Bolivian Ram - Popeye?

I'm hoping to gain some help/insight on treating on issue with a new to my tank German Blue Ram.

29G tall
ammonia 0, nitrite, 0, nitrate 6, ph 7.8, temp 80
moderately planted tank that's been running for only 3 months (probably too soon for such a sensitive fish after reading more about them after coming home with them)
weekly water changes of 25-40%
Tank has 3 cory's (will be 6 soon), 3 otto's (will be 6) and an assassin snail (among other undesirable snails). I'll be adding guppies (3, 1 male, 2 female) and 6 harlequin raspboras.
(I had to add all the stocking plans since I know the current stock isn't enough.

Brought home a pair of GBR's earlier this week and it's not been going well for them. The drive home knocked them upside for more than an hour and they finally came back around during a super slow acclimation. I was surprised they made it this far.

One has developed what I believe to be popeye. I'm not an experienced fishkeeper so I wanted to verify before I put him in the QT tank and treat him.

I've attached a couple of photos and appreciate all your help.
Any advice on treatment by those who have treated before will be helpful as well.

 

I'm hoping to gain some help/insight on treating on issue with a new to my tank German Blue Ram.

29G tall
ammonia 0, nitrite, 0, nitrate 6, ph 7.8, temp 80
moderately planted tank that's been running for only 3 months (probably too soon for such a sensitive fish after reading more about them after coming home with them)
weekly water changes of 25-40%
Tank has 3 cory's (will be 6 soon), 3 otto's (will be 6) and an assassin snail (among other undesirable snails). I'll be adding guppies (3, 1 male, 2 female) and 6 harlequin raspboras.
(I had to add all the stocking plans since I know the current stock isn't enough.

Brought home a pair of GBR's earlier this week and it's not been going well for them. The drive home knocked them upside for more than an hour and they finally came back around during a super slow acclimation. I was surprised they made it this far.

One has developed what I believe to be popeye. I'm not an experienced fishkeeper so I wanted to verify before I put him in the QT tank and treat him.

I've attached a couple of photos and appreciate all your help.
Any advice on treatment by those who have treated before will be helpful as well.

Hi, welcome to fishlore.

First of all, that isnt a German Blue Ram, that is a Bolivian Ram. You can lower the temp to 76, it will be most comfortable for him and the future guppies. What doe sthe other ram look like?

For popeye, epsom salt baths and daily WC seems to be the common way of treating it but antibiotics can also be used if nessacary

 

The rough ride home might have resulted in an injury. As FinalFins suggested, salt treatments or Epsom salts baths are often recommended. Might just dose the tank with Melafix. It works as a disinfectant.

 

Thanks for the tips.
I'm going to move him to my quarantine tank and treat him with salt. I'll need to get some healthy danios out of there first as they will torment him.

Can an injury take 2 days before showing? He's looked good for 48 hours and I've been keeping a close eye on him.
The girl isn't doing very well. She hasn't eaten yet and looks pretty thin and weak. I hope she pulls through. You can see how bad she looks in the picture.

I'll lower the temperature a degree over the next three days to get to 76. Thanks for the tip.

Here's the girl, and a better picture of the boy.

 

I've got both GBRs and a Bolivian. The Bolivian took much longer to get comfortable eating than the GBRs, which took to food basically immediately. A jostling car ride can really stress the fish, I've found. Just keep monitoring with care and TLC and follow the advice above. Hope they will pull through!!

Incidentally, if you've got Oto's doing ok in the main tank, I don't think Rams should be much more difficult.

 

I'm nearly at 3 days since treating with 1tsp/10 gallons of salt.
It's improving slowly so I'll stay the course.
Sadly the girl passed away this weekend. She was pretty thin from the beginning and I've learned a valuable lesson about inspecting fish before I take them home.

 

Sorry about the loss of the girl. That's quite the bummer. Sometimes the lessons are tough. A lot of us have been there. Hope the boy continues to get better!

 

Thanks Leeman - Considering how stressed they were from just the car ride and being upside down for the first hour of the acclimation process, I’m surprised one is still alive.

He has better energy and his eye is looking noticeably better.

I’ve never mail ordered fish but judging what a 20 minute car ride can do, I can’t imagine how they survive shipping.

 

Thanks Leeman - Considering how stressed they were from just the car ride and being upside down for the first hour of the acclimation process, I’m surprised one is still alive.

He has better energy and his eye is looking noticeably better.

I’ve never mail ordered fish but judging what a 20 minute car ride can do, I can’t imagine how they survive shipping.

I've never ordered by mail either, but tried it just this week because there was a hard to find fish that my daughter has her heart set on and I'm a big softie. I guess I'll find soon!!

 

The guy's progress has stalled. His eye is about the same for the past couple of days after a good amount of improvement. He still has no appetite and I saw a white stringy poop from him yesterday.
Do I up the salt solution or do I go with medication?
And if I medicate, do I need to remove the salt?

 

Leeman - How did your mail order go?
I eventually lost the male too. They were both sick from the beginning and I'm guessing they had gill flukes based on some things happening now in the tank that I had them in...
Lesson learned on QT.

 

Leeman - How did your mail order go?
I eventually lost the male too. They were both sick from the beginning and I'm guessing they had gill flukes based on some things happening now in the tank that I had them in...
Lesson learned on QT.

Not so good actually. I ordered 8 Celestial Pearl Danios and most didn't make it through the night. One or two survived for a day or two, but they all died within 3 days. It was very, very disappointing. I had also purchased 10 Amano Shrimp in the same order to try to maximize shipping. They all dispersed the moment they got in the tank and I've only seen a couple while doing water changes a couple of times...and it's been about 2-3 months since I last saw those. Overall, a very disappointing for my first and probably only time ordering live fish/shrimp online.

 

Bummer to hear. Sounds like I’ll steer clear of that approach.
Seems I have the stock I wanted now anyway so it’s just about finding a couple female rams. Hard to find...

 

That's what's difficult, I've found...when you have a specific fish that you want and it's just nowhere to be found locally. I'm fortunate from the standpoint that I'm only 25 minutes from the edge of the Chicago suburbs, so there is a wide range LFSs within an hour of me. And I don't mind driving an hour to get the stock that I really want.

Good luck finding those females! I wish you were near me, because I see them all over!