Need Help: One Ebr Dead, Other Looking Bad

[Tonyb111111]

Need some help. 8 days ago i bought a pair of Electric Blue Rams which I kept an observant eye on as i believe they can be quite sensitive. All was well until the lights came on today and my wife found the female dead on the bottom. As soon as i got home from work, the water was tested and all was good, but the male does not look healthy. All his fins are tucked in and his colour has faded, generally looks unwell. I cannot see any external sign of infections or wounds and I am at a loss how to save this fish. The only thing i can think of is that i changed my lighting to come on at 1:30pm instead of 9:30 am for 8hrs. I dose Flourish Excel at 7:30 every morning and wondered if this may suffucating the fish as the lights arent on for 6hrs and the plants wont use the carbon. However, i cannot see any gasping. The GBR's are looking slightly off colour but nothing serious, they have been like this since the introduction of the EBR's. Can anyone advise on my next course of action to save this beautiful fish

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[N0body Of The Goat]

If your signature is correct, 25C really will not be helping, Electric Blues and German Rams are high end tropical fish that need at least 27C. That male in the photo looks like it is is not eating, it has a pronounced sunken belly.

Did you completely rescape the tank when adding the EBRs to the existing GRs? If not, there could be territorial issues here and in any case (if your sig is correct), 5 GBR (plus the 2 EBGRs?) is an awful lot of bottom dwelling cichlids for a 200l.

 

[ian]

Excel won't suffocate fish as it's not actual C02, it's glutaraldehyde. These fish are notoriously sensitive and MUST be kept in really soft water with the temp around 28 degrees or they tend to last a month at best. I know experienced fish keepers of 30 years struggle to keep these alive.

 

[Tonyb111111]

If your signature is correct, 25C really will not be helping, Electric Blues and German Rams are high end tropical fish that need at least 27C. That male in the photo looks like it is is not eating, it has a pronounced sunken belly.

Did you completely rescape the tank when adding the EBRs to the existing GRs? If not, there could be territorial issues here and in any case (if your sig is correct), 5 GBR (plus the 2 EBGRs?) is an awful lot of bottom dwelling cichlids for a 200l.

Sorry, sig is out date, tank is 27degrees and there is only a pair of GBR's in there as I traded the other three for the EBR's. I have just fed them and he is not interested. Is it possible they are starving to death and if so what can I do? I haven't done any rescaping.

Excel won't suffocate fish as it's not actual C02, it's glutaraldehyde. These fish are notoriously sensitive and MUST be kept in really soft water with the temp around 28 degrees or they tend to last a month at best. I know experienced fish keepers of 30 years struggle to keep these alive.

The only other potential issue is that I have changed from a 100% RO water changes, to 50/50 RO/tap. This has pushed the pH up to 7 and the GH has increased from 5 to 8. Are these parameters to high in pH and hardness as I know they prefer soft acidic pH's

 

[Tonyb111111]

Bump as I don't think he'll last the night. I have just moved him into a breeding trap so he can eat at leisure, Ive put some frozen bloodwoorm in there but he's still not eating. Any other ideas?

 

[Prime Ordeal]

EBRs and GBRs are susceptible to both parasites and internal bacterial infections a few days after introduction to a new tank. The sunken stomach suggests a parasitic problem. Does he have long stringy poo?

Either way, without some form of immediate treatment it's unlikely he'll survive the night.

 

[Tonyb111111]

EBRs and GBRs are susceptible to both parasites and internal bacterial infections a few days after introduction to a new tank. The sunken stomach suggests a parasitic problem. Does he have long stringy poo?

Either way, without some form of immediate treatment it's unlikely he'll survive the night.

Haven't seen any poo. On the plus side, he has just started eating the bloodworm. The other pair of rams are doing fine and were spawning on a regular basis until the introduction of the EBR's, so the colour coming and going I think was the result of territory dispute. Ian really gutted as It is the first fish I have lost through illness/stroke nutrition.

 

[Tonyb111111]

Update: He is still with us this morning but doesn't appear to have eaten much, if anything overnight. But it is positive so far, we'll see how he does today

 

[KkAaNnEe]

Hopefully he'll make it mate, theres no need me to state again how sensitive they are, but this is probably the problem, how did you introduce them?

 

[balajake]

He looks cold

 

[Tizer]

He looks like a dead'un!

 

[mark2109111]

I tried rams many times and like said before they would last about a month and then die on me. But then i got an R/O unit and i started to soften my water and now i have had rams live for a year and counting

 

[Tonyb111111]

Hopefully he'll make it mate, theres no need me to state again how sensitive they are, but this is probably the problem, how did you introduce them?

Hi, I usually leave the bag until it reaches temp, then add a quarter of a cup of tank water every 15 mins for an hour, then a full cup, then another 15 minutes later. Usually takes me approx 2hrs before releasing, which I think is ok but stand to be corrected

 

[Tonyb111111]

He looks cold

When I originally set the tank up it was 25 degrees, but I increased this to 27 when I introduced the GBR's. I believe this to be an acceptable temp, but I did double check the thermometer reading with the wifes electronic cooking probe (sshhhh) all over the tank in case there were cold spots

He looks like a dead'un!

I'm not giving up on him yet Tizer, but I am pragmatic about the situation

He looks like a dead'un!

I'm not giving up on him yet Tizer, but I am pragmatic about the situation

I tried rams many times and like said before they would last about a month and then die on me. But then i got an R/O unit and i started to soften my water and now i have had rams live for a year and counting

Like you, I always used to use RO water for PWC's but the GH and pH got down to 4 and 6.4 respectively. I was worried about a pH crash so moved to the 50/50 RO and tap, but am now considering more RO

My question now is simple. What food will an EBR find irrestible as he still not seem to be eating. I have thus far tried flake, bloodworm and whiteworm. I do have tubiflex but the rams were never that interested in that. Any suggestions on anything to get him to eat

 

[mark2109111]

He looks cold

When I originally set the tank up it was 25 degrees, but I increased this to 27 when I introduced the GBR's. I believe this to be an acceptable temp, but I did double check the thermometer reading with the wifes electronic cooking probe (sshhhh) all over the tank in case there were cold spots

He looks like a dead'un!

I'm not giving up on him yet Tizer, but I am pragmatic about the situation

He looks like a dead'un!

I'm not giving up on him yet Tizer, but I am pragmatic about the situation

I tried rams many times and like said before they would last about a month and then die on me. But then i got an R/O unit and i started to soften my water and now i have had rams live for a year and counting

Like you, I always used to use RO water for PWC's but the GH and pH got down to 4 and 6.4 respectively. I was worried about a pH crash so moved to the 50/50 RO and tap, but am now considering more RO

My question now is simple. What food will an EBR find irrestible as he still not seem to be eating. I have thus far tried flake, bloodworm and whiteworm. I do have tubiflex but the rams were never that interested in that. Any suggestions on anything to get him to eat

I would try live foods like blackworms and brine shrimp.