My Rams Are Not Well, Help Please

[laurahobson]

I have 1 male high finned ram and 1 high finned female ram, we were given them as a present along with 2 moonlight gouramis, when we got the 2 rams they both had silghtly damaged tails but then the gouramis damaged their tails even more so we took the gouramis back and we have the 2 rams now in a hospital tank but their tails dont seem to be getting any better and there not doing it to each other i am sure of that and now they wont eat and i have tryed flaked frozen and live food and they are just staying at the bottom of the tank and they are not nice a plump like rams should be so any advice would be helpfull to me please, thanks

 

[Assaye]

What are your water stats for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Also pH and hardness are important for rams as they tend to be highly sensitive to water conditions.

What sort of tank set-up were they in? Temperature? Size? Other fish?

Any redness, blackness or white fungus on their tails? Loss of colouration?

 

[laurahobson]

Tank size: 240 litres in main tank and they are now in a 60 litre tank on thier own, these are the readings for the 60 litre tank
pH:6.4
ammonia:0
nitrite:10
nitrate:0
kH:0d
gH:0d
tank temp:27 Celsius

In the main tank that they were in i have neon tetras, runny nose tetras, zebra danios, clown loach x2 2 pearl gouramis red tail shark and 2 sliver sharks and 6 guppys and the temp was the same, they have no redness or fungus and no loss of cloluration

 

[scotty]

your nitrite levels could be causing a bit of a problem,nitrite should be reading 0,i would do a good waterchange to try and bring nitrite levels down

 

[Assaye]

Are you sure nitrite is 10? That's a lethal level. Could be nitrate and you've mixed them up?

At the moment it sounds like stress - they need to feel secure and to be tempted to eat. It could be something more sinister but it is hard to say without a photo. Lack of weight could indicate a parasite or bacterial infection.

Where is Wilder when you need her =P

 

[Truck]

Where is Wilder when you need her =P

Using google and the copy and paste function.




The temperature could be a little higher but obviously this boils down to other tank inhabitants, what else is in the tank?

What live foods are you feeding them? Try feeding them Tuna, what substrate do you have? And are the rams tank bred?

It is possible that you have poor stock, which is pretty common these days due to Czech breeders, breeding them on a massive scale and they are fed allsorts of crap including antibiotics and shizzle.

 

[Assaye]

Now now =P

 

[laurahobson]

Are you sure nitrite is 10? That's a lethal level. Could be nitrate and you've mixed them up?

At the moment it sounds like stress - they need to feel secure and to be tempted to eat. It could be something more sinister but it is hard to say without a photo. Lack of weight could indicate a parasite or bacterial infection.

Where is Wilder when you need her =P

Yes i have mixed them up!

 

[Assaye]

Are you sure nitrite is 10? That's a lethal level. Could be nitrate and you've mixed them up?

At the moment it sounds like stress - they need to feel secure and to be tempted to eat. It could be something more sinister but it is hard to say without a photo. Lack of weight could indicate a parasite or bacterial infection.

Where is Wilder when you need her =P

Yes i have mixed them up!

Good good! You had me worried.

 

[laurahobson]

Where is Wilder when you need her =P

Using google and the copy and paste function.




The temperature could be a little higher but obviously this boils down to other tank inhabitants, what else is in the tank?

What live foods are you feeding them? Try feeding them Tuna, what substrate do you have? And are the rams tank bred?

It is possible that you have poor stock, which is pretty common these days due to Czech breeders, breeding them on a massive scale and they are fed allsorts of crap including antibiotics and shizzle.

I am not sure what live food it was a my parnter bought it, what sort of tuna? and what do you mean by substrate? sorry if i seem thick i am new to all this and i am still learning! i can turn the temp up if needed as i moved them into my hospital tank over a week ago and its just the 2 rams in there. I am not sure if they are tank bred we bought them from our local tropical fish shop, they are quite big their not little but they dont look well, i have tryed to get a photo of them but they keep hiding in the cave! maybe it is just stress of having their tales nipped off! And i have now just noticed that the male is now going for the female everytime she goes near him he didn't used to do that

Are you sure nitrite is 10? That's a lethal level. Could be nitrate and you've mixed them up?

At the moment it sounds like stress - they need to feel secure and to be tempted to eat. It could be something more sinister but it is hard to say without a photo. Lack of weight could indicate a parasite or bacterial infection.

Where is Wilder when you need her =P

Yes i have mixed them up!

What can i do to make them feel more secure, i have tryed to take a photo but the little devils keep hiding away in the cave!

 

[Assaye]

To make them secure I would recommend plenty of plants. Some cheap stems would be fine, as you have them in an isolation tank. Some silk or soft plastic plants would be a good alternative, as they can be washed afterwards.

It may not be a stress issue but if they are ill, making them feel as secure and comfortable as possible will help reduce their stress levels and give you a better chance of making them feel better.

Keep them in warm, clean water and keep them well fed. As soon as you get new symptoms, post here.