German Gold Rams Dying in QT

Tank

What is the water volume of the tank?
10 Gallons

How long has the tank been running?
Like 14 days.
Does it have a filter?
Yes, a cycled sponge from my 54.
Does it have a heater?
Yes
What is the water temperature?
82.8 F or 28.2 C
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
2x German Gold Rams (2 have died)

Maintenance
How often do you change the water?
About once a week. (I have only had them for about 3 days though and I did a water change before)
How much of the water do you change?
50 percent
What do you use to treat your water?
Prime
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water?
Both
*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish?
What do you use to test the water?
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.

ALL TEST AS OF 1:17 TODAY
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5 - 10 PPM
pH: 7.8 - 8.0

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish?
Like maybe once per day, a few shrimp pellets. Haven’t fed them yesterday.
How much do you feed your fish?
3 - 5 Shrimp pellets for 4 of them. (Not 3 - 5 for just one, I put 3 - 5 for everyone.$
What brand of food do you feed your fish?
Omega One
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods?
Not yet, but will be when going into discus tank.
Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish?
Not even 4 days.
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms?
Two days ago one died and then today another died.
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms?
I don’t see any symptoms but I’m a bit scared why they are hiding at the bottom like that, started today.
Have you started any treatment for the illness?
No, I don’t see any illness.
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase?
One may of been injured but they all acted fine once I got them in the tank.
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all?
May be pale because I scared them but they were fine.
Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)
I got German Gold Rams, four of them to be exact. I brought them home and the first two days went great! They were eating and everything but then one of them died when I woke up. Again they still seemed fine, I wake up today. Dead, another one is dead, the other fish are hiding and pale from being scared by me but I’m a bit worried.












What is going on!

 

How did you acclimate them? You have higher pH like I do. That seems to be the only thing that really jumps out to me. Other than that did the store tell you how long they have had them? Maybe they were new that day or something and they were just weak to start with?

 

How did you acclimate them? You have higher pH like I do. That seems to be the only thing that really jumps out to me. Other than that did the store tell you how long they have had them? Maybe they were new that day or something and they were just weak to start with?

I just float acclimated, I’ve gotten tons of fish from there and their pH seems to be same to mine if not the same. Other than that it does ring a bell because I think they just got a new shipment in, not entirely sure but I concluded that because of the water droplets from the tank. I’m not sure though, because those were just on saltwater tanks. They have different days that they get saltwater and freshwater in so I’m guessing they got saltwater. But then that must mean that they got freshwater like a few days before.

 

hmmm. Yeah Idk then.

 

Sometimes rams are just not the best coming from stores. You may have gotten a bad batch? A good tip when buying them is to get them from a reputable place. Not calling your LFS not reputable but maybe they were just poor quality to begin with. Many fish including rams are overbred nowadays due to the increased popularity in them. Maybe just a fluke. But good luck with the rest

 

If the fish have been in multiple different tanks ALL with slightly different parameters in the last fortnight including the shipping bag water that is what I would suggest the problem is. 3 or 4 days is about the right am of time. I suggest no matter how well you acclimated them no fish can handle going from breeders to wholesalers to retailers to a home aquarium all in a short amount of time. With bag water each time as well.

If the store sells them on the day they arrive it’s a bad store in my opinion.

My local will keep new arrivals ” on hold “. I know that is not always possible.
Even the big chain stores in Australia have a 30 day money back guarantee on all fish . ( water sample required) Of course we pay a lot more for our fish but as the saying goes you get what you pay for.

Edit.
Again this site has no place to write of the waters GH .
A good shop will let you test their water.

 

How long did the store have the fishes? I always ask and for most of my fishes i require they have them for at least a week to ensure they are acclimated to my water.
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Also rams are very sensitive to change. I had one die a few weeks ago after the power went out for 24 hours and another died when i did a water change 8 months ago.
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The ones i have i've had for 3 1/2 months (the female mentioned above died) but the store had them for 10+ days before i was willing to buy them.

 

If the fish have been in multiple different tanks ALL with slightly different parameters in the last fortnight including the shipping bag water that is what I would suggest the problem is. 3 or 4 days is about the right am of time. I suggest no matter how well you acclimated them no fish can handle going from breeders to wholesalers to retailers to a home aquarium all in a short amount of time. With bag water each time as well.

If the store sells them on the day they arrive it’s a bad store in my opinion.

My local will keep new arrivals ” on hold “. I know that is not always possible.
Even the big chain stores in Australia have a 30 day money back guarantee on all fish . ( water sample required) Of course we pay a lot more for our fish but as the saying goes you get what you pay for.

Edit.
Again this site has no place to write of the waters GH .
A good shop will let you test their water.

Thank you so much! Understood.

How long did the store have the fishes? I always ask and for most of my fishes i require they have them for at least a week to ensure they are acclimated to my water.
-
Also rams are very sensitive to change. I had one die a few weeks ago after the power went out for 24 hours and another died when i did a water change 8 months ago.
-
The ones i have i've had for 3 1/2 months (the female mentioned above died) but the store had them for 10+ days before i was willing to buy them.

Probably about 3 - 5 days.

Sometimes rams are just not the best coming from stores. You may have gotten a bad batch? A good tip when buying them is to get them from a reputable place. Not calling your LFS not reputable but maybe they were just poor quality to begin with. Many fish including rams are overbred nowadays due to the increased popularity in them. Maybe just a fluke. But good luck with the rest

Thanks!

 

Again rams are tough! First I’d visit the pet store and see how theirs are. Explain what happened.
Next not sure your acclamation is good. Just floating isn’t doing anything but bringing the temp to the same. You have to add tank water slowly to the bag to really acclimate. Ok that may be what you mean by floating . I’m just checking. With a home ph of 7.8-8 this processes may take longer. Most wholesalers will try to keep their water at 7.0. There are many water related reasons that could be the problem. But as I said in the last thread. I believe it’s just the fish. These fish are notorious for dying. Just bad breeding. You could do everything right and have the fish living for a month looking great and find it dead. Just breeding.
If these don’t work out and your still interested in rams. I suggest you contact coralbandit. Myself and others have bought his fish. They are the best looking rams I’ve bought and acclimated to my tank like feeder goldfish. They entered my tank like they belonged there! After a trip through the USPS. I think that says it all .
You’ve acclimated discus so these fish shouldn’t be a problem. It’s something in the breeding.