Im going to follow up my rather pessimistic post with what i hope is useful information. Learn from mistakes, and if you can learn from others mistakes then all the better
The first time i saw this, i had no idea what i was dealing with and probably by the time i realised i had an issue, result: 1 dead ram. The second time i saw this was early pandemic, so i tried to treat with what i had to hand, result: 2nd dead fish.
You may have noticed i edited my post correcting the number of dead rams. Thats because ive not had much luck with EBRs and my 3rd one died of a different ailment. This has led me to do quite a lot of research on what went wrong as i still have 1 EBR left from the 2nd pair i tried (who is doing very well BTW).
What i think i personally was doing wrong was keeping them in too cold water. GBRs + EBRs like the water hot. Hotter than typical community tanks are set to, like 28c. 26c at the minimum. Too cold water, the immune system isnt up to scratch and your fish is more likely to suffer from infections like these. Ive read the same as MJ about causes, i dont run carbon in my filters, i keep up with my water changes although nitrate is higher in that tank than i would like. So take that for what it is.
Going forward, if i was to get more EBRs, i would set up the tank and other tank mates round them rather than trying to fit them into a community tank.
As to treatment, im from the UK and we dont have access to good over the counter medications here. Anything with genuine antibiotic properties is vets prescription only and its not worth a vets bill for an £8 fish. If i came across similar illness i would look for something specific to treat hole in the head like Esha Hexamita, though you may have access to better meds than what is readily available to me. General cure is one of those meds we arent allowed to have here, so i cant personally comment on it.
