Flowerhorn with Gill curl

[runninamuk]

I have been getting conflicting advice/info on what to do about gill curl, and how it's caused. Some say its genetic and some say bad water quality, but i am a wc fanatic...i dont see how that would be possible. What i need is a cure...some say to do the surgery but i havent seen any proof that it will work on a cichlid...only on arrowana, can anyone who has actually experienced this help me?

 

[Ihsnshaik]

Post a pic

 

[runninamuk]

Post a pic

View attachment 20160506_181505.jpg

 

[runninamuk]

View attachment 1181400

View attachment 20160506_181511.jpg

 

[runninamuk]

Its hard to get a good pic of it as im sure you know...but its the soft inner part of his gill, and i can see that he has to struggle a bit when he breathes...lately he has given me a few scares (swimming at the top of the tank and gasping kind of scares) he is about 4 in. So not too big, hes in a 55 gal. Tank and i do regular water changes. His filtration consists of a hang on back store bought filter, a home made in tank bio filter...with sponge, ceramic media and filter floss, a powerhead doing the work there ofcourse...and a homemade moving bed filter using k1...plenty of current for him, so i dont know what else to do...

 

[peathenster]

Try the disease board or the hybrid board

 

[duanes]

Ammonia poisoning when young can cause this, or even a long trip in a bag.
But I have a feeling seeing the photo, that its a genetic defect, and one that can't be cured.
In any spawn, there will always be a number of genetic defects, and the breeder should be culling fish that have them. But....some are very subtle when young, and often go un-noticed until a fish is 3-4" or older. This is one reason why, dropping off 100 (give or take) 1" cichlid fry at a LFS can be problematic, it would not be out of line to say that 20 out of every 100 could have some sort of defect, anything from a curved spine, to curved gills, to a short body, which in my opinion should all be culled before distribution. And when dealing with hybrids such a FHs, the % may be higher because of the mixing of genes.

 

[runninamuk]

Ammonia poisoning when young can cause this, or even a long trip in a bag.
But I have a feeling seeing the photo, that its a genetic defect, and one that can't be cured.
In any spawn, there will always be a number of genetic defects, and the breeder should be culling fish that have them. But....some are very subtle when young, and often go un-noticed until a fish is 3-4" or older. This is one reason why, dropping off 100 (give or take) 1" cichlid fry at a LFS can be problematic, it would not be out of line to say that 20 out of every 100 could have some sort of defect, anything from a curved spine, to curved gills, to a short body, which in my opinion should all be culled before distribution. And when dealing with hybrids such a FHs, the % may be higher because of the mixing of genes.

Ammonia poisoning when young can cause this, or even a long trip in a bag.
But I have a feeling seeing the photo, that its a genetic defect, and one that can't be cured.
In any spawn, there will always be a number of genetic defects, and the breeder should be culling fish that have them. But....some are very subtle when young, and often go un-noticed until a fish is 3-4" or older. This is one reason why, dropping off 100 (give or take) 1" cichlid fry at a LFS can be problematic, it would not be out of line to say that 20 out of every 100 could have some sort of defect, anything from a curved spine, to curved gills, to a short body, which in my opinion should all be culled before distribution. And when dealing with hybrids such a FHs, the % may be higher because of the mixing of genes.

 

[runninamuk]

Well thats unfortunate, he has a the coolest personality, ive been doing a partial water change every 2 days and i have a nice current going for him and he seems to be better for now...i will just have to ride it out with him, thank you for the help its much appreciated.