Ram gill growth

[monkeymagic]

Hi,

One of my Ram's hasn't been eating for a few days and is mostly spending time on the bottom. This morning she has this white growth from her gill - photo attached. It wasn't there yesterday.

What is it?

How would I treat her? Or am I likely too late?

I don't have a quarantine tank, although I do have a bucket and a sponge filter if necessary.

I realise "water parameters are ok" isn't good enough, but I'm at work now. Checked them a few days ago and they were ok, and did a 50% water change as I do once a week. Temp is 80c.

200l tank is heavily planted and contains 2 rams, rasboras, guppies, neon tetras, 1 platy, amano shrimps and snails. No new fish recently.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Jamie

 

[Uberhoust]

That looks identical to an issue I had with a betta. I don't have any help because I never found out what it was, even after examining the growth in a microscope. In my case the growth was soft and pliable, would sometimes disappear then return. I will be watching this thread.

 

[Colin_T]

Is it coming out from the gill or is it on the pectoral (side) fin?

It's either fungus or mucous and I'm going with fungus. Add some salt and see how it goes over the next couple of days. If there's no improvement, post more pictures.

----------------------

SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for 2 weeks unless there's no improvement after a few days, then stop using it and post pictures and we can try something else.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

 

[monkeymagic]

Thanks but unfortunately I lost her last night.

Will act quicker next time if I see signs of this in any other fish. It was coming out of the gill FYI.