Unexplained red gills

[Lolita]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to this forum. My name is Lo. I have two tanks--a small 10 gallon community with 1 male guppy, 2 pregnant female guppies and a dwarf gourami, and a 29 gallon community that I've been having a lot of trouble with.

Both tanks are set up in the exact same way--moderately planted with low-light plants, eco-complete, AC filters and the same water.

The community in the 10 gallon is doing fantastic--I haven't had any problems with it.

The 29 gallon I'm having a lot of trouble with. Both were cycled fishlessly. The 29 gallon has two AC 50s running on it, as well as two airstones that run 24/7. I keep it at about 77-78 degrees.

At first in the 29, I had fish dying constantly after only a few days. About ready to give up, I had a friend of mine suggest that I was getting weak stock because I was buying my fish at petco, and they suggested that I go to a mom and pops place.

I found a great store that breeds their own fish, and bought 3 guppies and a school of 6 neon tetra. They've been in the tank for a few days now, and seem to be doing fine, but I've noticed that all of then have red gills.

I checked my parameters:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: between 5 and 10

I've been doing small 25% water changes every two days just in case of a mini-cycle, since I did add a lot of fish at once... but there hasn't been any sign of a mini cycle. Still, their gills all look red and inflamed. I have been using dechlorinator in my tank

Other than ammonia, nitrite or chlorine poisoning, what could be causing the red gills? I want to nip this in the bud as soon as possible! I added a small dose of melafix to the tank to see if it helps at all.

 

[echoofformless]

Drop the airstones. They just create unnecessary turbulence and would do more to annoy fish than anything else.

Red gills can just be normal or the sign of ammonia poisoning. Being as though your tank is cycled and it sounds like you know what you're doing, I'd say maybe it's just normal. Are the fish acting strangely?

I assume your water doesn't have chlorine! Otherwise that would be my final guess.

I think it's fine really. Unless you see stress don't worry.

 

[Rbishop]

Just curious...

are you using a good liquid test kit?

Does your tap water contain chloramine?

What water conditioner are you using?

 

[echoofformless]

I had those questions too, but then considered that the same source water is probably being used on the 10g and if that is having no issues...well...yeah...sounds like a mystery.

My 55g was a "tank of death" for almost the whole first two years of its life. Then suddenly something changed...I don't know what...but now all of my fish are happy in there and have been for a good year now. Once in a while completely weird and unanswerable stuff happens!

 

[Lolita]

Thank you for your answers!

I suspected it might have just been normal because I didn't see any signs of stress--but due to the previous constant deaths with petco fish, I'm being extra careful.

We don't have chlorine in our water at all actually--we run on well water, but because the house is under construction, I've been using dechlorinator just in case.

I also use the API Master Liquid test kit. I'll keep an eye on the fist just in case I do see signs of stress, but so far I'm not seeing anything unusual for still-acclimating fish. (They do hide a lot and tend to come out more when it's dark, but once they're adjusted to their new home I expect that'll change.)

Thanks for the help!


Edit: the airstones are actually in there for a reason. I keep them on low so they aren't too bothersome for the fish, turning them up only when medicating, but I use them to force water movement through my driftwood to avoid any stagnant spots where toxins or algae can build up. I had that problem before in a previous tank.