Sick Golden Ram

[Fish Breath]

I have a golden ram I got about a week ago I actualy picked up 6, 3 gold and 3 blue rams they all seem to be starving for air when i firstgot them as well as the rest of the fish in the tank I tested all the water parameters and all seemd ok I added a air stone immediately as it looked to me as if they were looking for air (they were all up at the top gasping for air) with in a Half hour they all seemed to be ok I then did a 15% water change and proceeded to clean out the filter media (fluval 2 plus in a 25g) which I found to be all gummed up and clogged which is why i think may have been the problem in the first place nayways I left the airstone in now that i got it and all seemed to be good for all the fish for about a week now until today I notice one gold ram just sitting in one spot on the bottom of the tank i have been watching him all day and he seems as though he is going to die as he just stays in one spot he did not feed with the other fish,I have noticed his eyes are not as clear of a black spot as the other rams also noticed his eyes seem to be bulging out alittle where as the other rams eyes are all flush or slighly inset in relation to thier body the others eyes are a sharp black where as this sick ones seem to be a fadded black also his nose area seems to be a brighter red then the other rams,after the first incident (lach of a clean filter ) I even had the Pet store test all the water peramiters and all was good except the water they said was abit soft but they said that it wouldn't matter (by the way, a reputable store in the area)any ways I am at a loss to what is wrong as I am brand new to this and only started my kids 25g 2/12 months ago ( yes the tank has cycled awhile over a month ago) I keep the temp at 78
and i just tested the water againthis afternoon
Nitrate=5
Nitrite=.1
ammonia=0
PH=7.6 to 7.8
GH=60
kh=60
Any suggestions or should I just put the fish out of his/her misery

 

[webmoose]

The fish when you first got them were likely stress from the trip from the store. If a fish is stressed or sick it will find a corner like you are describing.. I would keep a close eye on the one that is not coloring up or faded as you put it.

If you have a QT tank that would be a great place for him. But if you do not have something like that set up I would keep a close eye on him but not get rid of him.

Do you have lots of hiding places like fake / real plants and stuff? maybe adding a few more hiding places will help your rams be less stressed.

I hope your one guy is just a little stressed up and can settle back down for you..

Best of luck.

 

[Fish Breath]

Have lots of real plants this guy was over the stress from the initial move has been all perky and swimming around until today I just had another look at him/her and the eyes definitly are bulging and still just sitting on the bottom

 

[mitche8359]

I had a black phantom tetra that I was about ready to flush over the weekend. He was nose up in the tank near the bottom. He didn't try to get out of the net. I let him stay and went after a normal acting black phantom and found that that fish didn't have a problem going in the net either. So I decided to leave the 'sick' fish alone. Later in the day he was swimming along with the others just fine. Not sure what was/is wrong with him, but my point is until the fish dies, let em live.

When I bought my blue ram weeks back I noticed that a mating pair were non moving in the tank near the bottom. You could almost make out a 'nest' they had dug out of the gravel. I didn't get the pair though I wish I had. The ram I did get likes to stay near the bottom as well, but he's mostly active. Has his times when he's in idle though.

 

[TankGirl]

The presence of nitrite is a possible culprit, indicating either a tank that was not quite cycled or the addition of the new fish created an overload for the bacteria present, or a "mini" cycle. Rams are, at least in my area, somewhat delicate and are more likely to thrive in an established tank.

When you cleaned out the filter media, if you just rinsed it out in dechlorinated temperature adjusted tap water or with spent tank water then you likely preserved the bacteria, but if you replaced the filter media or washed it completely out this might compromise your bacterial colonies and cause a cycle.

Frequent water changes to keep the nitrite down will be necessary, and you might want to get your own test kits so you can check for ammonia and nitrite daily. Your pH is slightly alkaline for rams, but if they are locally bred fish they may be acclimated to your water anyway, so I would not be concerned with that too much at this point.

Good luck!

 

[Fish Breath]

When I did clean the filter I cleaned it right in the sink under the tap (chlorinated water) however I did also stir up alot of gravel as I took out about 3/4 of a iceream bucket of sand out of this 25 g to put into a newly set up tank (90g) this may have created the new mini cycle.I have been changing the water every week sometimes more just under a week I do have my own test kit that is how I got the test results I just wanted to be sure that I was testing right (because I'm new to this and the colours on some of those charts are so hard to differetiate)which is why I went to get the water tested at the pet store. He told me I was changing the water to much as it was fairly soft (we have soft tap water here in our city).the guy did say at the store that rams were delicate fish however they are localy bred fish...... By the way great info .I wasn't aware you could create a new cycle (but then again I am new to this) But I have been following alot of the forums for the past 2 months preparing myself for the 90g set up as after we i got the 25 given to me ,it was quite apparrent right from the beginning there was no way it was going to hold all the fish my two boys wanted............Now heres is todays test results
Ammonia is between 0 to 0.6 Nitrate-5 Nitrite-.1...... should I do another water change I just did one the day before yesterday By the way ram is still on the bottom But to my surprise still alive but same spot on bottom not active and with buldgy slighlty cloudy looking eyes I just feed them and it did take a couple of pecks at some blood worms but I think only because the basicly fell right on top of him/her. does this help any!

 

[TankGirl]

This helps quite a bit! You are certainly going through another cycle. The cleaning of the filter and the removal of the substrate contributed to this for sure.

I would wait and do a water change tomorrow and try to keep the ammonia and nitrite from going much higher than they are - this will take a while to resolve. It is a good idea to double check the water params with another source, it takes time to get comfortable with eyballing those colors on the chart, so that was good thinking.

Cloudy eye indicates a bacterial infection, likely, and this may or may not be related to the water quality issues. Since you are trying to get the cycle to complete on this tank and you don't really want to dump a bunch of antibiotics in there that will interfere with bacterial colonization, I would recommend the use of Melafix to treat the cloudy eye. If this does not work then you might need to put the fish in a quarrantine tank and use a broad-spectrum antbiotic, and change the water every day.

Good luck - quite a challenge you have here!

 

[Fish Breath]

Something else just came to mind when i cleaned the filter Fluval 2 plus internal i did just clean the one side but the other side with the fine media in it i replaced with a new one as i took the old clogged one and put it into the mix with the aquaclear on the 90 that i am trying to cycle hoping this would help
as for the ram should I add salt to the aquarium someone suggested this to me in another forum What do you think and if so how much to a 25 gal tank

 

[TankGirl]

Salt will help him tolerate the nitrite - good call. Usually 1tbsp per 10gals is the way to go. If you have plants or scaleless fish they might not appreciate the salt, but it is great if you have the fish in quarrantine.