Something wrong with Bolivian Ram

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Nicole29

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Jun 6, 2006
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I think something is wrong with my Bolivian Ram, but I have no idea what. The past 2 days he has been sitting at the bottom of the tank not swimming and breathing rapidly. Also, I noticed about a week ago that he was a little darker in colour (but I didn't think anything was wrong as he was still acting normal). He hides at the back of the tank so it's difficult to see him, however I can't see anything physically wrong with him (then again I don't really know what to look for).

I'm not sure what to do, right now I have an ich outbreak in my 10g quarantine (newly arrivals) so I have no where else to put him. Anyone know what I can do??
 

Nicole29

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Jun 6, 2006
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well my ram ended up dying, still not sure why (he was very dark in colour when he died though)

but now my other ram is acting the same way. He is just sitting at the bottom of the tank not moving. HE doesn't seem to be breathing very heavily and he's not any darker in colour. If anyone can give me any ideas on what to do to try and save him please help

My water parameters seem fine, none of my other fish are exhibiting this behaviour
 

boofish2

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Aug 5, 2006
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oh sorry, you fish died :( Can you give us a bit more info so as to help identify the problem? What exactly are your parameters? Are these rams new additions? Who elses is in your tank? What size tank do you have? Also, tell us about the ich situation in your Q tank, was it someone from the main tank? Was it a new fish? Sorry for the 20 questions, it's just hard to diagnose the problem without a little more info. Thanx!
 

Cathy G

Bolivians Rock
Jan 15, 2006
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How long have you had him? What are your nitrates? Do you feed live red worms? What's his/her poop like? Dark colors = stress. Is there another fish bothering him? Whats the temperature - keep it at 80-82 if not already there. If he is still eating, get some Metro+ distrib. by Hikari and dissolve a pinch in warm water. Then soak his favorite food in it and feed it to him... Metro+ is a form of Metronidazole... this will take care of internal parasites, and it also has an antibiotic in it.
Cathy
 

Nicole29

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Jun 6, 2006
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I have had both my rams for a while now (since the start of August).
My parameters are ammonia 0.6 mg/L, Nitrate between 5-10, nitrite 0, I know ammonia is supposed to be at 0 so I'll do a water change however none of my other fish (5 cardinal tetras, 3 red lined rasboras, 3 peppered corys, 1 pleco)--33 gallon tank. I don't feed live food, only flakes, frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp, and algae wafers as well as the occasional vegetable. I haven't noticed the colour of his poop, i'll have to start paying better attention. The other fish seem to leave him alone so I don't think that is the problem. He was eating yesterday but now he isn't even coming to the top. He sometimes as trouble getting food though, the rasboras are too quick for him. The temperature is about 80 right now .
The ick outbreak was in my 10g quarantine, all new additions so that wouldn't be the problem.
The rasboras are new additions (not from LFS--got them off someone) but I can't recall if my rams exhibited this behaviour before or after I put them in. But they all seem to be acting fine, same with the cardinals.

Thank you for your quick responses.
 

Nicole29

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Jun 6, 2006
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i'm gonna go run out to the store now and see if they have Metro+ or anything for internal parasites. Hopefully I can save this one
 

Nicole29

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Jun 6, 2006
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ok I picked up two things:

Anti parasite medicated fish food for internal parasites by Jungle--but he's not eating so i'm not sure this will be good

Parasity Clear Tank Buddies for internal and external parasites by Jungle--these are the tablets that dissolve

which one do you guys think I should use?? This was all they had
 

Cathy G

Bolivians Rock
Jan 15, 2006
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Wisconsin USA
www.cathygeier.com
What is killing your ram is ammonia. It burns their gills. Burns leave scar tissue and the fish never fully recovers. Rams are very very sensitive to ammonia - perhaps if you would have mentioned this in your first post someone would have told you to change water right away.

If you are cycling your tank with fish, water changes are in store for you. Start asap. Get that ammonia to 0. Forget the medicines now - they will only stress the fish more.

Cathy
 

Star_Rider

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Dec 21, 2005
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Ed
if it's not eating there isn't much sense in feeding anti parasite food.

btw, jungle anti parasite food has metro,prazi and levamisole..a very good mix of anti parasite meds.

jungle parasite clear has metro and prazi in it. it works on most parasites. but not very well on camillanus and capillaria. these two have been infecting many sa cichlids(particularly angels)..the levamisole in the food will work.

you can dose the water with the parasite clear..be ready to do 2 doses.many times this wil help the fish enough to get a bit ahead of the parasites.

if the fish starts eating or atleast taking food in..then start using anti parasite food.( I usually mix it with blood worms or thawed frozen brine shrimp.)

boofish how has your fish done??
 

Nicole29

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Jun 6, 2006
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today I did 2 more large water changes (50% and 30%) and my ammonia test reads that the ammonia is higher after each time (I use prime to decholorinate).

I have some Ammo-Lock that I just added to see if that will be a help. If this was a bad idea please let me know and what I should do to get rid of it?

Right now I don't have any live plants in there (they have recently been moved to another tank), if I put some new ones in there would that help with my ammonia?

thanks
 
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