Gill filiments bleeding?

I think my baby got hurt.

IDK how - there’s nothing sharp in his tank (I've got silk plants, a plastic cave that has all rounded edges, a decorative turtle with rounded edges, and a squidward house with no rough edges) and he’s the only baby I’ve got. I did notice though that the thermometer was knocked off the wall, he probably bumped it while swimming, I took it out and checked it - it's not broken. The only other thing is the water bottle I have around the spray bar with some holes cut in it to reduce the current (it's too strong without it - this bottle has also been there for months).

His params are normal, my tank is actually almost finished cycling (I can now safely go three days without water changes before any ammonia shows up) and he had a water change last night. To be more specific - his ammonia when I tested it was either 0ppm or .25ppm (it's hard for me to tell, but I changed some water anyway) - nitrites are 0ppm. Temps between 62 and 65 degrees.

He spit out the food I offered him last night, and refused food the night before that but he did have two worms about 5/6 days ago. He’s super active at night, both last night and the night before I couldn’t sleep too well and every time I woke up he was swimming around like a happy baby, like he always does. Last night I caught him swimming again, and he only stopped around daybreak when the room got brighter, like he always does. When I woke up, about 9:30 (its 12am as I post this - no change since I first saw him) I noticed he was sitting on the side of the tank closer to me so I went to say hi. When I did I saw that two spots on his top gill were really red while the rest of his gill filaments were light, because he’s resting now so I know that that’s the normal color for them to be right now. So why are these two red? Does it look like he cut himself somehow? Is he bleeding? I’m not sure what to do because in about 2-4 hours I have to leave home and wont be back until TOMORROW night. I don’t want to stress him out with a salt bath if there’s not really anything to worry about, especially since I wont be home to check in on him for the rest of the day to see how he is, if maybe his gill is just being weird this morning, but I don’t want to not do anything in case there is something wrong? idk. idk what to do. i’d love to stay home and watch him but I can’t.

It looks to me like maybe he bruised himself a little. I don't think you need to do anything. Check him when you get home tonight and keep an eye on if over the next couple days. It's a minor scrape at worst, and could just be blood vessels growing funny- they do that occasionaly. If it starts growing fungus, then you may have to treat him. I always go to a 10 minute soak in tap water that has not been dechlorinated first, as it seems less harsh than salt baths and that's usually all it takes to get mine back on the right track. Good luck, and don't worry too much.
If the red starts spreading to other filaments or down the gill stalk, or if he continues to refuse food or behave "off", then it' might be time to worry. That could be a sign of an infection that needs antibiotics.

Ditto to that too, I had an axie that did that and the gill turned into a weird hanging loopy thing. That is blood stuck there and it may always be stuck there now since it likely a bruise. If you were to ever rub the axie's gills with say a q-tip and those odd filaments break, the yes you will see a bit of blood. So yeah take it as a battle scar. Give the axie a few days since it probably still hurts.