Please help ASAP! =( Blue Ram trouble

[hnbayes]

I have a cycled 20gal that has been running for months with:
platy, 2 zebra danios, glass catfish, cory catfish, pleco, raphael catfish, 2 blue rams


The blue rams have both been there for several months. However, now that the balloon blue ram has gotten bigger, he/she is now chasing the original regular blue ram.

***Now, my original one is not swimming around at all, (unless something chases her), is bobbing from side to side occasionally, tail seems to float up, and does not have very good color.

I would really appreciate some insight on what might be causing this!! I love this fish.

 

[ptray]

Sounds like swim bladder to me. Without knowing the rest it sounds like your tank is way way over stocked. It is probably stressed because it doesn't have enough space to move with all the other fish in a 20 gallon tank. Get them into a QT tank, add a little salt Stress Coat and don't feed for a few days see if that helps. But you really shouldn't go a pleco or a Raphael cat in a 20, much less both. The number of fish versus the tank size is probably causing them a lot of stress which is why they are susceptible to disease

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[Bloodroot]

Do you possibly have two Male rams in there? The males are extremely territorial to their same species.

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[hnbayes]

Blue ram trouble

Sounds like swim bladder to me. Without knowing the rest it sounds like your tank is way way over stocked. It is probably stressed because it doesn't have enough space to move with all the other fish in a 20 gallon tank. Get them into a QT tank, add a little salt Stress Coat and don't feed for a few days see if that helps. But you really shouldn't go a pleco or a Raphael cat in a 20, much less both. The number of fish versus the tank size is probably causing them a lot of stress which is why they are susceptible to disease

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Ptray, yes, I had researched a little on SBD, but she was just barely rocking side to side every now and then. And as far as being overstocked, I was afraid it might be, or be very close to it. I have always heard a tank can handle up to an inch per gallon (1in: 1gal). Is this correct?

All of the parameters in my 20gal are: ~7.2 - 7.6 pH (I struggle to keep it around 7.2, as I don't know about using another chemical to lower it.)
0ppm ammonia
0ppm nitrite
~80 ppm nitrate =(( (I do regular water changes, but cannot get this down. I just recently added some prime, but so far, no change. Any suggestions?)

 

[hnbayes]

Blue ram trouble

Do you possibly have two Male rams in there? The males are extremely territorial to their same species.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Aquarium Advice mobile app

And Bloodroot, yes, I believe they are both females. It turned out that I separated the balloon ram from the others that night, and switched him over to another tank yesterday morning. And now, as far as I can tell, my original blue ram has fully recovered!! She looks much better and is swimming around with the other fish now. ;D

 

[ptray]

The 1 inch rule is not the best guide. First use their full grown sizes, not how big they are now. The only thing I would keep in the small tank is the platy and danio. The pleco and Raphael both need large tanks. That nitrate is bc there are too many fish making too much waste for your tiny filter. And sbd is often caused by poor water conditions