German Ram Cichild - Face color changed?

[CichildFan]

Hi All,

Great, professional forum...so I decided to join.

I need some help. I have two blue ram cichilds in my tank..the one has the normal color scheme, but the one side of the other one is all black?? He didn't look like that when I bought him at the store.

I think I spotted ich on one of his fins...so to be safe..I added medicine that should hopefully take care of that. Has anybody every seen a blue ram like this before? He looks all healthy...swimming...eating...chasing.

Appreciate any advice!
Thanks.

 

[bs6749]

Any pictures of this? They can get black on their "chest" area between the pelvic fins when breeding/showing dominance but I've never seen it on the entire face of one.

 

[DizzCat]

Bolivian Rams will turn almost black if they are stressed and also when they sleep.

 

[CichildFan]

Here is a picture of his color change. Still don;t know what is causing it. He is in good shape...I'm feeding them a variety of brine shrimp,blood worms and flakes.

Stunned on this one...

 

[Adie]

Hey I was just trying to find information on why half of my rams face had turned black when I found this thread. From the sounds of it, theyve both had similar effects. Hes fine in himself still eating displaying and chasing as much as ever but now with a black face on one side. It just came on so suddenly; fine one day, black the next. I wanted to know how long yours has been like this and if hes still ok, or whether I should start preparing myself for the worst.

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

what are your water params... if you have to low of a ph this could cause unnecessary stress on him, resulting in what you see.. keep us posted though.. im intrested.

 

[bs6749]

A low pH isn't going to cause any problems like this. Rams are natively found in acidic waters anyway where the pH can be 5.0 which is some of the more acidic water seen in this hobby.

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

Sorry.. I meant high... During the summer around here anyways.. ph runs really high out the tap..

 

[bs6749]

A high pH isn't going to cause that either. I've had wilds in a pH of 8.0 before with no issues and I know people that have kept wilds in a pH of 9.0 or slightly more.

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

my mom kept fish in a tank for 20 years without a pwc.. just because it is good for one person... doesnt mean its going to work for everyone.

 

[melosu58]

Ok Lets calm down here and remember that everyone`s opinion, experience and whatever is important. There is no one way to do things in this hobby. Let`s respect everyone`s opinion or else we are going to have to get involved in ways we dont want to. Everyone play fair and respect others opinions. Want to apologize to the OP and I deleted all flaming posts.

 

[taylorodw]

This is the only other similar case I could find: Help! My German Ram's Face is Turning Black