Acara Mom Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 (edited) I love the German blue Rams! My Success with keeping them for any length of time has not been good. The best I've done is a little over a year. I tried again recently and am having the exact same issue. They are in a 40 gallon breeder, 81 degrees, planted tank, PH 6.8 to 7, zero ammonia, zero nitrite, low nitrate maybe 5ppm They each just one morning are found at the top of the tank. Still alive and no visible signs of illness but just not swimming around and pass shortly. I used the quarantine Trio when they arrived. I also tried the same meds when the issue started showing up this time. Nothing seems to be helping. Ready to give up on keeping this fish. I tried getting them off of Aquabid this time from a supposed home breeder... I'm pretty sure they were actually from a farm. I think they lied. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks Edited June 3, 2021 by Acara Mom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 What size tank is it your keeping them in and what other fish are you keeping them with what's the hardness of your water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acara Mom Posted June 3, 2021 Author Share Posted June 3, 2021 (edited) They are in a 40 gallon breeder that is only about three months old. Planted with 10 neons, one Albino bristle nose not full grown and had six rams plus one snail. I was trying to make a tank that was mostly for the Rams. I do have some wigglers happening at the moment. They will be the first. I also have a fish that is doing the same as described in my tank at the moment and have lost two in the last few days. When I do the GH and KH test It only takes two drops. For both. I do water changes typically at least once a week My goal was to raise healthy Rams so other people could enjoy them without whatever’s happening at the farms. But I’m not feeling very comfortable with raising this particular fish at the moment. I’m hoping some of the wigglers make it and maybe we can start with the healthy group Edited June 3, 2021 by Acara Mom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acara Mom Posted June 23, 2021 Author Share Posted June 23, 2021 I’m just sending this picture to see if it helps you understand anything that could be going wrong with my last German Blue Ram from the previous shipment. Notice how his body is darker but now his tummy is all filled with white again. This morning he is resting on a piece of wood. I think I’m going to go out and get some peas and see if he’ll eat something like that and maybe clean out his intestinal track. I wish I could figure this out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acara Mom Posted June 23, 2021 Author Share Posted June 23, 2021 (edited) I have treated upon arrival with the med trio. But no matter what I’ve tried I keep losing these fish. I’ve listed previously my water parameters and one very kind person on another forum suggested not feeding blood worms and raising my temperature a little bit more. I’ve made those changes. I also treated the entire tank with ParaCleanse. He seemed a little better and then a couple days after the treatment he’s back to looking like things are going south. He did have feces one day that was white but bulky. I have even treated with another medication that you add to the food (Metroplex) I have done that a number of times but there’s no way to tell if he’s eating enough of it. Considering adding that to the water of the entire tank. No other fish are having issues Edited June 23, 2021 by Acara Mom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted June 23, 2021 Share Posted June 23, 2021 It could be internal parasites or a bacterial infection if that's the case treating all the fish in the main tank is what I would do is another Course of metroplex as it treat bacterial and parasitic infection 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acara Mom Posted June 23, 2021 Author Share Posted June 23, 2021 Thank you for your advice! I pulled him out the tank he was in and put him in small tank alone. I added Metroplex And a little bit of salt to his water. I have several snails in the other tank so I’m afraid the metroplex would kill them according to their information. I would’ve preferred just treating him where he was. I had added some to his food but the community eats it so can’t gauge his intake. It’s not looking very good though at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted June 23, 2021 Share Posted June 23, 2021 On 6/23/2021 at 9:50 PM, Acara Mom said: Thank you for your advice! I pulled him out the tank he was in and put him in small tank alone. I added Metroplex And a little bit of salt to his water. I have several snails in the other tank so I’m afraid the metroplex would kill them according to their information. I would’ve preferred just treating him where he was. I had added some to his food but the community eats it so can’t gauge his intake. It’s not looking very good though at this point. Hopefully everything goes well and he makes a full recovery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acara Mom Posted June 23, 2021 Author Share Posted June 23, 2021 (edited) I hope so and on the bigger picture to find the answer to this continuous problem would be a great discovery! All of these fish have done basically the same thing. I’ve read of similar reactions on the Internet. No real visible signs except for on a few of them I have noticed like this one that his coloring it gets darker as he starts not swimming around as much. I am thinking it might be a parasite but it doesn’t seem to be phased by the ParaCleanse . From what I’ve read the darker coloring is stress. Edited June 23, 2021 by Acara Mom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted June 23, 2021 Share Posted June 23, 2021 some types of parasites are developing resistance to some medications with the symptoms your fish have I would put parasitic infection high up on the list Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acara Mom Posted June 23, 2021 Author Share Posted June 23, 2021 OK! Thank you for your advice again! I got a new shipment in after talking with another supplier at Aqua Huna. They just came today and I’m not putting them in that other tank. I have them in a quarantine tank and I’m wondering if I should use the metroplex instead of the parecleanse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acara Mom Posted June 23, 2021 Author Share Posted June 23, 2021 I might end up pulling those snails out of the other tank and treat it with Metroplex. Besides these fish the tank is doing better. It’s a newer tank and I had a little bit of algae issues at the beginning newer meaning it’s like over three months around four And had new lighting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted June 24, 2021 Share Posted June 24, 2021 (edited) On 6/23/2021 at 10:19 PM, Acara Mom said: OK! Thank you for your advice again! I got a new shipment in after talking with another supplier at Aqua Huna. They just came today and I’m not putting them in that other tank. I have them in a quarantine tank and I’m wondering if I should use the metroplex instead of the parecleanse You could treat with paracleanse or use what you have to have only difference between metroplex and paracleanse is the active ingredient paracleanse has praziquantel and metronidazole while metroplex just has metronidazole Edited June 24, 2021 by Colu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acara Mom Posted June 24, 2021 Author Share Posted June 24, 2021 (edited) OK thanks. I went ahead and treated with the trio. Then I may let them rest and then treat with the metroplex. I don’t know I’m hoping that getting fish from a different source will be the answer being that my water parameters are good and I keep my tanks clean I’m raising the temperature and not feeding blood worms as a person on another forum and Corey( in a video) suggested. If this group doesn’t work I’m never buying them again! I thought about getting some distilled water in case there’s something in the water here that’s just not showing up on any of the testing. But even when I lived in Texas they live longer than this and I had to struggle to get my pH down. I gave away my RO unit When I moved to what I thought was better water quality. Oh well we keep working at it I really appreciate your help Edited June 24, 2021 by Acara Mom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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