Unhealthy Electric Blue Ram.

[Chaines1991]

Hello.

I have had a male blue ram for approximately 6 months, he has been on his own for around two when is previous mate died. Last week I introduced a new female to the tank which he became very interested in and the two seem compatible.

Yesterday I noticed a slight colour change in the male blue ram he appears to have darkened and lost the red pigment above the eyes but at the time his behaviour was normal, this morning however his behaviour has changed he has become very reclusive hiding in a dense area of foliage at the back of the tank his breathing is rapid and I have observed the occasional flicking against aquarium decor, I have also noticed a very small white area above his right eye and the back tail fin is also clamped although the fin has been like this since i acquired him.

None of the other fish seem affected , the female seems healthy and she will occasionally nudge him in which case he will respond by nudging her back, he does appear to be feeding normally.

Here are the details of my tank.

Ph 8.2
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20ppm

Tank Size - 150 litre
Filter - Fluval 306

Tank mates include several species of tetra along with patties and plecos.

Any help on this would be most appreciated , I will also include a picture of the ram to illustrate.



Apologies for the quality of the photos I will try to upload more


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[Chaines1991]

Some more pictures



The female spends a lot of time next to him and she continues to occasionally nudge him, sometimes he will return the favour other times he seems to be knocked off balance by it. If the male moves to another part of the tank she will sometimes follow him and other times not.


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[Delapool]

How is he doing? Is he flashing around the fins?

Edit - gills, I meant gills.

 

[Chaines1991]

How is he doing? Is he flashing around the fins?

Edit - gills, I meant gills.

Hi thanks for the reply.

The flashing that I observed earlier appears to have stopped , i wasn't able to see him this morning so I searched for him tonight and discovered him hiding behind the foliage. He is still quite dark In colour but I have not noticed any new symptoms as of yet , the white patch above his eye hasn't grown in size as far as I can see but it's quite difficult to tell properly as he is in quite a dense area of plants.

I finished a course of anti bacterial treatments today , but they seem to have had little effect on him , I plan to start a new treatment tomorrow as I am concerned that the white patch could be the onset of hole-in-the-head disease I'll let you know if this has any effect.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Delapool]

Good luck! Keep us posted. Some extra water changes may help as well. Has temp been fairly stable or do you think the stress of new fish has brought it on?

I've got a small black angel that has never had good growth. I've been experimenting with dry ferts and noticed the angel looked a little ragged. Will have to test water tonight.

 

[Chaines1991]

I've been monitoring the water temperature closely and I've not seen any significant temperature changes , as for the addition of the female to the tank it is possible she is bringing on his stress.

I went looking for him this morning and discovered that his back fin, the one that was clamped had been eaten away! I immediately suspected this to be a case of fin-rot so I have dosed the main tank with some anti fin rot treatment and I have moved him to a small quarantine tank as this will make monitoring his condition much easier.

He's in a bad way tonight so I've dosed the tank with another course of antibacterial treatment, I've turned the lights right down and I'm going to keep away from the tank so I don't stress him further.

Will let you know his condition in the morning.


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[Delapool]

Yikes, good luck. What is temp now?

 

[Chaines1991]

An update on the status of the male ram.

I transferred him to a small 8 litre tank last night I realise that this is a bit small but hopefully he will not be in there for too long , I started a course of hole-in the head treatments today after i looked up another post on the forum about a gbr that has a very similar looking white patch on his head.

The temperature is holding stable at 26.5 degrees at the moment I will monitor the condition of the ram and see if there is any improvement after the treatments have finished.


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice