Rich L.

Thank you all for your replies. Apologies for my slow reply - been busy couple weeks at work. Here is a gif of the fish. It's difficult to see the extra gill tissue without some motion because it has pigment and blends in. I showed the full video around and most people seem to think its a deformity or injury when the fish was a fry. Chang was very cool about it and offered to exchange it out for another Acara - But I'm thinking I'll keep him at this point. He is the most aggressive cichlid in the tank - so him getting short of breath help even things out. Please let me know what you think of this gill.

good luck, please let us know how it goes.

Hi All, Just Got my first Zebra Acara. Added it to my cichlid tank and its looking great. Noticed it was breathing very heavy, but no other signs of distress (the other fish are all fine). Acara seems to be swimming, feeding, and interacting normally. Watched it closer and I notice that I could see the filament part of the underlying gill protruding past the operculum (gill cover) by about a millimeter or so. Follows the profile of the operculum evenly and is the same on both sides. The filament part looks blue, but not like oxygen depleted, more like iridescent pigment. Is this normal for Zebra Acaras? Is this a symptom of a known parasite or infection? I don't think I've ever had a fish where I could see protruding gill filament. I dosed with Metro and Praziquantel to be safe since the fish was new. 125g, pH 6.8, NH3 -0ppm, NO2-0ppm, NO3 - dosing to 30ppm, Kh, Dh 2 to 3 (Seattle water)

I have treated ich with Metronidazole and believe it was effective. One benefit of using Metro (if I'm understanding Seachem's statements correctly) is that Metronidazole will treat and kill the parasite while it is attached to the fish as well as the free-floating protozoan phase. Many of the other treatments for ich such as malachite green are only effective against the free-floating protozoan phase of the parasite life cycle, but the mature ich that is growing on the fish and harming the fish will complete its growth phase. That is why it is important to treat early before fish get heavily infected. Also have you looked into methods of threating ich by just raising the water temperature?