Red Gills on Danios

[tomm10]

Shortly after I introduced four long finned zebra danios to my tank they developed redness in their gills. I posted to another forum on AC asking why this might be. The concensus was that it was poor water quality since I was cycling the tank.

The tank has been cycled now with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 15 or less of nitrate for a week now but the redness remains.

The fish don't show any signs of distress, no spots, and no trouble breathing. Could it be that excess ammonia burned their gills? Will this heal? Could it be something else entirely that I should be treating?

Tom

[yashinfan]

My first thought was amonia! Alright, now, it really depends how long and how much amonia they were exposed to. Technically it should heal, if not then they would die, but it doesnt sound like they will. You can use Melafix to help them out.

[tomm10]

Well, the ammonia stayed at a level of 1.0 every day for a period of 10 days with a spike of 2.0 for one day. I was doing regular 15% water changes every day to try to keep it down. After that there was one day of .5 and now a week of 0.

Like I said, they seem fine and are eating like pigs. However, I did just notice that on one of the females (the one with the most pronounced belly. I think I have two females) there is what almost looks like a little, light blue bubble on her lip. This may be completely unrelated but since you seem to be the resident danio lover I thought I'd mention it ;) I'm hoping this is not a parasite of some kind.

[yashinfan]

A blue bubble? Well I assume it'd be blue because of their colouring... but a bubble? V. Interesting. I've actually never heard of that, but I'm going to assume it's not a good sign. I'd go out and buy some Melafix!!

[tomm10]

Okay. I've got cories in my tank also. Is Metafix safe for them?

[yashinfan]

Yep! Melafix is made from Tea Tree extract and aloe vera which are completely natural. You can pick it up at Petsmart. You need 2.5mL for every gallon.

[tomm10]

Thanks a lot! I'm glad you were online now :D Looks like I have someplace to go on my lunch break tomorrow

[yashinfan]

No problem! Good luck and tell me how it goes after 3 days of medicating!

[tomm10]

I did a little more extensive search on AC for this little problem. I thinkit might actually be gas bubble disease. It would make sense since I have quite a few live plants and a 125 filter on the tank.

I'll still be adding the melafix just in case I think.

http://www.fish-disease.com/Diseases/GasBubbleDisease.htm

I'll keep you posted.

[yashinfan]

Do your fish actually make a croaking sound when you remove them from the water??!!!

[tomm10]

Well, I'm not sure if they make a croaking noise since I don't have the cat like reflexes to net the zippy little bugger! She is a danio after all.

What made me think that it is gas bubble disease is the fact that it doesn't seem to be a fungus. It looks more like a bubble. The more I look and the more I read, however, the more I'm starting to think it is a mouth fungus in its early stages.

I treated the tank with melafix tonight when I got home and will continue to monitor the kids. Hopefully it will all clear up.

[yashinfan]

Usually if I put a cup into the tank and don't chase after the danios they jump right into it. Happens a lot when I'm doing water changes. The good thing about melafix is that it helps a whole bunch of fun diseases including fungus. So you think the amonia burn could have caused the fish to be susceptible to the fungus? That makes sense. Definitely monitor her and the others to make sure they don't develop anything.

[tomm10]

So this is interesting. I finally managed to net the danio. I took the net out of the water and heard no croak so I put the fish back in. Once I put the net away and look back in the tank I see that the danio no longer has the bluish bubble on her mouth.

Could this have been some type of air bubble trapped on her lip? I've been studying all the fish in the tank for a while and none of them have anything that could be considered a fungus on them. Strange.

[yashinfan]

Or maybe it popped because it scraped against the net? Also, sometimes my danios have weird lumps in them but it turns out they just kept food hidden in them (areas like their throat!) and until they are frightened to let go of the food or swallow it the lump would stay. I would continue to treat your tank just in case. If it did pop, you have to treat to prevent any infections!

[tomm10]

I figured I would need to continue the treatment. Couldn't hurt too much, right :D

Thanks for all your help on this!

[yashinfan]

No prob, just follow the instructions and do it for 7 days. If they don't look better than you can keep medicating, I don't think you can even overdose!