Another Dead Ram

[Skittyfish]

I have another dead Blue Ram. This makes 3 out of 5 Blue Rams to die. I also have three Gold Rams, not one of them has died.

Does anyone know if Gold Rams are hardier than Blue?

[Deb2]

Quite the opposite. Gold rams are more sensitive than blue. Maybe you just got a batch that was sick.

[Dwarfnut]

Did you treat any of them with antibiotics??

Bill C.

[Skittyfish]

What kind of antibiotics? and will they hurt my pleco and 2 mollies?

[Dwarfnut]

Antibiotics should not hurt the other fish, try either Tetracycline or another type... there are several to choose from.

I like to treat them for several days and then see how they do... it has really improved my survival rate of Rams.

Bill C.

[Skittyfish]

Well the LFS man told me to use Penicillin, So I am. I think perhaps they are having swim bladder problems. I have another one that is having difficulty swimming, he just sort of swims really hard and then drops to the bottom. The last one that died did this also. If they all die, I will not buy any more blue rams. I will go with Kribs or Apistos. This is very frustrating. I have never had fish die one after the other like this. Thanks for your help Dwarfnut. Hopefully they will survive.

[Skittyfish]

Another one bites the dust. Maybe two, can't seem to find a Blue one.

I am not going to buy anymore fish for a long time. I had put 5 Angels in my 72 on Wed. 3 are already dead. No ammonia, no nothing. No other fish are affected in that tank. I guess I will stick with tetras, they seem to be doing great.

The 72 did have a Green Severum, a large pleco, 4 Large Silver Dollars, an Iridescent Shark I traded them in at the LFS because I wanted a planted tank. It has been nothing but heartache, I bought the Rams and put in the 10 (came from a not so good LFS) to quarentine them so that the Angels (from good LFS) would not get sick. Did not do me a bit of good.:confused:

[superstein61]

Well, I would agree with you that blue rams are very sensitive. I too would go with a hardier set of dwarf cichlids.

But with your angels also having problems - have you checked your water parameters as of late? perhaps your PH or some other factor is significantly different than that of your LFS and that is causing acclimation problems.

[Skittyfish]

My Ph is around 6.8-7.0 according to LFS and my Aquarium Pharmaceuticals test kit. My Hagen kit says 7.6. I have been doing two 15-20% water changes daily since I put the Angels in, there is also 6 Head and Tail lights, one red eye, 15+/- Cardinal Tetras, 6 Serpae tetras, 4 Ottos, and one Cory. Nothing else seems to be affected. I haven't done a water change yet today. I have checked everything, I even changed my Quick Filter cartridge last night.

I think the Rams just came sick, and now they are dying. I hope the antibiotic helps, I had also been doing a 2 gallon change on the ten gallon tank once a day. But now that I added the antibiotic last night, I haven't done a change on it.
I use StressCoat during changes. Unless there is something new in the tap water.....

Thanks for your replies.

[Evil Dave]

As a side note, I've tried Rams on at least four seperate occasions, and I've never had any luck with them either. Depending on how big your tank is, you might consider Convicts. Not really a dwarf cichlid per se, but they don't tend to grow too large, and are a hell of a lot hardier than Rams. On the other hand a pair of breeding Cons will demolish your tetra supply in "defence" of the fry, so there's a downside to everything. You might also try Jeff Rapp's site www.tangledupincichlids.com for more dwarf selection.

[Dwarfnut]

Sorry to hear about your continued loses... that just sucks. Have you talked to the guy at the LFS about any warranties? Maybe he could give you some more or order some more in. I think they should stand behind their product and do what 's right if you got them that way.

On another note, if you have a good LFS, try to see if they can get you some Bolivian Rams... they are much easier to care for and do not seem prone to the illnesses that Blues are.

If you lived in Colorado, I'd let you come pick some out since I just had another pair hatch some fry and they should be swimming by tomorrow! I need to get rid of some babies!

Best of luck,
Bill C.

[Skittyfish]

Thanks. I won't be going back to this particular LFS. They only have a 24 hour warranty. I knew better, I just wanted to save a few.

All of the Blue Rams are dead, all 5 of them.:(

All of the Gold Rams are doing great, they eat the food before it barely even touches the water. I am dosing them with Penicillin and doing a small water change every other day (1-2 gallons). They don't even pick on the mollies:eek: . So alls well that ends well I guess.

My Good LFS says he would like to have some Rams too, so maybe I will get him to get some Bolivian Rams and we will split the difference. Thanks for your help, and keep your fingers crossed.

[Harry Tolen]

I did not see Mollies on your earlier list of tank inhabitants, or I would have commented then. Mollies are salt/brackish water fish, and need salt in their water to really do well. That, of course, is exactly the opposite of what your rams and tetras need. So you might want to consider taking the mollies out and either giving them back to an LFS, or giving them their own tank.

[Skittyfish]

Harry-I know about the mollies, It is technically their tank, but there wasn't much salt in it ----very very very very little amount.

I also have a common pl*co in it, but I needed a smaller tank to quarentine the Rams and that was my only choice. I plan on moving the rams to my 72 gallon when they get out of quarentine, maybe in a couple of weeks. Not sure what I am going to do with the poop machine though:) . I don't really want the pl*co in my 72 since I just got rid of one. He may have to go to the LFS. Hopefully the Rams will get along with the other fish in my 72.

[Barbie]

Its been my experience, that rams do not tolerate changes in the dissolved gasses present in the water you do water changes with well at all. If I "age" my water before I use it for changes, I can keep rams no problem. One tap water change and they'll act stressed or I'll lose some though. I've had that experience in three different states, and I'm always quite careful to make sure the temperature of the incoming water matches the tank temp. I have people tell me how well their rams are doing, but then a few months later, they inexplicably "lost" them.

Try buying a small garbage can and running a submersible powerhead and heater in it, then using that water to do your changes with. You'll find stabilizing your water in this way will help you keep rams healthy and happy.

I really do think you should consider getting a quarantine tank though. That will allow the fish to acclimate to your water, without the stress of trying to establish a territory and compete for food, not to mention, it lets you avoid the risk of infesting your fish with any problem that wasn't immediately apparent on the new fish at the LFS before you brought them home.

Hope that helps,

Barbie

[Skittyfish]

They are in a quarentine tank. I just keep it up and running with the mollies and pleco in it. So far so good with the Golds, I can't wait to get them into the bigger tank though, so that they won't have to fight for space. They are already lip locking and pushing and shoving....