# Livebearer experts



## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Does anyone know how to cure mollies/swords/platies/guppies with rapid gill movements?
Has the disease got a name? I'm not familiar with gill infections etc.
Also I can't seem to find much in books/net etc.
Thanks in advance.


----------



## PlatyLady (Oct 27, 2006)

I'm not sure that rapid gill movement is a disease in in itself. It's usually a symptom of another disease. In my experience, usually rapid gill movement is evident in cases of Ich and other stressful diseases or poor water quality.


----------



## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

And maybe gill flukes.
I have one platy just now with rapid breathing. I saw her eat a piece of live plant and before i could get it out of her mouth she swallowed it. For several hours she panted. Now she lays on the bottom. I think she has a bowel obstruction.
If all your platys are breathing hard they are either ill with a parasite on the gills, have some internal disease, or you have ammonia/nitrite in the tank.


----------



## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

I heard many using epsom salt or aquarium salt. Increases TDS which most livebearers perfer.


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Rapid breathing is usually not a good sign, that's true, but it's just a sign. I guess the others have already covered the most likely suspect causes, so I guess now the inevitable barrage of inevitable questions must now begin:

Tankmates? 
Water chemistry?
When did problem begin?
Do fish seem distressed by the condition?
Any other visible symptoms of anything?
Well established fish or new ones?
Established tank or new one?

I know that you're no slouch yourself, so it puzzles me that you're having this problem, but then again I remember you once said that you can never seem to be able to keep these livebearer fish happy, so I have to wonder if there is something really wonky with your local water. However, this symptom is caused by the same main root cause worldwide--> not enough oxygen in the cells of the fish, whatever the reason, be it nitrite, CO2 buildup, oily scum on the water surface, parasite infestation, gill damage, or whatever else.

Anyway, aim for a pH of around 7.6-7.8, and a hardness in the medium to medium-hard range. Keep the temp in the high 70's F, and more importantly, keep it stable. Temp swings are not well tolerated by this group.

Finally, unless you buy them from a dedicated breeder, it is notoriously difficult to buy healthy specimens. Your best bet may well be to simply breed these fish and raise the fry away from any other fish to keep them clean.


----------



## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Yeah, I remember saying that too, but lately I've seem to be having better luck with them. The thing was, I already had a flourishing colony of livebearers when one day I saw a swordtail in an lfs that I couldn't resist. The sword was twice as long as the body. The only problem with it was its gill rate which still seems to be the same. I quarentened him for around a month, there was still no change so for some reason I added him to the main tank. Now a black molly's gills are the same. So now I'm quarentening them both.
They're both healthy in other areas, it's just the gill rate which is bothering me.


----------



## Guest (Jan 12, 2007)

an internal parasite could be the problem and maybe the reason there are no other symptoms seen by the eye.
however, internal parasites usually cause a fish to have odd movements/act jittery. If you haven't seen that and its already been over a month, im not really sure.


----------



## PlatyLady (Oct 27, 2006)

Gill flukes were mentioned already, but they could be the culprits. I don't know what experience you have with gill flukes, but IME, they are really hard to detect. I know it's hard on small fish, but try to actually look into the gills as the fish breathe. If you see little white-ish looking tubular things in there, it could be flukes. My father has had fluke problems in the past with his parrot cichlids. The only medication that has ever helped him has been something with copper in it.


----------

