Sick German Blue Ram

I got home from work this evening and it appeared one of my German Blue Ram was missing.

It took a while to find him hiding in the Italian Val.

He is very lethargic and doesn't want to move.

I gave him a very gentle nudge and he swam up to a piece of driftwood and just sat there.



He has since moved back down into the Italian Val.

He 'Snake Eyes' is normally the boss of the three GBR, and very active. It's strange and worrying to see him this way.

No obvious signs of illness except his behaviour.

Not sure if he's going to pull through.

 

Moving him may stress him out, but if you quarantine him you may be able to get a better look at him. Also if he dies there will be an ammonia spike and if any fish eats from him they may catch his sickness. A lot of diseases don’t show themselves for a very long time, but when they do the downhill spiral of fish health is catastrophic and fatal

 

Could it be the Ram is just aging out? Rams are not long lived cichlids, maybe 2 - 3 years. Judging from the video, the tankmates look healthy and the tank looks great.

 

I'd consider QT if I had one, but it's not an option at the moment.

Also without any obvious outward signs of illness I can't see any point in using meds?

I bought four back in January. They looked pretty small and young at the time, but coloured up nicely within hours once in the 50g.

One just upped and died overnight on 7th May.

Now 'Snake Eyes' looks pretty sick. So disappointed.

 

Are you keeping the tank warm. 82 degrees seems to be the accepted temp. for the majority of Ram keepers on this forum.

 

Yes the tank sits at around 83f.

 

He passed in the night. No visible signs of illness.

 

Sorry to hear Nick. Sounds identical to my experience with GBR's. Made it about 8 mos and then the female passed within 24-48 hours of acting like yours. The male did the same about a month later. No other visible symptoms and were enthusiastic eaters up until a day or two before they passed.

 

Started this project as a GBR tank. Temperature and tank mates were based on them.

Now only have two left. Let's hope they fair a little better.

The original alpha was the first to die.

Patch then became the alpha, but was quickly ousted by Snake Eyes who just passed.

Patch has been completely submissive and a little grey ever since. I'm not sure if he will ever fully bounce back.

That leaves Two Patch as the last truly healthy looking GBR in the tank.

I'm leaning towards Electric Blue Acara going forward.