Gill plate deformities

[Mike and Suz]

Hi there,
I'm a new member and have had discus for about 1 year and have bred discus about 5 times with about 10-30% with gill plate deformities?
Is this normal,some are uniformally short,but I have a new breeding with 1 fish with 1 good side and the other is 1/2 missing which is a concern.
All 4 pairs are unrelated as inbreeding was a thought,I keep thinking of gill flukes, but would seem more a gene pool thing,is this common,can I breed a fish with short gill plates hoping the next generation will not have short gill plates?

[April]

Hi i was told it can be a water issue and also lack of oxygen . one breeder told me to add an airstone so lots of oxygen.
maybe you should ask this in the breeder section. might get better response. or general.

It's from the genes. The old Bulldog is not popular mainly because of flare gills. IMO. they possess a body frame work that most of the hobbyist desire. High body high fin with close to 1" body thickness. Unforetunately most were culls due to their short gill plates and were culled before anyone can see the beauty of those fish. I mamaged to save a few with good gill plates and the offsprings are awesome. I have about 15% F1 has a gill probelms and were culled. The F2 are having a higer dorsal fins. massive body. They are only 8 months old and already 6" in size. A dinner plate discus??. I'll just wait and see. The sad note is the percentage of deformed gills has increased by 20%. I usually cull more than half of the normal fish anyway. So it's not too bad. They will be back cross with the parents and see if it will improve the genes.
Jimmy.

[afick1975]

Hello Mike. Both April and Jimmy are correct. Overstocking, poor aeration, polluated water, and lack of vitamins and minerals are some causes of gill defects. The parents may also have a problem with their genes. Have you tried breeding these fish with other fish? That would let you know if you have a problem with the parents.



Andre

[Mike and Suz]

Thanks for the replies,I have 2 powder blue males from different sources that look quite nice,and 2 turquose blue females possibly sisters,and have used a male with an orange posibly pigeon,none of my adults have any deformities and are nice healthy fish.

The first 2 pairs have given me fish that have snake skin and leopard markings with a percentage of powder blue fish and a percentage of gill plate deformaties?

Deformed gill plates or flare gills are permanent defects. You can spot them at the very early age. Those fish should be culled at the very early age, otherwise is an eye sore of your tank. If flare gills caused by gill worms can be corrected with Formalin. HTH
Jimmy.

[OEG]

I agree with Jimmy, missing plates has nothing to do with water quality in my opinion and all to do with genetics, they will never grow a plate back and will look like freaks if allowed to grow up.
Oscar
Cull Them

[tau]

Can someone post some pictures of gill plate deformities? I want to know how to recognize this problem. :-\