Goby with puffy gill

eagerreefer · May 11, 2021

Hi all,

This morning I noticed my goby with a swollen gill on one side. It doesn't look red or inflamed or have any white spots resembling ich. Just looks like a bubble of water right in the gill area. Eating and acting normally, and the other fish are completely normal as well. Any ideas of what could be going on? Thanks

DeniseAndy · May 11, 2021

Can you tell if it is a parasite? May need to capture him to sedate and remove if you can.

Jay Hemdal · May 11, 2021

eagerreefer said:
Hi all,

This morning I noticed my goby with a swollen gill on one side. It doesn't look red or inflamed or have any white spots resembling ich. Just looks like a bubble of water right in the gill area. Eating and acting normally, and the other fish are completely normal as well. Any ideas of what could be going on? Thanks

It's breathing at around 140 gill beats per minute which is pretty fast. Whatever is going on is affecting its respiration rate. Do you know - you said you noticed it this morning, but could it have been gradually growing over time and you just noticed it, or are you sure it was fine yesterday and this appeared overnight?

Jay

eagerreefer · May 11, 2021

Jay Hemdal said:
It's breathing at around 140 gill beats per minute which is pretty fast. Whatever is going on is affecting its respiration rate. Do you know - you said you noticed it this morning, but could it have been gradually growing over time and you just noticed it, or are you sure it was fine yesterday and this appeared overnight?

Jay

It's certainly possible, but I didn't notice any swelling until today. That being said, I wasn't looking super closely since I hadn't been suspecting anything wrong. What is a normal gill beat rate?

Jay Hemdal · May 11, 2021

eagerreefer said:
It's certainly possible, but I didn't notice any swelling until today. That being said, I wasn't looking super closely since I hadn't been suspecting anything wrong. What is a normal gill beat rate?

Not sure what that fish’s baseline rate is exactly, but less than 100 bpm.
There are gill isopod parasites that grow in a gill chamber, but they develop over time. You can sometimes see them by looking in the gill as the fish breathes.
The other thing could be some sort of mechanical damage that happened suddenly.
Jay

eagerreefer · May 14, 2021

Jay Hemdal said:
Not sure what that fish’s baseline rate is exactly, but less than 100 bpm.
There are gill isopod parasites that grow in a gill chamber, but they develop over time. You can sometimes see them by looking in the gill as the fish breathes.
The other thing could be some sort of mechanical damage that happened suddenly.
Jay

I ended up giving him a rally bath last night, but still swollen and breathing the same today. Appetite is still good, I’ll keep my fingers crossed he improves.