Im Worrying About My Ram

I picked up this ram from my lfs about 2 weeks ago and we was a bit skinny then too. He was in a tank with a bunch of barbs and his fins where a bit torn but they have healed. He still goes to eat but he has been staying at the bottom a lot. I have not tested the water parameters but I do a 25% water change each week. I have been feeding him Omega One tropical flakes and pellets, newlife spectrum cichlid pellets, and I feed frozen bloodworms a few weeks ago. I am worried about this fish, I have plenty of apI medicines on hand If I need to use them. The stock in the tank is 5 zebra danios, 1 dwarf flag cichlid, 1 american flag fish, one of those little maccus plecos and the bolivian ram.

 

Without the water parameters I can't help you. It could be nitrates poisoning from too much nitrates

 

Looks like internal parasites. BR are so susceptible to these, especially Camallanus worms (which you do NOT want, trust me). Any white stringy poop? Can you see any red spiked worms hanging out from his/her anus while not swimming?

Sarah73 nitrate poisoning wouldn’t cause one fish to have a sunken belly while still eating. However, you really should test the water.

 

Looks like internal parasites. BR are so susceptible to these, especially Camallanus worms (which you do NOT want, trust me). Any white stringy poop? Can you see any red spiked worms hanging out from his/her anus while not swimming?

Sarah73 nitrate poisoning wouldn’t cause one fish to have a sunken belly while still eating. However, you really should test the water.

I didn't see the sunken belly! That's from parasites. I wanna ask where you got this fish from? Camallanus spread through fish quickly and are contagious.

 

I did not see any worms on the ram, but now that you mention it I did see something similar on a guppy in another tank a while bank. That probably explains some stuff that happened a while back. What can I do to treat the worms, I can do a water change tomorrow, are there any medicines I should use. There are no invertebrates in the 40 gallon if that helps.

 

So you saw red worms hanging out? Or white poop? Here’s the difficult thing, if it’s a parasite like a tapeworm (cestode) you can use something like General Cure with praziquantel in it. If it’s Camallanus (nematode) you need to use Levamisole HCL.

 

In the tank with the guppies I saw a red worm and white poop a while back. I have not seen any white poop or worms in the 40 gallon but I am worried about the ram because its staying on the bottom.

 

Did your guppy ever come in contact with your ram?

 

Never, they are in separate tanks. Does camallus worm treatment affect snails because there is one nerite snail in the 30 gallon tank with the guppies.

 

Depends on what you use to treat the parasite

 

Ok, I will try using API general cure for the 40 gallon because I am not sure if it is camallus but the 30 gallon I'm sure is camallus

 

If you used anything like the same net or bucket, etc, you probably transferred the Camallanus. Personally I’d treat both tanks with Levamisole from Subaquaria.com first. Camallanus can destroy a tank, I’ve had it happen to me.

 

I don't think I have used the same wet net. but I have used the same dry ones. Can I treat with levamisole and API general cure at the same time or would it be too stressful.

 

I was actually trying to find that info. Relatively speaking, they’re both fairly mild on fish. With your circumstances, I’d just do one at a time. Unless multiple fish were like the Ram.

 

Nah, only the ram is thin and staying at the bottom. If it is in the 40 gallon it is probably pretty new, the ram has only been there for 2 weeks. The 30 gallon is probably a worse case. I guess I am happy knowing what the problem is and how to treat it but It came at a bad time, I got summer school homework and DMV stuff due tomorrow. I feel like the dude in my profile pic

 

UPDATE: I came home today and found my ram was dead, I removed him from the tank and did a 30% water change. I will order the dewormer tonight and treat my tanks as soon as possible. I will also get different siphons for my tanks, I will use the siphon I already have for my 30 gallon, I will get a siphon with a really long hose for my 40 gallons and a siphon with a long extension for my 60 gallon. I will also clean and assign each net to a different tank. I will also get 2 more buckets for changing water, the two buckets I have now will be designated out only. I have become very efficient with my water changes recently, I only have to make one trip to fill the buckets to put water back in my 30 gallon, I usually carry about 4.5 gallon in each bucket and pour them into the tank, I just have to put slowly to not disturb the gravel.