Bolivian Ram with odd behavior & coloirng

[hbeth82]

Have 5 Bolivian Rams in my 55 and have had them in there for about months. Four of them seem to be doing quite well but the fifth hasn't grown much, very seldom hangs out with the others, and never comes over to eat. Only time he does seem to eat is when I drop the food over on the side of the tank where he usually stays but even then he doesn't express much interest in food. The area around his gills has started to look rather inflamed but he doesn't seem to be struggling to breath. Best sign of life is that he's somewhat territorial, head-butting the other rams when they intrude on his side.

Water temp is 76, ammonia & nitrite are 0, and nitrate is probably about 30 (doing a big water change after posting this).

If I were going to still be in town, I would feel okay about just keeping a close eye on him but I'm leaving tomorrow and won't be back for about 8-10 days. Don't have any friends who'll be in town for this time so my plan is to set up an automatic feeder but of course I can't put him in an isolation tank for 10 days with no one to change the water.

So, I'm not sure what to do. Don't even know that there's anything wrong with him as the other rams have some red coloring in the same area, it just seems more prominent on him. Thoughts or advice?

 

[happygirl65]

Well Rams are territorial and the one you describe is probably just the weakest of the group so it gets picked on and keeps to itself. It is pretty normal cichlid behavior. With a small number of them there isn't much chance of them spreading out the aggression to other weaker fish so they will all stick to picking on the one. He will probably be fine when you go but do have someone check on them just to be sure, even if it's just to give a feeding half way through your time away. Otherwise you can put in a weekly feeder tab, I would not normally recommed them but in your case it might not be a bad idea.

 

[hbeth82]

Don't care for those feeder tabs either, which is why I'm planning on using my automatic feeder (one of the cheapies but it works). None of the other rams pay much attention to him or seem to bother him much, it's just his random shows of bravery when they trod on his land in search of food.

May not have said this right in my first post but my main concerns are with regard to the reddish coloring around his gills and the lack of interest in food. He's never joined in the feeding frenzy along with the other fish but the irritation in the general gill area had be a bit more concerned. Sure he'll probably be fine but is there any particular way I should prep the tank?

Thanks.

 

[DizzCat]

Can you get a picture of him? We might be able to tell if the coloring is normal. As for the eating, is he a healthy size? Not looking skinny? I never really saw my adult Rams eat, but I know they were because of their size. Nice and healthy Rams. They just never joined in the feeding frenzy, just nibbled all day what they found later.

 

[hbeth82]

Here are a few pix of the little guy in question. Compared to my other rams, all purchased at the same time and about the same size, he's now probably about 2/3 - 3/4 the size of the others. The redness around his gills doesn't show up well in the picture. If you're familiar with the rams, it's about the same shade red as some have on the edges of their pectoral fins.
Still doesn't seem interested in eating, takes food in but spits out most if not all of it. Looks like I'll also be able to use my boyfriend's automatic feeder in addition to my own, so I'm considering using both, one on either end of the tank so there will be food where he normally hangs out (will have it distribute less there) and on the side where most of the other fish usually eat. But, since I'll be gone for a while, is this too much food?

Thanks!

 

[bs6749]

As soon as you described the problem I thought of poor water quality. Then I read further and see that your water is extremely dirty for rams. High nitrates in your tank along with stress (presumably from the other rams) can not only damages your fishs' kidneys, but also cause the rams to break out in sores like you are seeing. I strongly recommend that you do a large water change and keep the nitrates under 10ppm for rams, even in your planted tank.

If you are dosing ferts then I would stop as they obviously aren't doing much. You have swords and fast growing stem plants in your tank, which would normally take in the nitrates but you have a nutrient or lighting deficiency (or both) and the plants aren't growing much. Get the water clean ASAP if you want a chance to save your fish.

Also, fish can go a long time without food. 8 days is no problem for them, they will just be very eager to eat when you get back. Putting one auto feeder on the tank is too much IMO and 2 of them is just downright overkill. You will come home to find that you have tons of uneaten food in the tank along with algae everywhere. Uneaten food means more ammonia, then nitrites, then nitrates. None of these are good for your fish and though your intentions may be good you will actually be harming your fish.

What I would recommend next time is to get a bunch of live blackworms and put them in the tank before you leave. Live food takes a long time to spoil.

Also, I do expect that this ram won't recover. I've seen it many times and they seem pretty unwilling to recover once they spit out food. You could always try a metronidazole course. A strong concentration bath may be the way to go. Also dose kanamycin for bacterial infections. Keep the water at 78-82.

 

[hbeth82]

I agree, those nitrate levels were bad but they seldom get above 20 or so (finals and food poisoning slowed me down a bit this week). Unfortunately my tap water is seldom below 10ppm so I try to include 10-15gal RO-H20 and this helps a bit. I thought otos are much more sensitive to water parameters than rams but those that I have appear to be fine.

As for the food, I know that they probably would be fine but since I'm driving, I'd worry that snow or some other winter-style inconvenience would hinder my getting back within the next 10 or so days. The feeder is one of the cheapy clock style feeders for which you can control how much food is dispensed ever 12 hours by how open the tube is so I'll dial back on how much is dispensed. Probably go for about a 1/4 or so of what the normally get.

Do know what is actually wrong with him (i.e., a diagnosis if possible) or from general experience? Sorry, just thinking that if you do know of a particular diagnosis, I might be able to do a bit more research.

Also, where do you get the live feeder worms? Haven't seen anything small enough that any of my fish could eat.

 

[bs6749]

Your local pet shop should be able to get live blackworms. Otherwise you could order them online...probably not feasible however since they are sold in 1/4lb packages (smallest I have seen) and that would be way more than enough for your tank for a long time.

Most likely the fish has damaged kidneys from high nitrates and a secondary bacterial infection (kanamycin). Could also have internal flagellates (you mentioned not eating) so that's why I recommended metronidazole. I bred rams for a while and can tell you that they are fairly susceptible to high nitrates like you have. Even 20ppm is way too much IME. If your tap water has 10ppm then you should think about cutting it with RO like you already do and have fast growing and undemanding stem plants that don't need much lighting. Guppy grass is a good one for example.

 

[hbeth82]

He ate a couple of the Omega sinking pellets yesterday morning and I watched to make sure he didn't spit them back out. Trying to stay optimistic about that and really wishing that surgeries could be scheduled around the needs of my pets.

The lighting in the tank is pretty weak, less than 1WPG. It's predominately filled with amazon sword and anachris, as well as a few odds and ends.

Thanks