What is hapenning to my Ram?

[gsparsan]

Could anyone please help me diagnose this ram? The entire head is swollen since yesterday. This morning, one eye is very swollen and red. Is that a desease? Or is my ram being bullied by the other male ram?

[Virtuoso2K12]

he seems beaten up real bad,better take him out to another tank with some with from the main tank. He may have infection from the wounds,maybe popeye ?

[Tongue33]

I cannot tell from those pics. But if the eye looks swollen as in Popeye.. I would act fast. if it is Popeye and turns into bloat or already has an internall parasite.. You may already be too late.

Could we get better pics?

Maybe pull nad put in a small jar with water from your aquarium and take pics of affected areas? Will not hurt the fish. Thanks.

[gsparsan]

I can't get better pics right now. I will as soon as I get home tonight.

If it is popeye, how contagious is it? I finally seem to have a stable tank with everything going smoothly. I don't want an outbreak of anything.

[Tongue33]

That second pic kinda makes it look like an internal parasite is in the fishes head.. If that is the case.. You will probably lose the fish... I would seperate taht fish before the head bursts or you could find that it is contageous.

[gsparsan]

3 days ago, it looked perferctly normal. Its amazing how fast it has deteriorated. I'll separate it form the rest just in case.

[Star_Rider]

HITH/HLLE would be my guess.


metro and clean water.. vary the diet as this has been associated with lack of nutrition.
Flagellated protozoa have been associated with cases of HITH but not with HLLE.
IME, HITH /HLLE is a problem some cichlids may run into.. some seem to have more resistance to it. while others more susceptible.

[TLT]

HITH/HLLE would be my guess.


metro and clean water.. vary the diet as this has been associated with lack of nutrition.
Flagellated protozoa have been associated with cases of HITH but not with HLLE.
IME, HITH /HLLE is a problem some cichlids may run into.. some seem to have more resistance to it. while others more susceptible.


I agree. http://www.pondcare.com/Products/TechSheet.aspx?TechSheetID=7 says clout is a good medication. The earlier you catch it the better. The water in your pics seems to have a lot of particulate matter floating around. What are the water paramaters? You said your tanks is finally stable.

[gsparsan]

When I changed water last saturday, the tap water was colder than usual. Can this contribute to it? As for the ram, I think its too late for him. I have put him in a QT earlier and after 4 hours in QT, he has started to swim upside down! Not a good sign. Out of desperation, I had put some primafix in the QT but I have no hope. I really liked this fish.

I will read about HITH/HLLE. I feed them Hikari tropical sticks and tetra cichlid sticks with occasional dried frozen tubifex. I never feed live food or fresh food.

Water parameters as usual ph 6.5; NH3 0; N02 0; NO3 10-20.

I had a few internal parasite problems beginning of the year, which affected only live bearers. When I came out of it, i had a week of itch but i managed to get through it. Then I changed the setup to heavily planted. I had a few algae problems initially but everything has been stable for 4 months. The water parameters have never been a problem although I had some problems with temperature a couple of times during bad weather.

[gsparsan]

I agree. http://www.pondcare.com/Products/TechSheet.aspx?TechSheetID=7 says clout is a good medication. The earlier you catch it the better. The water in your pics seems to have a lot of particulate matter floating around. What are the water paramaters? You said your tanks is finally stable.

The particulate matter is on the outside glass . Just dried water drops. I had been trimming plants just before and didn't get a chance to wipe it properly.

[gsparsan]

I have looked at pics of HITH affected fish and I am almost certain its the same thing that affected my fish. I've read about possible causes and cures but there is nothing about it being contagious or not. Can anyone please shed some light on this? I just want to be sure I don't have to treat a whole tank. I will change 50% water and treat with melafix for a few days just in case.

[Star_Rider]

it depends.. i personally feel some fish are prone to it others not. I had a single angel get it in a tank with 6..none of the others were affected.
with HITH flagellated protozoan are associated.. it is suspected they are affecting the gut and nutrition uptake.
with HLLE it is suspected poor food or nutrition uptake. protozoa are not usually associated with HLLE.

[gsparsan]

I found the ram dead this morning. I watched the remaining 2 rams closely and there is no abnormal behaviour and no sign of any illness on them. I will keep an eye on them.
I checked my nitrate again and I got a reading of 5. The next water change is due on staurday. So I don't think it is the water quality. I have read a mention about electrical current in the water causing this. I have an electrical CO2 generator in the tank. I will check that angle as well during the weekend.

[Tongue33]

Sorry for your loss.. But This was NOT HITH. Hith Does not swell.. It pits.

Was the head exploded? Did you get another picture. The redness in the first pic where the swelling was.. Strongly calls out Parasite.
If that area is now a pit I would really watch the other fish!

[gsparsan]

The head did not explode. I am keeping a close watch. I will add melafix just in case after the next water change tomorrow.

[Star_Rider]

Sorry for your loss.. But This was NOT HITH. Hith Does not swell.. It pits.

Was the head exploded? Did you get another picture. The redness in the first pic where the swelling was.. Strongly calls out Parasite.
If that area is now a pit I would really watch the other fish!

what parasite are you referring to?
HITH does swell just before the pustules burst. HITH has strong resembles SX to pimples in human
also with open wounds there is a high risk of infection which will cause redness.

BTW HITH has been associated with flagellated protozoa.. a parasite. treatment is recommended with metronidazole but I believe it is an antibacterial.

have you studied HITH/HLLE?

it does appear there are pits/tunnels(HLLE)
the first pic is typical of HITH.

[Dangerdoll]

to me, it looks like he had worms in his head. I lost a ram to this myself but due to me not knowing what or how to treat in time, he died too.... afterwards, I could probably have used Levisamole Hydrochloride.

[gsparsan]

I have gone through some materials about HITH on the web and seen the pictures. They look identical to my ram except the swelling in the eye. None of the other fish have shown any sign of any desease so far.

[Rbishop]

Tough loss. It does remind me of worms though.