Ram sick, need help diagnosing it

[Todd2]

I originally had 2 German Blue Rams but 1 died. I couldn't figure out why he died. I got both rams last monday and acclimated them for 50 minutes using the drip method. The tank is a 20g long. Water parameters are ammonia 0 ppm, nitrite 0 ppm, and nitrate 0 ppm. I guess the reason for 0 nitrates is that I only have 1 fish and the plants absorb the nitrate. Temperature is 78 degrees and pH is 7.6. I plan to up the temp to 80, and I'm doing that slowly. I'm also going to add peat to lower the pH and make the tank blackwater.

Ever since I got the fish his tail and anal fin have been clamped. This is a sign of stress, right? He's not eating and has been lethargic. Today I noticed that 1 of his pectoral fins is torn a little. Is this the begining of fin rot. I've read that fin rot can be caused by stress and changes to the fishes enviroment. Also I read that fin rot "lowers" the immune system and the fish is more prone to other diseases. I think he might have fungus on his skin. The fungus "part" sort of looks like this but without the redness. I ruled out parasites because the fish hasn't been rubbing against anything.

If someone could help me find out what is wrong with my fish that would be extremly helpful.

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

German Blues prefer more acidic water so the peat should help. Do you have a hardness test kit? They like soft water too. My lfs keeps theirs in with the discus. They are very sensitive to water conditions. For the fin rot use Melafix and use Pimafix for the body fungus.

 

[Menagerie]

There are tons of reasons that a fish may be stressed. Add the Melafix and Pimafix and watch the ram closely. You have not owned these fish long and I wonder if the stock at the LFS was not very good.

 

[Maillis]

Chances are you got fish that were sick from the shop, perhaps internal parasites or a bacterial infection. I've got german blues in a tank that's at a pH of 7.2-7.4 and they aren't stressed, heck they keep trying to spawn!

 

[Frisckey1]

Rams

Rams are such sensitive fish. They are often carrying internal parasitic infections when you get them. The ones that are wild caught are impossible to keep in an aquarium for long.

The best advice I can give you on rams is to have lots of fresh water, low TDS levels, very, very stable PH levels and LOTS of plants. I really feel the key to rams is in the planted tank thing. I've kept rams..but only sucessfully in my planted tank. They quickly perished in all other tanks without so much as a single sign of stress or disease. My tank does not have a particularly low PH (7.6) but the tank itself uses carbon (the only tank I have that does), and substrate is layered with peat and onyx gravel. GH level 11. Despite all that, they lived a pretty long time before mysteriously disappearing. Yep, both of them at the same time. Anyway...at that time I tested my PH then and it dropped to 7.0, which I feel was the culprit. With a KH of 0 degrees, I have to be careful in my screenings. They say the more "colorful" they are, the more stressed they are. I find this observation to be true in my own tanks.

 

[Todd2]

Thanks for all the replies. Turns out when I woke up today the little guy was dead I think it was a bad batch because the day or the day after they got them in they called me, so they must've only been in the LFS for a couple of days.

I was going to go to a different LFS to pick up meds for him, but since we didn't need them we still went anyway to check out the bolivian rams they had there. I was considering getting those because they are a little more hardier. As I go to the cichlid section they have 14 german blue rams! Most of them don't have clamped fins and they are active and swimming around. Most of their tanks are clean and they have like 5 different kinds of tetras in which leads me to believe that they had just recieved a shipment in because last week they didn't have these fish in.

So I'm thinking should I have another try with these fish after I get the temp up and add peat to the water or just get bolivians. These rams are just so tempting to get, their colors are really nice. Should I wait a week or a couple weeks and than go back and see if they are still healthy and get healthy ones? Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Maillis]

Ask the LFS if they will set aside a pair of them for you for like a week and if they are still alive at the end of the week I'd get them. Also you might want to ask what the water parameters are at the LFS to see if there is a big difference between their water and yours.

 

[Menagerie]

Most of them don't have clamped fins and they are active and swimming around.

But some do? Not a good sign. What is the LFS's "stay alive" policy?

 

[Todd2]

Maillis,
I was thinking the exact same thing when I was in there. I asked and the guy said they can only hold the fish until the end of the day and you have to pay in full right there and then.

Menagerie,
I think there was only 1 or 2 fishes that were up in the corner near the surface. I think I'm going to the LFS soon so I'll get back to you on their policy and the condition of the rams.

But, should if these ones look healthy should I try the Blue ones again or try to get bolivan rams?