Urgent - Blue Ram trouble

[Hrafnkel]

Something's nmot good with my ram. He's still breathing, but he's laying on his side on the bottom of the tank and not looking very good... His colors are alright, though. The tank is cycled and he has hiding places, and the temperature is fine. Can anyone help? Ammonia and nitrites are at 0 and nitrates are low enough, did a water change a few days ago.

 

[Hrafnkel]

Alright, he's at least moving around a little now... Got him to nibble on a piece of bloodworm. He seems a little better. I'd have thought he was just sleeping, but he was flat on his side and didn't look very good. He's still kind of on the gravel but he's moving a little more, now.

 

[Meredith]

I would do another water change. I hope he makes it.

 

[Hrafnkel]

I did one right after posting. He's still laying around but he swam a little more, and he's breathing pretty steady...

 

[Hrafnkel]

He's still alive, but he's just laying there... Every once in a while he'll swim up a little way and then he just drops limp to the bottom and lays there forever. Can someone please help? It's a 10 gallon tank, he's the only fish in there currently.

 

[Toirtis]

New tank? Temperatures? How long have you had this fish?

 

[Hrafnkel]

Temp is at 80, not a new tank (like I said earlier, it's already cycled, I recently moved its old inhabitants out). Had the fish since saturday. Had two, one died shortly after being put in the tank. Could only acclimate them for so long because of the long ride home from the store.

 

[Toirtis]

I do not know about this 'long ride' ....the rams I got in from Florida (100 rams in a large bag 14 hours in transit) acclimated well over an hour. ...I think that the rams were either already ailing, or took a considrablr pH shock....either wiuld explain your results. Any idea of the pH that they were in versus your tank pH?

 

[Hrafnkel]

No, but that's the only suspicion I have. I'm in western Texas, so my water's pretty hard (tons of limestone in the ground). I got 'em in Lubbock, which is at a higher elevation and is in the part of Texas that didn't used to be underwater, so they probably have softer water there. The ride was about 2 hours... Someone said that might've been why the first one died (ammonia poisoning in the bag, lack of oxygen).

 

[Hrafnkel]

Nevermind. Checked him this morning and he was dead.