone with more knowledge will chime in.
I would try the massage technique first, my first baby RTC had it when I got him and this worked really well.
First thing I would do is wait until your next water change so its as clean as it can be.
Then put him to sleep, I used clove oil and and ice cream tub that I sterilised 1st. Add 1-2 drops at a time until he is calm and still enough to work with. He doesn't have to be comatose but don't panic if it looks like its dying, it's not a very nice thing to do to them but he will be ok
Have a bucket of fresh tank water next to you and aerate it as much as possible, also put something over the top so it's dark to help keep him calm.
When he is still enough try to hold him somewhere on his head, you need to hold him firmly but carful not to hurt him. Then you basically run your thumb and finger down over the gill plates and flaps, you need to press quite firmly but again be carful not to do more damage, what you are trying to do is stretch the tissue of the gill membrane because gill curl is basically scar tissue stopping the gill covers from resting back how they should.
Them put him in the bucket and let him recover before you put him in the tank.
This method worked 1st time on my 1 but I have read sometimes it takes 3-4 attempts. If you try it I hope you have the same results I did, good luck
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First thing I would do is wait until your next water change so its as clean as it can be.
Then put him to sleep, I used clove oil and and ice cream tub that I sterilised 1st. Add 1-2 drops at a time until he is calm and still enough to work with. He doesn't have to be comatose but don't panic if it looks like its dying, it's not a very nice thing to do to them but he will be ok
Have a bucket of fresh tank water next to you and aerate it as much as possible, also put something over the top so it's dark to help keep him calm.
When he is still enough try to hold him somewhere on his head, you need to hold him firmly but carful not to hurt him. Then you basically run your thumb and finger down over the gill plates and flaps, you need to press quite firmly but again be carful not to do more damage, what you are trying to do is stretch the tissue of the gill membrane because gill curl is basically scar tissue stopping the gill covers from resting back how they should.
Them put him in the bucket and let him recover before you put him in the tank.
This method worked 1st time on my 1 but I have read sometimes it takes 3-4 attempts. If you try it I hope you have the same results I did, good luck
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Interesting stuff, Shane. Thanks. Is there a place we coud read more on this technique and the background? Be careful with clove oil, Mayo. AFAIK, it is easy to OD and he will not come around then.
Thanks, I researched it for days from everything I could find on the net, I will have a look to see if I can find some good links when I have a little more time. And +1 with the clove oil, give it a few minutes between adding any more drops and if you can try not to let him go completely to sleep, just be patient and you will be ok.
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Forgot to mention, it's best to take him out of the water/clove oil mix as soon as he is calm enough, I did the procedure in the bucket of fresh water and put him back in the solution for a bit longer if he wasn't still enough.
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Yea you should read up on it until you are confident doing it but its not very dangerous for them if you add it slow and don't leave it in the solution, but if I was you I would Defo try this 1st because the end result of cutting them is a bit hit or miss and its a lot more stressful for the fish. Some people have done it on arows in their main tank and no sedation but I doubt your red tail will be calm enough?
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