What's up with those gills?

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doubledragon

The House Of Endlie
MFK Member
Nov 19, 2006
2,311
1
38
ohio
Almost all the redtail cats i've seen this summer have all had a backwards curl on the ends of their gill plates. They were all baby's anywhere from 2 to 5inches, and they were all at different pet stores. Is there like one big rtc breeder who is starting to get defomities in his fry or what. Someone said that the gill plates can do that after living in high amonia waters for a long period of time, but in this case that don't make any sense cause all the cases I have seen have been in juveniles. Recently I seen a tsc that was about 15inches that had some serious backward curl going on and it wasn't pretty. I'd love some feedback on this cause I would like to get another rtc again but am not going to buy one that might have more serious problems down the road after all the time and money to be invested and appearence alone is disturbing enough to keep my money in my wallet till I come across a really nice lookin one.
 
Gill Curl well If the cause is not removed, condition will get worst, gill will get exposed, causing breathing difficulty and making the gill prone to infection. normaly down to Poor water condition this is common in RTC as they eat like, well RTC;) and they require huge water changes and a big tank BIG FISH BIG TANK:D .
 
Many of the RTCs coming into this country are aquacultured in the Amazon River or in Southeast Asia. I suspect due to repetitive in-breeding some of these of fish are developing gill curl as a genetic deformity that can appear in juveniles or sub adults and possibly adults. In the case of the condition appearing in subadults and adults a direct relationship is confounded by potentially suboptimal water conditions. On the other hand, gill curl caused by poor water conditions can be attributed to Pseudomonas bacteria. This condition is treatable by feeding medicated food pellets which contain antibiotics that kill Pseudomonas. These pellet can be stuffed into smelt and fed to larger fish. In this way you can avoid harm to the biological filter and you are getting higher blood levels of the antibiotics. A good product is Medikoi medicated food pellets. In addition to the pellets, UV sterilization, although costly, is recomended to generally sterilize the water to furthur support the RTCs immune system. The surgical approach ends up putting the fish through more trauma than its worth. Often when a fish is given anethesia its never the same again. In my opinion, avoid all juvenile RTCs with this deformity. You are just asking for trouble with repetitive secondary infection and eventual premature death.
 
Thanks for the Info guys.:) a rtc is a long term commitement and i don't want to start out with one that already has something wrong with it. :irked: I talked to a lfs today and he said he has one that is 5 to 6inches with no gill curl:naughty: but he did say he had a rip or a tear in his dorsel fin, ok here's his exact words "oh yeah there he is layin by the wolf fish Yup I still got him" :eek: Hmmm.... Wolf fish I wonder were the rip came from anyway :screwy: I'll go check him out friday and see if he's coming home with me or not :headbang2
 
how many states out there have seen gill curl in juveniles so far? Weve already got colorado, pensylvania, and severel differen't lfs in ohio anybody else
 
Hey guys, New to this site and would just like to say "hello"........ Interesting topic. I have a 4" rtc and a 5" Hybrid rtc with gill curl. Only on one side. The rtc developed it in my tank. He was about 1.5" when i got him and half dead "he was free" and the hybrid i just bought that way. The rtc is doing fine now, its just a shame as he looks deformed. Can this be reversed ??? At least they make a cute pair.


Nice to meet ya's



bob
 
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