Rams/ breeding/ white spot

[skipper]

Hi

I've had a female golden ram (small) in my 180l UK jewel tank for a few months. I bought a male golden ram about 2 weeks ago who was fine looking specimen.

Anyhow, two days ago the male ram developed 3 faint white spots (in total) on his lower fin and tail fin. So I presume this is ick
I read my book and it said that raising the temp sometimes helped with this problem, so I did that. (I've used over the counter medicine for parasites in the past and it totally wiped out all my bacteria and nearly ruined the whole tank so I steer clear of meds if I can help it).

Anyway, yesterday the female ram spawned loads of eggs onto a java fern leaf and her and the male are very proective of them... although they seem to fight a lot too.

So I guess my questions are:

1) Any advice for looking after my breeding rams... (this was all a bit unexpected)any chance of the eggs making it???

2) What's the best thing I can to help cure the white spot and stop it spreading?

3) Will adding medicine to the water kill the ram's eggs?

4) Could I net the male ram (he's pretty tame already) and add an extremely diluted measure of medicine directly to the affected fins?? I have a small pippette. i.e. to save having to add meds to the whole tank.

Any advice really appreciated,

Cheers

S

 

[shrimpster97]

hmm... ive never herd of golden rams, sounds interesting. but the white spots are probably Ick. My Blue Rams have a little bit of Ick. but i havnt been able to treat that.

 

[skipper]

Well I guess the answer to my initial questions have been answered. Got home last night to find that all of the Rams eggs have been eaten. Which is a bit of a shame...

S

 

[Kittycat]

I use malachite green for ick. Gets rid of it pretty fast with just one treatment, and it doesn't seem to affect the tank, etc. I think there are other meds out there that has this as one of its ingredients...

 

[shrimpster97]

sorry to hear that your eggs were gone. ive never been able to keep eggs.

 

[AmberC]

I've successfully spawned my rams multiples times and sold the fry. Golden rams are a 'cousin' to the german blue ram. As far as the ich goes... do you have another tank that you can put him in to treat? If the other fish are so far unaffected, I would remove him to another tank and treat with quick cure, then put him back. I'm pretty sure that any meds would harm the eggs as they are extremely sensitive.

As far as taking care of the fry. Its no easy task. They are extremely small and very sensitive. Your pH should be on the lower side. I have found that with my water I have to keep my pH at 6.4 or lower in order for the eggs to hatch. (Dont go under 6 though... its too low) You need to keep your water parameters perfect and the rams should be the only occupants of the tank because once those babies become free swimming... they are fair game and a tasty treat to the other fish. Rams are great parents so let them do their job!! It'll make it easier on you! Remember to cover your filter intake with a VERY fine mesh net.. I used the netting from a regular fry net and used a rubberband to hold it on. They love baby brine shrimp and you can hatch these yourself. Thats what I did.

Also note that with rams.. it can take a WHILE for them to "get it right". Meaning.. your first couple clutches of eggs, dont get your hopes up for babies because the eggs are probably NOT fertilized.

Good luck and feel free to PM me any time with any questions!