German blue ram red belly, losing weight, parasite?

xWarrior15

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What could my ram have? I've tried every possible treatment till now. Esha 2000, esha EXIT, Esha Ndx, esha GDex and nothing seems to work. He's just getting more conclawed belly and I have no idea what am I seeing on his belly?

He is still eating and is lightly active. He's in quarantine tank now. Please help what can I still do for him?
 

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You want a thin layer of substrate on the bottom of the tank to help the fish feel more comfortable. A picture on the back and some plastic plants would help too.

Is the fish still eating normally?
What does its poop look like?
How long has the problem gone on for?

It could be an internal protozoan infection, which normally causes fish to lose weight over a few weeks. They eat but not as much as normal, and do a stringy white poop. Metronidazole is the treatment of choice for internal protozoan infections.
Seachem does a medication called MetroPlex that contains Metronidazole.
 
You want a thin layer of substrate on the bottom of the tank to help the fish feel more comfortable. A picture on the back and some plastic plants would help too.

Is the fish still eating normally?
What does its poop look like?
How long has the problem gone on for?

It could be an internal protozoan infection, which normally causes fish to lose weight over a few weeks. They eat but not as much as normal, and do a stringy white poop. Metronidazole is the treatment of choice for internal protozoan infections.
Seachem does a medication called MetroPlex that contains Metronidazole.
Thank you. I have bare bottom quarantine, because I read that people don't recommend substrate, decor etc., cause the tank will be medicated and the med will sink into substrate and also to clean up the food debris fast. I have sand and gravel that I could use. But does it mean I should change the substrate in it every once in awhile then and vacuum uneaten food off of it daily?

This recent state has been going on for over a week. But his weight loss started about 3 weeks ago. I saw some weird mass in his belly one day and weeks later he started getting flat belly every day even if he ate so much. He also had white stringy poop with days of normal poop.

I treated main tank with every possible med like I said and nothing seemed to help, so that's why I quarantined him now. I did one more course of Esha NDx which is levamisole and closest to metro, cause I can't get metro in EU.

Now I am treating with Esha 2000 and Esha Exit. I also gave him salt baths a few days ago, but there was no improvement.

Here's a photo from a few weeks ago when I first noticed something weird in his belly.

He is still eating but with little appetite. I feel like he only eats when food floats but not when it touches the floor, like he's disturbed with reflection in there?
 

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Poor fish, your quarantine tank needs to be set up so that the fish will feel relaxed. Lots of substrate rocks and plants. You need to take the stress away from this fish and allow it to relax. Forget the medications for now, just make him comfortable.
 
Poor fish, your quarantine tank needs to be set up so that the fish will feel relaxed. Lots of substrate rocks and plants. You need to take the stress away from this fish and allow it to relax. Forget the medications for now, just make him comfortable.
I know, I'm so sad, for the 1st time I managed to keep a ram longer than a month and now he's sick :( everywhere I read tho it says hospital tank has to be bare, now I really don't know what to do. It seems I'll have to add substrate and a few decor then.
 
When you say that it is the first time you have managed to keep a Ram alive for a month, what do you mean by that, have you had these fish before and experienced issues?
 
Quarantine tanks do need to be kept clean but the fish also need to be kept comfortable and feel secure, otherwise they stress out and that makes treating the problem worse.

You can have a thin layer of sand or gravel on the base of the tank. Have just enough so you can't see the glass. It will allow you to keep the tank clean but also stop the fish seeing its reflection on the base.

You can have a cave or a couple of plastic plants in the tank with the fish. This will provide some shelter and being plastic, they don't need light and can be disinfected after use.

You can use a gravel cleaner to suck up uneaten food and poop when you do water changes. There's no need to change the gravel in the quarantine tank.

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Metronidazole is an antibiotic.
Levamisole treats intestinal worms. They are completely different and levamisole won't help with this.

Esha Exit contains Malachite Green and Methylene Blue and is used to treat external protozoan parasites and some external fungal/ bacterial infections. It is unlikely to help with this issue.

Esha 2000 probably won't help either but you can try it if you can't get Metronidazole.

Salt won't help with this.

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I'm not sure anything will work to be honest. The fish has red lines inside the body, which is usually blood. Whatever that mass was did some damage to the internal organs and I think the fish is dying. If it doesn't improve after a day with Esha 2000 you might think about euthanising the fish.
 

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