Ram's head ulcerated

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Myrkk

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My female ram has looked a bit thin over the last 3mths so I've been feeding her lots of live foods and treats. She also developed a pale area / white spot under the skin on one side of her head but I didn't think much of it. Today she appeared looking like this, any suggestions? I'm pretty sure this is something internal coming out but I could be wrong. I have no idea what to do. This is the best image I could get as she is hiding away and not coming out into the open

1606841893888.png
 
My female ram has looked a bit thin over the last 3mths so I've been feeding her lots of live foods and treats. She also developed a pale area / white spot under the skin on one side of her head but I didn't think much of it. Today she appeared looking like this, any suggestions? I'm pretty sure this is something internal coming out but I could be wrong. I have no idea what to do. This is the best image I could get as she is hiding away and not coming out into the open

View attachment 123863
How old is the ram? It may be some sort of fungul infection of some sort. Double check all your water parameters if you can. Also keep an eye on all your other fish because you don't want this happing to others in the tank
 
She's around 4yrs. All the parameters are as they should be, zero or <0.0005 according to my kit. pH same as it always is around 6.5, hardness 3. I've been worrying about the other fish but they all look good. There's no fluffiness to the edges, the photo looks a little fluffy due to the zoom used to take the image.
 
She's around 4yrs. All the parameters are as they should be, zero or <0.0005 according to my kit. pH same as it always is around 6.5, hardness 3. I've been worrying about the other fish but they all look good. There's no fluffiness to the edges, the photo looks a little fluffy due to the zoom used to take the image.

You know what it may just be related to old age. Most rams live only between 3 or 4 years max, I'm no extreme expert but assuming if the water is fine and no other fish are affected with anything that's my best guess. I once had a neon tetra for 7 years and the last year or so before he died he got cloudy eye and was looking withered. I'm not saying she's dying or anything necessarily, just showing signs of old age possibly.
 
I did wonder as she's been going gradually getting thinner. I've put a fungal treatment into the water jic. I'll have to consider what to do it it doesn't work. I can't watch her being eaten away by whatever is going on. Wee lass
 
It's a bit hard to tell from the blurry picture but the description and what I can make out looks like hole in the head disease caused by Hexamita.

This usually occurs in cichlids kept in dirty tanks or tanks with lots of rotting matter in the substrate or filter.

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How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do water changes?

How often and how do you clean the filter?

Can you post some more pictures from different angles (side views)?

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Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water change and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add some salt. (see directions below).

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Maybe look for some Metronidazole, however that could be hard to find in the UK. You might need a vet to prescribe the medication and that will cost a lot more than replacing the fish.

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate (4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will affect some plants and some snails. The lower dose rate (1-2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres) will not affect fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.
 
Thanks Colin T

I do a water change every one to two weeks of around 25% of the water. I use stress coat to treat the water before I replace it

The filter gets washed in the old water and replaced every month and I completely cleaned the filter out a month ago, noodles cleaned, carbon filter cleaned, white spongy stuff completely replaced, pump cleaned, tubes cleaned etc

Yes, I vacuum the gravel each time but there is only around half the tank that is accessible to do this.

She's hiding at the moment so will try and get photos later. I've just done a large water change. Looked for fish vets in scotland and there is a very large fish vet group but sadly it is a farmed fish vet. Will have a rummage around the internet and see if I can get some metronidazole... I don't think my vet would give me any sadly.

Interestingly the edges of the hole don't look as ragged today, perhaps some granulation going on?
 
The filter gets washed in the old water and replaced every month
Do you replace everything inside the filter?
Filter media doesn't need to be replaced, except possibly carbon. It should be washed in old tank water till it falls apart.

Water changes are now recommended to be 50%+ every week.
 
Do you replace everything inside the filter?
Filter media doesn't need to be replaced, except possibly carbon. It should be washed in old tank water till it falls apart.

Water changes are now recommended to be 50%+ every week.
Sorry meant washed and put back in not replaced as in new.

OK. Didn't know it had changed, will see how she goes over the next few days. Have removed the fern that was dropping babies everywhere as it is a bit tattered.
 
Sorry meant washed and put back in not replaced as in new.
That's OK - the instructions often say to replace the media and a lot of fishkeepers think this is what they have to do, which is why I always check :)
 
Her fins are badly rotting too in that pic. I think it's bacterial, but that honestly doesn't look like hexamita. Either way, I would remove her to a hospital tank first and have a good look at her again and perhaps try an antibiotic.
 
Her fins are badly rotting too in that pic. I think it's bacterial, but that honestly doesn't look like hexamita. Either way, I would remove her to a hospital tank first and have a good look at her again and perhaps try an antibiotic.
I think that's just the blurriness of the image, her fins are perfectly fine. She's still going and seems to be putting on weight, and I think the area has stopped increasing in size, Here's hoping what I am doing is helping.
 

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