Gill Clamped

[Bad Inferno]

Due to the melbourne winter I decided to close down my garage tank and move my two female red turqs to my display tank inside which only had 3 discus in (200l)

Well within 3 days one of the turq's has spawned with my inside male and closely guarding their eggs :lol: better late than never !

The bad news is my other red turq which I moved is depressed, not eating for the week and I have noticed one of her gills is clamped. This fish seemed healthy before the move and is at least 7"....should I

1. send her to heaven
2. just wait and see what happens and risk my other 4 fish
2. start my garage tank back up, spend a gazzillion $ in heating it to 33C and throwing in some salt ?
3. treat my display tank with Meds and risk saying goodbye to my neons (only 4) and my BN pair.

I was hoping for a quiet discus winter only maintaining one tank & 5 discus until spring :?

My 200 litre planted Display tank is at 29 C, CO2 controlled pH @ 6.4 +/-0.02 & a 11W UV. NO ammonia or Nitrites. 30% WC weekly

[leanne31]

If it were me I would put the fish back in the garage you dont need to have the water to 33 degrees just have it at 28 and 29. Have you noticed the fish scraping upon things as well if so treat with some prazi and when better retry introducing the fish back into the community tank it def doesnt sound like it needs to go to heaven. You can treat it in your main tank if thats better for you as prazi wont affect your neons and your bn should be ok you can dose with half the water as that way you wont need as much meds keep us posted on what you decide to do.

[Bad Inferno]

She does not brush up against anything......just sits in the val.....I still have water in my garage tank, I will turn on the heaters and fire it up.....give her a couple of weeks and see what happens.

[leanne31]

I think that will be the best no need to sacrifice her yet when you dont know if its bad or not yet, you can insulate the sides of the tank to keep a bit of the heat in Ive heard people say that it works really well. Just use that foam stuff thats sometimes inside boxes which they pack stuff in dont know the exact name someone else might.

[Bill T.]

I wonder if the clamped gill is due to a bacterial infection? Particularly if there is no other evidence of flukes.

What about taking the fish to a fish vet for a proper diagnosis? If there is a pathogen in your system, it might find it's way into other fish.

[marg]

It's called Styrofoam Leanne, and it does work - I have it at the sides and back of my tanks - it seems to keep the temperature pretty stable.

[leanne31]

Thats the stuff I knew what I meant its good stuff for outside tanks.

[nicholas76]

Hows your distressed one developing?


personally i wouldnt bother putting it back out in the garage - the fish dosent know the diffrence LOL


clearly it didnt like the move so determine, are there any other factors which may have annoyed it? people traffick? shadows? lights?change in water conditions?

spoil it with good live food and moniter your parameters.

Clamped gills - moniter is he showing signs of sickness, going black in colour?

large adults can generally cope with flukes and not display any signs of sickness.

Was he actually fine prior to the move??


If it was me id persist with it being in my new tank and simply just moniter over the coming few weeks. I'd even utilise trusty old rock salt to try and relax it a bit more.


Regards

[Bad Inferno]

Hi Nic,

I ended up leaving her in the tank. Its been 1 week she just swims within the VAL at the back of the tank. I have noticed she will come out in the morning however as soon as you go close back she goes. You are correct with changed conditions :
The tank is in a high traffic area
Her other female she had been with in the other tank has now taken up with my male blue turq.

She still has colour, breathe's very slowly so when I took a close look today its the back of the gill that is not really moving, looking from the front it just looks like she is favouring one side.

My tank is heavily planted thus do not really want to do salt. I'll see if starvation will bring her out this week.

[nicholas76]

If your ok with it can i suggest live black worm. use one of those cone devices and attach it to the front of the tank.

the urge to feed will bring it out and then hopefully it will settle in for you.

best of luck.

[Merrilyn]

Oh Nick, I can't really recommend live blackworm.

One of the biggest problems we have with discus, is gill flukes, and blackworm are believed to carriers of gill flukes.

Live brine shrimp is safe, and so are all frozen foods and dry foods.

[nicholas76]

We may have to Agree to disagree on that one Matey!


I generally only use it as a last resort when fish go off the boil or wont eat anything else.

It is a great tempter to get fish to the front of the tank or stop thinking about being shy..