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Apistogramma Red Lips


DougAdel
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Male Cockatoo Apisto with bright red lips. It looks like he's going for a night on the town. No other lesions and other colours seem to be fine. A little bit of clamped fins. The lips aren't swollen just bright red. 

60 Gal

0 ammonia

0 nitrite

About 20 - 30 nitrate

Another Male Cockatoo showing a little bit of the red lips, but not nearly as bad. They don't squabble and actually seem to be buds.

Everyone is eating fine. No spitting out soaked NLS pellets. 

 

2 things that happened.

CO2 had an end of tank dump and had some sluggish fish. No one was gasping for air at the top. Did a water change and got everything back to normal within a few hours.  

Mystery snail died. I hadn't gone looking for it in awhile, but I found an empty she'll a few days before I noticed the red lips. I did an ammonia and nitrite test after I found the empty shell and there were no readings, but there could have been a mini cycle within a few days. No red gills though so I don't think it's an ammonia burn. 

I've searched a couple other forums. No white cotton like spots, no lesions and nothing else to suspect columnaris. I dosed with API E.M. Erythromycin to see if it was bacterial. 

Any input? I know the picture is horrible, but he's camera shy. 

20170518_105349.jpg

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I've read a lot about apistos but haven't come across this. If it was a temporary issue that caused it, like the snail, he may recover by just some TLC. At least the normal behaviour is a good sign.

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The pic is blurry, but it looks like a wound to me with a bit of an infection.  Keep the water clean and maybe add an alder cone or almond leaf if not already in there (they seem to help keep fungus away naturally), and it should clear up shortly.

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Thanks for the tips guys! He's still eating like no tomorrow and I'm doing partial water changes to keep it healthy in there. 

I'll see about alder cone or almond leaves. I know aquarium central use to have leaves, but I haven't seen any there in awhile. 

I'll update if he gets worse. 

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You can collect your own alder cones in the river valley and catch some fresh air as a bonus.

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15 hours ago, biodives said:

You can collect your own alder cones in the river valley and catch some fresh air as a bonus.

I like that idea! Should I boil them first? I Google it and the Internet seems to be torn on the subject. 

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I don't see any reason to boil them. Perhaps it is suggested to leach out some tannins which some people love and others hate. However, I expect it will also leach out, or break down, the good stuff so don't boil. If the water does get a bit of a yellowish colour it will disappear with future water changes and your apisto won't mind.

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