I Can't Find One Of The Blue Rams, Could She Have Been Eaten?

[ey2006]

I have 2 blue rams, not sure of their sexes. Got them last Friday and they seemed fine, no fighting or aggression to each other or other fish. They are in a community tank (300L) with loaches, cories and some tetras.

Got some cardinal tetras on the weekend and noticed they had ich so I treated the whole tank for ich, had a feeling the rams wouldn't fare too well with ich medicines.

I put the first dosage in last night and when I checked on the fish this morning, I could honestly only find one of the rams. Where could the other one be?

I have clown and yoyo loaches at the bottom as well as cories, could they have 'cleaned up' on the blue ram if it did die overnight?

I have searched everywhere in the tank, taken out the ornaments, driftwood and still can't find it...I've checked the floor to see if it jumped out and its not there either.

If the loaches did eat it, wouldn't there be some remains of the body or bones left? I still don't even know if it did die overnight, though it looks likely as I've spent a good 30 minutes searching for it in the tank.

Water stats are fine, apart from nitrate.

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40
PH 6.8

 

[TammyLiz]

Yes, the loaches could have completely cleaned it up if it died. Mine are very persistent in ripping up anything that is too big for them to take in one bite. As far as why your ram died, they are pretty sensitive. It could have been anything, but the nitrAte level probably irritated it. It looks like you need to do some water changes to get them down. Clowns and yoyos are also very sensitive to nitrAtes. They are certainly feeling that level. You need to keep it under 20. I try to keep nitrAtes under 10 in my loach tank. Of course if it slips above your goal every once in a while its not going to kill the fish, but loaches will actually show discomfort, and be more likely to get sick.

Loaches are sensitive to ich medications because they are scaleless. You should use only a half dose.