Crimsonbull57

I believe my female Bolivian Ram is sick. I have just noticed this over the past couple days. She has lost quite a bit of color and is breathing rapidly(I added an airstone today).

The tank is established(6 months) and I just changed the water on Sunday. I haven't done anything diffrently to the tank and I haven't noticed anything unusual about the tank or the fish. The only diffrence is the male has been chasing her to the corner of the tank.

I was hoping somone could share some insight.

Thank you

agabr123

if you could fill in your aquarium info that would be helpful for members having said that, a few questions for you

could you post your water parameters?
how large is the tank?
what other tankmates are there?
what temperature do you keep your tank at?
how long have you had her?
have you added any other fish since you've had her?

sorry for all the questions but that will help us figure out what is wrong

Crimsonbull57

My Parameters are standard
My Tank is 20 gallons (long)
It's stocked with 2 Bolivian Rams, 3 Khuli Loaches, 2 guppys , 2 ghost shrimp, 2 Bamboo shrimp.
The temp is 76*
I have had both rams for about 2 months
Last time I added somthing was the Bamboo shrimp about 1 month ago

bolivianbaby

What are your pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels? That might help us gain some insight to what is going on.

Crimsonbull57

7.6, 0, 0, 0

bolivianbaby

So water parameters are not affecting her.

My best guess would be stress from the male or poor breeding.

Out of curiosity, do you have live plants? You're showing no nitrates, which is why I'm asking.

Crimsonbull57

Yeah I have live plants. Quite a few, which is why nitrates are at 0.
I believe it is stress aswell. I am going to put her in a QT(it has WCMMs in it) with Aquarium salt and an airstone. Salt kill the plants in the QT?

rae64

He may have 0 nitrates from a) not shaking his test bottle hard enough or b) having done a water change just a few days ago. I'm not sure though.

bolivianbaby

I personally would not recommend salt. It increases their slime-coat due to stress.

Pristine water, vita-chem, garlic guard would be some options for helping her feel better.

Goodluck and please keep us posted!