RTC update Pics

[Tuda]

Glad to be able to help you you should read the stickies in the catfish forums, there're some very good information and Necrocranis has done a sticky with excellent catfish information.
here's the link: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73456

 

[bukster]

gill curl is when the edges of the gill plates curl up...usually a sign of poor water conditions.

 

[Tuda]

Ok well then I think my RTC has had gill curl since I took him from the LFS. He has never had heavy breathing though and I have 2 filters in the tank, both filters has a max capacivity higher than recommended for the tank and I change 20% water each other day.. anything else I can do? :S

 

[Bsixxx]

very nice mate


i would get one or a couple if i didnt have to make my bedroom into an aquarium when they got older

 

[Bgonz]

Ok well then I think my RTC has had gill curl since I took him from the LFS. He has never had heavy breathing though and I have 2 filters in the tank, both filters has a max capacivity higher than recommended for the tank and I change 20% water each other day.. anything else I can do? :S

Although I certainly cannot prove this......I believe Gill curl is caused by a prolonged exposer to a low PH. I dont think ammonia and nitrites have anything to do with this.....They effect the whiskers big time but not the gills. Everyone gets very defensive when their RTC has gill curl and always respond just as you have. Check your PH, I bet you'll be surprised. Being it takes a month or two for the curl to develop I havent seen many/any 2-4" RTC's with it, They simply grow too fast and by the time you notice it there usually 6-8". This is just my opinion and obsevation so dont take any offense, It happens very often. I personally have NEVER seen this reversed and have tried myself to do so. I have a real nice 14" guy that I rescued that has one side real bad,one side perfect. Ive never seen him breath heavy or have any signs of distress. He's just a little............ugly.




bob

 

[Tuda]

Although I certainly cannot prove this......I believe Gill curl is caused by a prolonged exposer to a low PH. I dont think ammonia and nitrites have anything to do with this.....They effect the whiskers big time but not the gills. Everyone gets very defensive when their RTC has gill curl and always respond just as you have. Check your PH, I bet you'll be surprised. Being it takes a month or two for the curl to develop I havent seen many/any 2-4" RTC's with it, They simply grow too fast and by the time you notice it there usually 6-8". This is just my opinion and obsevation so dont take any offense, It happens very often. I personally have NEVER seen this reversed and have tried myself to do so. I have a real nice 14" guy that I rescued that has one side real bad,one side perfect. Ive never seen him breath heavy or have any signs of distress. He's just a little............ugly.

bob

PH: 6,5 I don't think that is too low but I will try to get it to 7,5 instead to see if there'll be any difference. Now that my RTC has Gill curl how do I cure it the easiest way? thx for your help bgonz, it's appreciated

 

[Bgonz]

PH: 6,5 I don't think that is too low but I will try to get it to 7,5 instead to see if there'll be any difference. Now that my RTC has Gill curl how do I cure it the easiest way? thx for your help bgonz, it's appreciated

I personally think 6.5 is a little low for small RTC's, Its not that low/bad...... but either is your RTC's gill curl. I started noticing this stuff when a friend of mine used to keep and breed Discus {about 15 yrs ago !!!}. He also kept RTC's Well his Discus breeding tanks were kept at about 82 degrees with a PH of 5.5-6.0. He used to "grow out" some small RTC's by putting them in the breeder tanks and letting them feed on all the unwanted fry. They all grew really fast but almost all developed gill curl ???? The ones he grew in his regular system had none. In older tanks the PH is hard to maintain on the high side, and sometimes tap water itself has a very low PH. As I said before I think this leads to Gill curl. Good water conditions all around just a little low on the PH side. Also as I said before I have not been able to reverse this procedure. I can stop its progression but not reverse it. I have one with such bad curl you can litterly see his entire gills Yet he acts/behave normal and is healthy. Dont sweat it, whats done is done. Just try and raise the PH to about 7.5 and see what that does. Your cats curl isnt that bad at all. I'm sure hell be fine for a long long time



JMO of course....I'm sure many people have their own thoughts.


Good luck....



bob

 

[Bgonz]

Now this is bad gill curl


And the pic makes it look better than it is......



bob

 

[necrocanis]

Mine had gill curl when I bought him at 1.5". Although that doesn't say much for how long he sat. I have a tsn that petco had in their store for 4 months, it only grew an inch in 4 months. How well do you think they were feeding him. He started eating blood worms minutes out of the bag. Now my rtc is 2 months with me at around 9". Gill curl keeps getting worse and my ph is 7.5. I'm starting to think it might be something else, but you could be on to something. I only wish I could have tested the tank he came from.

 

[AwolAngler]

6.5 is just below neutral... maybe a tad low but not low enough to cause any problems... I have seen 1" rtcs at the lfs that had gill curl... your probably right, you probably brought it home and didn't even realize what you were looking at... If thats the case it is way to late to get it to go back naturally... The only other option is to leave it alone or perform surgery... This is also very common with Arowanas... you might need to sedate the fish and you simply cut back the curled gill and hope it grows back normally... but if your fish isn't having problems breathing and you don't mind the way it looks... heck just leave him be, he'll be fine...