hi all i have a pair of bolivian rams one of which isnt to well and i hope someone can please help?
i noticed about two weeks ago that the female is just siiting on the sand alot,on looking closer i found she had a cloudy eye.i did some internet reading and found a site that said cloudy eye can be linked to loss of energy and to cure just step up water changes,this hasent worked.
i have now tried daily doses of melafix for a week and although cloudy eye looks lots better she is still rather energy less? as soon as feed is placed in tank she eats straight away.
can anyone please help me get her fit and well again?
thanks
Cloudy Eye is an external bacterial infection. Like Columnaris it can be caused by stressful environmental conditions like;
a. Innappropriate tank mates
b. Tank too small for particular fish involved
c. Tank overstocked in general
d. Excess of organic waste in the tank (like fish poop, dead plant matter or uneaten food trapped in the substrate)
e. Water quality problems in the tank like ammonia, nitrite or nitrate problems or big fluctuating temperatures in tank temp.
f. Unideal habitat (like a lack of planting in a tank with fish that much prefer planted habitats etc).
g. Fish being overly sexually harrassed by tank mates due to unbalanced gender ratios(though this is more common in fish like common livebearers which have very high sex drives)
h. Physical injury, for example caused by being roughly netted (particularly in a net with course netting), from ornements in the tank or from being attacked by other fish etc. Aquarium water is full of bacteria but fish are covered by a protective slime coat and when this slime coat becomes damaged it can leave the fish vulnerable to infections.
i. Malnutrition.
j. Increase of parasites in aquarium (look out for fish flicking/rubbing themselves on stuff in the aquarium like the substrate or ornements).
It is also common in fish which are new to the tank (have been in the tank less than 2 months) which are still settling in and may have brought the bacteria with them (a lot of fish diseases & parasites may show no symptoms at first for a long while). Whatever the case though, firstly check that none of these things could have been the cause of the Cloudy Eye.
You second course of action is to medicate the fish. Melafix is a mild anti external bacterial med for fish. Pimafix is a bit stronger. Anti internal bacteria by Interpet may be able to help and can be used alongside either Melafix or Pimafix.
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