# my guppy has swollen enlarged gills



## susiemarvin (Mar 9, 2010)

I have a 65 gallon fresh water aquarium set up for 4 months. I have done water tests at home every week and twice a month I have it checked at the pet store in town to make sure I'm reading it right. It has been consistantly good. I do a 20 % water change every three to four weeks and at that time vacume half the gravel. I have live plants that are doing great and keep the heat at 78-79 degrees. I use a canister filter below and a top filter aswell. The water has been very easy to maintain with good peramiters. We have 16 adult fish and about 50 guppy fry. When I set it up I put in guppys and plattys, one of the guppys was a juvinal and as it grew it's head seemed larger than the other adults.
This guppy's gills have gotten larger and larger apeaaring swollen and I have recently seperated him into a 10 gallon tank. But since it has taken a couple of months for this to develop, I am wondering if he just has very bad confirmation or if he has a slow developing illness that the other fish may come down with. He eats well and is very active. He doesn't act sick at all.
Please if you have any ideas as to what could be causing this let me know. 
Thank you
Susie


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## Bacchus (Mar 8, 2010)

curious, was this guppy born in your tank? it looks like the spine is slightly crooked. 

can you test your water for ammonia? you may need to increase the water change schedule and maybe not vacuum so much of the substrate. i am wondering if you are getting an ammonia spike. im not sure what else can cause gills to look like that but one thing is ammonia and nitrite poisoning. im not saying that is what it is, but it is possible. what do you do with your filter media during water changes? 

can you test for ammonia and nitrites and post the results? that would help.

if it is just that one fish showing this,and the water quality is fine, it could just be something that is beyond your control like a tumor or something along those lines. you said the fish developed abnormally from the start, correct?

one other thing, are you using test strips or a liquid test kit?


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