german blue ram has a bent tail

bobsaget

AC Members
Feb 19, 2011
117
0
16
30 gallon tank. two paradise fish (male and female..not sure if they're paired though) 17 rummynose tetras, and 2 german blue rams. had all these guys for about a month or a bit more, and had a case of ich. i saw 1 spot on 3 rummies, so i instantly treated with salt, and gave it a few weeks, all is good with the ich! but i have been noticing my male german blue ram, being reclusive. and normally when all the fish are all swimming with eachother and being boisterous, the male ram is hiding in plants or in caves. then i got a look at him. he has a bent tail!!! it goes down a bit, then goes up. ill include two pics that might not show much, but you'll get the idea. he doesnt seem to be eating too much, however all the other fish kept stealing the food as well. his color is lost, and his swimming is a litle off, however he still can. ive noticed this for about 3-4 days now. sorry guys, i know its always something with me. and i want to thank you all for your patience, expertise, and help. this is one of the best aquarium forums online. p.s. click the pics to make them bigger..then click again. they get huge.
IMAG0240.jpgIMAG0243.jpg

IMAG0240.jpg IMAG0243.jpg
 
crooked spines are always a bad thing unless he was born that way.

Sorry, I don't know all of the possible diseases... but it could also be caused from undernourishment. Rams seem like a popular fish to get shoved out of the way by fish during feeding and accidentally neglected by owners when it comes to feeding
 
I've got a very small gold ram with exactly the same thing. He swims aboutfine eats ok, not shy. I thought it was a deformity from birth so I figured i got one with a bit more character than normal ones. Maybe this more commonthan I thought! Probably not much we can do at this point.
 
I've got a very small gold ram with exactly the same thing. He swims aboutfine eats ok, not shy. I thought it was a deformity from birth so I figured i got one with a bit more character than normal ones. Maybe this more commonthan I thought! Probably not much we can do at this point.


right, but mine wasnt like that until recently. and ive had him for atleast 4 months
 
right, but mine wasnt like that until recently. and ive had him for atleast 4 months

You say he wasnt like that when you first got him so this leads me to believe that he is accidentally being under-nurished or maybe its something that comes from his genes. Some deformities may take time to be visible such as scoliosis( sorry if the spelling is wrong). If its a deformity then theres really nothing you can do. If he is accidentally being under-nurished maybe you should try target feeding him with a turkey baster. Im not fimiliar with target feeding as i havent done it but im sure there are many members on this forum that have done it and hopefully they can chime in on how the proccess is done.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
okay well i posted this on the 15th. its the 19th now. the male ram seemed to have been getting better. my girlfriend fed him and noticed he actually ate. he was browsing at the top and color was brightening up. but then she was saying how last night and today he was basically just not improving. well today, i decided to look at the tank and then i saw the paradise fish picking apart my live male ram, (specifically taking the eyeball out) and so i grabbed a bowl of cold water with tons of ice cubes and euthanized the male.

took out the 2 paradise fish and returned them because i also found a rummynose with a missing eye a few weeks back. i got another german blue ram male for the female. hes just put in the tank, and breathing hard. im sure hes just stressed..BUT, i THINK i see ick on him. which will realy really suck cause i just got over ick 2 weeks ago and i hate to redose on these fish..but i guess salt is better than what medication comes from a bottle.
 
You need to learn the lesson about quarantine. You've had multiple issues with barbs after not quarantining them, now this ram. If you get something like camallanus worms, *everything* thing in your tank is going to suffer much more, and probably die, than if they merely got ich. Considering that some say as little as a single drop of water can be enough to reinfect an aquarium with camallanus, it's stubbornly hard to eradicate from your tank.
 
Last edited:
its not that i dont want to quarantine.. i just dont have the room to get a tank, another heater, filter, etc just for quarantining purposes. :/
 
No counter, no shelving, no floor space? All you need is a heater and a filter, and the filter can be an extra on your main tank until you need it, that way it's an instantly cycled QT. It doesn't have to be fancy, doesn't have to be on a stand, just has to hold water and whatever needs to be quarantined. You keep giving yourself a hard time with illnesses that could be easily avoided simply by quarantining new acquisitions. Make your life easier, not harder, and that's not getting into how your fish are being stressed by the parasitic infestations and treatments that could be avoided.
 
AquariaCentral.com