Electric Blue Rams

[green_valley]

I got 4 electric blue rams about 2 weeks ago. They were doing perfectly fine until last night. One of them were gulping some air on the surface. I thought he was stressing out, I moved him to a hospital tank with stress coat. This morning, he died.

Now, there is another one is at the bottom. and he's getting weaker. I really don't know what's going on. Anyone has any suggestion? The water parameter seems fine. 0 amonia for sure.

Thank you.

 

[authmal]

I got 4 electric blue rams about 2 weeks ago. They were doing perfectly fine until last night. One of them were gulping some air on the surface. I thought he was stressing out, I moved him to a hospital tank with stress coat. This morning, he died.

Now, there is another one is at the bottom. and he's getting weaker. I really don't know what's going on. Anyone has any suggestion? The water parameter seems fine. 0 amonia for sure.

Thank you.

What size tank? What exactly are the parameters? Any other fish in the tank? Plants? Filtration? These'll be things that the smart folk'll want to know.

 

[jpappy789]

Yes we do need more info...first thing that comes to mind would be O2 deprivation. However, in a decently stocked tank with barely adequate filtration (surface agitation) that shouldn't be an issue. Going along with that ammonia would be another possibility but we need exact parameters (NH3, NO2, NO3 for starters) as well as the test kit you are using in order to rule that out...

Also keep in mind that blue rams are not the most hardy fish, especially depending on where the stock came from and how they were handled in the store. It can be a lot of stress on a fish to go through all the acclimation up until they reach your tank. Sometimes a dead fish was just a weak fish to begin with...

But for the time being more info about your setup and any other info would help tremendously.

 

[Jannika]

Unfortunately, this is all too common with Asian-imported Microgeophagus Ramirezi. In the wild they live in soft acidic water with no bacteria. Their immune systems are naturally very weak, so exporters pump them up with antibiotics - which last just long enough to keep them alive for a short time in the home aquarium.

 

[Squad Leader]

I have had a similar experience. All of my water parameters were good, hardness was within accepted specs for the fish and none of them would last past a couple of weeks. I just moved on to something else. My water simply won't support them.