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Gill fluke or burst blood vessel or?


mangolm

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I have a golden ram who is very suddenly (as in this afternoon) showing signs of distress - he has withdrawn to the back of the tank, his dorsal fin is looking a bit ragged, he is slower moving than normal, still interested in food, but doesn't do more than investigate offerings. But most worryingly is that he has what looks like a burst blood vessel on the bottom of one gill. No other fish in the tank is showing any sign of weakness or disease, and none have any marks like this one has.

The 3 rams do fight, but i have never seen any injuries, and they do not fight often (only when one invades another's chosen territory), and they tend to aim higher on the body, but I suppose it is possible it could be an injury from another ram.

Water is A 0, Ni 0, Na <5. Water change last performed a week ago.

2aGWS25.jpg

Can you identify what this is from the image?

What would you recommend as ideal course of treatment?

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it could be a burst capillary bed in the gill cover it will recover by itself, if it is in the gill filament capillaries it will easily get infected. the best option is prevent the other rams from fighting with it while it heals as stress will cause the immune system to crash. the ram overall looks healthy showing fine coloration and if its immune system is functioning will likely recover very quickly. my discus pairs get burst capillaries occasionally from serious fights but always recover. just make sure it still eats well and is comfortable.

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Thankyou!

He is already back to eating but still hiding and rather shy. Fins back to looking healthy as well.

The bloody bit looks bigger and darker, but given the overall health is improving I'm guessing its just part of the healing process. No signs of infection on the gill.

Do you think I should move him to a hospital tank or only if I observe him being more stressed or fighting with the other rams?

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Well scratch that. Noticed he had fin rot on his pelvic fins where he was sitting on the bottom of the tank. Quarantined him. He has lost all colour and now 48 hours after quarantine is unable to swim independently. He also stopped eating. I'm not sure if the quarantine was the right thing to do :S

Ive got melafix and pimafix for the fins which really aren't too bad.

But given his other deterioration's at what point would you put him down if no improvement is shown?

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