Sciurus Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 (edited) I got a bolivian ram a bit more than a week ago from ACO for my 29gal and its still not eating. It will occasionally nibble something but then swim away. Wondering if its just stressed, or maybe internal parasites? Besides not eating its swimming around and behaving normally. I have a bunch of neocaridina shrimp and 3 sparkling gouramis and a bn pleco that are all eating and acting normally. Water parameters: Nitrate: <5 Nitrite: 0 Gh: 75 Kh: 120 Ph: 7.0 Ammonia: 0 Temp: 77F Ive fed freeze dried tubifex worms, repashy soilent green, omega one color mini pellets, xtreme krill flakes, and the xtreme shrimpee sticks Edited March 22 by Sciurus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 what have you tried feeding him? I'm relatively new to them, and it took a few days, but mine are now eating hikari sinking carnivore pellets. well, the ones my big angel lets through anyway there is always the possibility it likes your shrimplets better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sciurus Posted March 22 Author Share Posted March 22 On 3/22/2024 at 11:21 AM, Sciurus said: Ive fed freeze dried tubifex worms, repashy soilent green, omega one color mini pellets, xtreme krill flakes, and the xtreme shrimpee sticks Ive never seen him go after the shrimp, and even if he did, his belly doesnt look full either 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macdaddy36 Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 He does look rather skinny. I've never personally even kept Bolivian Rams, but if I had to guess he likely had internal parasites. @Colu? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 he may have parasites. have you tried a sinking high protein pellet. their natural behavior is to sift through the sand substrate. my tank has angels and corys and rams and snails. the angels get vibra bites. my rams no longer touch them. they wait for the sinking pellets. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sciurus Posted March 22 Author Share Posted March 22 On 3/22/2024 at 1:56 PM, Tony s said: he may have parasites. have you tried a sinking high protein pellet. their natural behavior is to sift through the sand substrate. my tank has angels and corys and rams and snails. the angels get vibra bites. my rams no longer touch them. they wait for the sinking pellets. Yes, I have tried high protein sinking pellets. He will look at them as they float down but show absolutely no interest in them whatsoever. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 Have you notice any rapid breathing hanging out near the surface lethargy flashing spitting food out white stringy poop @Sciurus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sciurus Posted March 23 Author Share Posted March 23 He still likes hanging near the bottom, breathing seams normal but I guess it does look a bit fast compared to the others, no flashing or lethargy, when he does take bites he spits them out but he doesnt really go after anything anyway and I havnt seen any poop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 On 3/23/2024 at 3:15 AM, Sciurus said: He still likes hanging near the bottom, breathing seams normal but I guess it does look a bit fast compared to the others, no flashing or lethargy, when he does take bites he spits them out but he doesnt really go after anything anyway and I havnt seen any poop. It could be parasitic infection or he's really stressed in his new environment given the fact it's been a week I would have expected him to have started eating normally by now what I would do is 3 course of paracleanse two weeks apart following the instructions on the box so treat on week 1 week 3 week 5 paracleanse could harm your benefial bacterial as one of the active ingredient metronidazole treats gram negative bacterial infections such as aeromonas I haven't had an issue do more frequent testing for ammonia and nitrite during treatment add an extra air stone during treatment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sciurus Posted March 23 Author Share Posted March 23 Thank you for the advice! I will do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 Forgot to add Paracleanse is safe to use with your shrimp in the tank 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sciurus Posted March 28 Author Share Posted March 28 After the first week of treatment, the ram seems to be more interested in food, but still doesn't actively go after it during feeding time. I can see that its pooping, however its mostly white/stringy, but occasionally I can see bits of brown in there, so im assuming its eating something. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 On 3/28/2024 at 2:34 AM, Sciurus said: After the first week of treatment, the ram seems to be more interested in food, but still doesn't actively go after it during feeding time. I can see that its pooping, however its mostly white/stringy, but occasionally I can see bits of brown in there, so im assuming its eating something. Keep treating with paracleanse the fact that he's showing more interest in food is a good sign 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sciurus Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 @Colu when should i start the second week of paracleanse. Should i start it a week after i started or on day 5 after the 25% waterchange or the next day? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 (edited) On 3/29/2024 at 1:00 AM, Sciurus said: @Colu when should i start the second week of paracleanse. Should i start it a week after i started or on day 5 after the 25% waterchange or the next day? You want to treat two weeks after the first so the second course will be at the start of week 3 then the third course on week 5 Edited March 29 by Colu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sciurus Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 Thank you! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewbie Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 For diet you might try live brine shrimp if you can get some - some stores sell it cheap - it has a very short shelf life (around 3 days); also long term fluval bug bite are really good; though they do eat greens and something like nls algemax or bug bite for bottom feeders (which has peas mixed in); should be offered. Fishes can go a couple of weeks without eating but usually if they stop eating the long term prognosis isn't good. i can't comment on if he has parasite but i thought coop treated their fishes prior to selling. I'd contact the store and see if they did pretreat the rams or if any of their other rams are having issues. meds are good when needed but they aren't free; too much med is unhealthy to the fish internal organs. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sciurus Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 So i tried to feed frozen blood worms and now he actually went for them!! He didnt fully eat it. He took one bite then spit it out and moved on with life😐 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sciurus Posted April 5 Author Share Posted April 5 Another update, sadly the ram just never seemed to accept the food and passed away yesterday probably just from starvation. 😞 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 Sorry for your loss he probably became to weak due to lack of food and sadly lossed the fight at least you did your best to try and turn him around 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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