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Hey, We have got a RTC That is about 4-5 months old.

We are running with a PH 7,5 and 0 no2 etc etc. All is fine. FE is far below harmful levels and we have well water, no chlorine.

Picked him up 15 mins ago and checked he´s gills. They were very dark black, almost no redness at all.

He also breaths a bit heavy and has started to develop a little bit of gillcurl.

other fish are fine and dandy since more then 1,5 years back. those in the same tank etc.


What could be the cause of this ? Should i just put him out of he´s miserys ?.. Im tired of the issue and cant seem to resolve it!..Please help me out..

If I recall correctly, you measure neither NH3 nor NO3. It's hard or nearly impossible to help without knowing these.

I've noticed some healthy (?) fish have dark, almost black gills sometimes. IDK what determines that. Neither do I know if it is age/size independent. One thing is that blood, or more precisely hemoglobin, is very dark brown almost black when Iron is not carrying an oxygen molecule and is bright red when it does. But I don't think this is the issue here because if it was, the fish'd be dead/affixiated.

You have had probems with your water for a long time due to unknown/mysterious causes, which you reported were fixed after you started treating your well water with something. It'd be nice if you summarized the history of problems and your observations and what helped and what didn't.

Gill curl is usually caused by being long-term in an unfavorable water but also is known to be a genetic defect too. So, this symptom is ambiguous.

Yeah i know, i dont mesure ammonia because my nitrites would increase aswell if ammonia would be high..

I have tested my water for amonia before, and never encountered any problems since i do waterchanges properly. And i clean the sant etc and clean the filters regularly in aquarium water.

As i do have other fish, Clownloach, Suckers, Crincichla etc that has 0 problems. And have never had any..
If ammonia was high, they would be affected. Atleast the clownloaches, since they are sensitive.

fk this im getting a RO.

I agree, it sounds like a pretty safe guess that your NH3 is good and sounds like you know what you are doing. Even though it is a safe guess, it is still a guess and nothing beats the surety of a simple NH3 test, especially in times of trouble like this one. The nitrifying bacteria are different that process ammonia and nitrite. I have met with circumstances where either one or the other was doing a good job while its partner was not. It is possible. Hence, it is possible to have zero NO2 and some NH3. But the clown loach argument is a good one - hence, I don't think your NH3 is more than 0-0.25 ppm.

If you are sure you do enough WC's, then NO3 is likely also fine.

It sounds like we are back at square one: something in your well water is bothering some of your fish some of the time - a complex riddle. A small inexpensive RO unit has been suggested before and maybe it is the time for you to try it.

One can also for $200-$300 order a full well water analysis.

I don't think it is entirely impossible but you could have some lingering parasitic or bacterial/viral infection in the tank. It is not uncommon for some fish or even one fish to be affected while the rest look fine. This is, however, an even wilder guess than the previous one and hard to diagnose when the symptoms are so intermittent.

Is the RTC eating well? If yes, your worries may be premature. If they seriously overeat, they may breath a bit heavy. Make sure you have adequate aeration and not too high a temperature.

He is eating well, im not overfeeding, well airated and good cirkulation and lots of filtration.

hmmm i'm wondering if its anoxia or necrosis of the gills. do you see any pieces missing from the gill? any puss-like secretions? if the rest of the fish are fine then that would lead me towards a parasite. something that is attached to its gills and is taking advantage of the alveoli-like structures within the gills causing anoxia. I'd treat for gill parasites.