[philipwight]

One of my fishs gills has kinda flipped out, i have no idea what to call it. And one of his eyes is all messed up but i though that was just a battle scar. Could he be kinda deformed? I got them when they were about the size of a quarter maybe less. And now they are about three inches, the flipping out of the gills just happened in the last few weeks. Does anyone know what could cause this?

http://www.funtigo.com/my240sx?b=15712&p=start

at the very bottom of the page are some pictures of this.

 

[piranha 13]

do you have a hospital tank?

 

[philipwight]

no but i could go get one, why?

 

[piranha 13]

Well because if he is hurt then you will need to treat him with a medication but you can't pour it in there with the other piranhas who are healthy.

 

[philipwight]

i have to figure out what is wrong with him beefore i can treat him. He doesnt acta ny different than the other piranhas, doesnt "breath" harder or anything. He is actually the most active of the small bunch.

 

[thePACK]

sometimes this happens to fish there gil flap the inside part curves.it has happened to some of my fish theres really nothing wrong and it won't hurt your fish .if possible if you can get a clear pic of it would be easiler to identify.

 

[piranha 13]

Explain a little more by what you mean by flipping out. Do you mean his gill is sticking out farther than usual?

 

[philipwight]

sorry not the actual gills, the layer of skin that protects the gills.(sorry i am new at this). Better pics should be on that same site now.

 

[Judazzz]

You mean like in this picture?

http://www.funtigo.com/go?i=i267644_92037.jpg

I agree it looks a bit reddish/enflamed, but don't know what it is, and it doesn't look very threatening to me (but I'm not expert...

). It might be an ammonia burn (due to bad water quality...).

Try a large water change and add some salt to the water (1 tblspoon per 5-10 gallons) and see if this works. Upping the temperature could also help.

Anyways: good luck, and if I were you, I shouldn't worry too much about it, even more because you said he's still the most active of the bunch...

 

[DiXoN]

i have seen this on a larger red in a lfs the flesh at the end of the gill was curled this p was @ 10'' dont know what it was though but i would check into this more as it does not look good

 

[Xenon]

moved to disease and parasite....

 

[bobme]

i salt water dunk wouldnt hurt / kill him, why not give it a shot?

 

[philipwight]

just add some salt to the tank? Regular table salt or is there a special salt to get? I bought some AmQuel today and was going to do a partial change and add that stuff to the new water. Thank you for all the help.

philip

 

[philipwight]

nevermind i did a search and found out to only use aquarium salt.

 

[Innes]

Well because if he is hurt then you will need to treat him with a medication but you can't pour it in there with the other piranhas who are healthy.

that is rubbish.

you should half the dosage of medicines with piranhas, but you can treat an entire tank, and sometimes it is good to do so.
the gill could have been damaged by another fish, or something I have never seen before (I cant get a good look at it in the pics)
personally I would do a 40% water change, and add 1 tablespoon of salt per every 5 gallons, also I would keep an eye on the fish for improvements/deteriation.
I would do a 25-30 water change 4 days later, and then every week.
also if you want to add a medicine I would reccomend Myaxin(sp) it should have some green on the box.

 

[philipwight]

i have done two 30% changes and added salt each time and it doesnt look to be getting better. What now? Get that med and see what happens?

 

[Innes]

yeah, or melafix. also better pics might help

 

[DonH]

I would not recommend putting any other meds in your tank. From the looks of your pics, your piranha has gill curl...primarily caused by poor water conditions (high ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) or cramped living quarters.

If caught early (curl only affecting the soft membrane) the problem can be corrected by keeping your water pristine. It seems like the curl has already affected the gill plate. If that's the case, only surgery can correct it so the gill plate can regenerate flush with the body.

Did you acquire the fish in that condition or did it appear over time? It could also be genetic.

 

[philipwight]

the gill curl appeared over time.... but has gotten worse. They might be cramped. I have them in a 29 gal. I just got a 120 gal but it is not set up yet. Don H do you think the new living quarter and some treatment will fix this or is it too late.

thanks

 

[philipwight]

ohh yeah and the ammonia might be a little high.... i had a breeders net in there with about 36 or so small feeders in it at a time. I have been told that goldfish put off alot of ammonia. That has been taken out of there. Is the salt that i am adding going to kill my plecos?