Blue Ram Rubbing Himself

[Mikeaq]

One of my Blue Rams had been rubbing himself up against the driftwood quite frequently. There are no visible signs of ich, the three other rams I have in the tank seemed completely fine. I decided to do a water change and add salt just in case it was ich. After the water change, all of the rams started scratching. I did a 20% water change, added the salt according to the directions. What is the cause of the scratching??? I made sure the ph and temperature was the same as the tank water.

24 gallon tank
temp: 85
Ph 7.2

I've been adding acid buffer daily 1/4 of a teaspoon each day

could the scratching be from the ph changing too rapidly?

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Sounds like the beginning stages of ich. Most of the times it infects the gills before the spots appear on the body?? Also adding salt speeds up the life cycle and the heat is supposed to kill it. Keep watching them closely. Also test your water make sure nothing is out of whack

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Sounds like ick

Ps, the heat speeds it up, the salt kills it

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Sounds like ick

Ps, the heat speeds it up, the salt kills it

Yea whatever haha, I tried the method an ditched it after a few rainbows died. Went to meds

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Yea, I don't like salt either :/

You know what is the best thing for ick, use as directed, one use, and after three days do a half dose and you should be clear of ick
Tetra ick guard

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

I've heard para guard is great but I used quICK cure and it cleared it up pretty quickly.

 

[Mikeaq]

Well, one of the gold rams that seemed perfectly healthy prior just spazzed out all over the place and just stopped swimming and floated up. Greattttttt.....

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Man, sorry to hear about it

 

[JraGold]

Seeing that you have the temp pretty high do you have lots of surface agitation?

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

Also rams are very sensitive to salt, another reaeon I ditched the method. Be careful when adding salt. And like the above post make sure there is enough surface agitation to provide gas exchange. You might want to add a bubbler temporarily

 

[Mikeaq]

I added an air stone last night & two of them made it through the night, they probably won't eat, but I'm happy they lived. I lost the female of my breeding pair which sucks but I guess this is just my 499380 lesson in trying to keep rams

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

I added an air stone last night & two of them made it through the night, they probably won't eat, but I'm happy they lived. I lost the female of my breeding pair which sucks but I guess this is just my 499380 lesson in trying to keep rams

Rams aren't always easy to keep

 

[Mikeaq]

They've made it through the night with the air pump, their colors came back and they're swimming around like normal, but still rubbing themselves against things. This is what my tank looks like right now. How long should I leave the air stone in here ? I'm not gonna tamper with the water at all any more.

 

[Mikeaq]

Just fed them some frozen blood worms and they ate like they never saw food before

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

I'd keep it in there till you know what's going on

 

[bshenanagins]

Flashing is also a sign of high nitrates, did you check your parameters? We all know how sensitive they are to nitrates

 

[herp_mommy]

He's rubbing himself? Give him some privacy!