Lonewolfblue

sorry i posted these comments back to front so if you read in order from the last one to the first it will make sense!!

last night i treated my tank for ich using ickaway (44 drops in a 54 litre tank) just to be on the safe side and yesterday i put garlic in with their food which was advised by the guy at the fish store to clear up internal parasites. this morning the male ram was showing his dorsal fin a bit more but has since gone back to keeping it clamped. he only shows it when i first drop in neutral regulator or when he chases the female (which i'm also a bit worried about).

sorry about the long email but i'm very concerned for them! do you think i have reason to be worried and should i treat for internal parasites because of the flashing and fin clamping or is it likely my water quality is upsetting them?

thanks for your help, justin

i did have an outbreak of ich when i first had the tank that killed five neon tetras and infected one gourami (who survived) but i treated it for a fortnight and am pretty confident it is gone. i have been looking closely at my fish and there has been no signs of the white salt like spots.

one of the gouramis is on the verge of dying he just lies at the bottom of the tank or right at the top but he is getting hassled a lot by the other gourami, who has always chased him so i think he may have been bullied to death, as he is showing no other signs of illness.

hi lonewolf blue. was reading through a forum somewhere trying to get some info on german blue rams and i read a comment by a lady on there saying you have a lot of experience with them.

i have a fairly new tank, only about 6 weeks old and have had a pair of rams, 1 female,1 male in there for a week. the only fish in there apart from that are a pair of dwarf gouramis, both males.

my problem lies mostly with the male ram. i see him flash on rocks and on a log a few times a day. also his dorsal fin remains clamped most of the time and when it is up it seems to twitch. my levels are all normal and i waited until my tank had cycled before putting the rams in. ammonia is 0.3 ppm nitrite is 0.1ppm and nitrate is 10ppm. the ph is 7.7 and i know rams like it below seven so i am currently using neutral regulator to get it there.

do you have any suggestions for what plants i should use for my first planted tank?