# Gill sticking out at one side!?



## Guest (Nov 18, 2004)

I have noticed that one of my baby nats, the largest but still only 3/4 inch, has one of its gills sticking out all the time. On his right hand side, so if you look at him straight on he looks like a car with one door open! Almost like his gill is constantly bent open. With them being so small its hard to spot any cause or anything. It makes him look a little ugly compared to his tankmates. Any ideas?


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## Guest (Nov 18, 2004)

Ok I've done a lot of searching and I guess it's gill curl









He has always had it since I had him, only a few days like. So I am guessing it is poor quality LFS water. Although his 3 bro's I bought with him seem to be unaffected. It's strange that, like mine, other posts I have read say he is the dominant/fastest etc.. of the bunch. He is certainly the largest and most dominant, although he is only 1/2-3/4 of an inch. It looks like all his gill cover that sticks out so I guess it will always be like this! I assume this doesn't spread to tank mates? He is out of the main tank anyway, on his own in my QT tank because he was being aggressive towards the others. And I am going to let them catch up in size before returning him. Anybody help? Do I just leave him to it then and see if he survives?


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## mantis (May 16, 2003)

no worries, I had a 4-5 fry develop gil curl. I've held on to them, and now only 2 have a noticable curl, the others healed up quite nicely. Yes, it's from poor water conditions, when they were developing, and no, it's wont spread to the others, once the damage is done, it's done, it's just a deformity.

I would put him back in









later


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## Guest (Nov 19, 2004)

Thanks mantis, I guess it's not too disfiguring! It looks quite harsh when he is breathing rapidly, like when he is scared. When I bought him I thought that was the reason it was sticking out, not gill curl!

I suppose you have given me hope that it may heal now he has decent water quality. And I guess it is nothing to worry about if it doesn't.


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## mantis (May 16, 2003)

Nah, there is a good chance it might heal to the point you can barely notice it. I guess time will tell.









Late


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

yep gill curl. a buddy of mine had a P with that. it did look pretty wierd, but over time the fish grew and eventually it looked rather normal. you really can't tell anymore, but for a while it looked pretty goofy. put him back in as Mantis said and he'll do just fine.


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

Usually gill curl will happen to both sides of the gill... Is the curl starting from the edge of the gill plate and "curling" outward or is the whole gill plate flared open on one end and clamped on the other?

If it's the second case, is the fish also flashing? It's a possibility that it could be gill flukes.


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2004)

The other gill is normal. Only one side is sticking out. It is hard to see if its just sticking out or curling out. Did you mean sides of the fish or sides of the gill? All I seem to notice is that when looking from behind, you see a lot of red under the gill, on the bad side. It may look like it is sticking out but only the end bit curls out. The other side is inline with the rest of the body. The fish is only 1/2-3/4 inch in length and the most skittish, it is very difficult to get a good look before he hides.

The main reason he is not in the other tank guys is because he is a little violent toward the others, not the gill problem. He was chasing them and clearly faster, I feared for their lives and took him out. He is twice as big as the others at least. He is just living in a 11 gallon until the others are a similar size.


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2004)

And sorry I didn't understand the flashing bit? What did you mean by flashing?


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2004)

If you are meaning top to bottom and not right to left, then the whole gill sticks out. The gill obviously meets the rest of the fish top and bottom, the middle part is the bit sticking out most. Sort of concaved to the middle point and back in again top and bottom. If that makes sense!?


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

First look at the operculum membrane... It's the soft part of the gill that runs along the edge of the gill plate. If you look closely, is that part starting to curl outward (away from the body). That is the start of gill curl which is usually caused by high nitrates or overcrowded conditions. If the gill flares out without such a curl, then there's something that has inflamed the gills (i.e. parasites or ammonia).

Flashing means rubbing violently against objects like gravel, driftwood, heaters, etc.


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## Guest (Nov 22, 2004)

Thanks for your help, I believe from your description it was gill curl. He wasn't doing any flashing, in fact it didn't seem to bother him at all. He was still the most dominant of the tank.

I came across some sort of Serra at a local fish shop and traded the Natts in for him. I wanted a single Serra instead of a number of Pygo's originally. In England you very rarely see anything but Natts. I have no idea what kind of Serra it is though and he is currently in a bad way. Many of them were cramped into a single tank and have torn shreds out of each other. The fish store had absolutely no idea what they were. Only fin damage though so he should heal nicely. I am waiting for the fins to heal before I will try to identify him, I suspect he is an Irritan.

Once again thanks for your help in the matter


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