Any idea what is on this wild caught blue-ram

[anewbie]

I had purchased a group of wild caught rams Jan 23 2024 and most of them had some sort of fungus on them and this mark on this fish. This one is near death so i was able to catch it to remove - the others from the group died over the long run with one left - i have a second group that did not have these 'thing' and is doing much better.

This specific ram was in my discus tank which has an ec of around 30; temp range from 82 to 84.5 (discus get very upset when the temp drops below 81.5; so i've had to make it a wee bit warmer). THe other group is in harder water (ec around 130; and temp 79-81):

I have this fish in a specimen container in case more pictures are required though i expect it to die in the next 12 hours. It looks like some sort of tumor and i don't know if it was related to the fungus like substance that was on the other rams (it wasn't quite fungus but some other white filiment thing). Unfortunately the aquarium is quite large so i can only catch a fish like this if it is near death - the tank is 24 inches high 24 inches wide and 72 inches long with an abundance of hiding locations.

 

[MacZ]

Infected wound... more pictures would help

 

[anewbie]

Yea the picture isn't right it was a growth from inside the fish; maybe a tumor or ?parasite?.

 

[MacZ]

It looks like some sort of tumor and i don't know if it was related to the fungus like substance that was on the other rams (it wasn't quite fungus but some other white filiment thing).

That's a certain type of bacterium.

Yea the picture isn't right it was a growth from inside the fish; maybe a tumor or ?parasite?.

Yeah, but NOW it's an infected wound.

Do you have any pictures of the fish as a whole and the others? I have lately come to doubt if someone says they have wild caught M. ramirezi, because many stores have been selling domestic german blues as wild caught in several countries. Want to make sure we're really dealing with wild caughts and not domestic.

 

[anewbie]

That's a certain type of bacterium.


Yeah, but NOW it's an infected wound.

Do you have any pictures of the fish as a whole and the others? I have lately come to doubt if someone says they have wild caught M. ramirezi, because many stores have been selling domestic german blues as wild caught in several countries. Want to make sure we're really dealing with wild caughts and not domestic.

The fish came from aquaticclarity and they did look like wc rams not the enhanced gbr. When the fish passes i will take some close up on a piece of paper before disposing. Here are a couple of pictures of the others (in the other aquarium):
--
well maybe tomorrow - I have 6 or 8 in a 500 and this morning they were all out (feeding time) but now i can only find one female and she is mid tank (lousy picture so i wont' post it). The one in the picture above is a male the mid tank one was a female.
Oh right here - is one - this is about 2 feet into the aquarium and the glass is quite thick hence the distortion:

I gotta figure out where they parked themselves during the day cause i could only find two - this one tends to stay under drift wood in the geometric center of the aquarium.

 

[anewbie]

Oh one other thing do you think this bacteria is contagious - do i need to treat the entire aquarium and if so with what? It mostly has 30 cardinals and 8 wild caught discus.

 

[MacZ]

Oh one other thing do you think this bacteria is contagious - do i need to treat the entire aquarium and if so with what? It mostly has 30 cardinals and 8 wild caught discus.

I rather assume it's an omnipresent bacterium that takes advantage of weakened animals. Nothing you can exterminate or avoid.

Oh and it looks indeed like they are wild. Very nice.

 

[anewbie]

The fish passed so i took these pictures - i have 2 or 3 more but the fish itself has been disposed; hum - so this group of rams had this bacteria infection for ~6 months or maybe the fungus stuff was something different. There is one left a nice looking male but getting a good picture of it is hard given the tank size - this aquarium is 180 so not as large as the 500 but he hangs out in the back usually around a collection of drift wood and if i er try to 'approach' it it darts down into the cover.

 

[anewbie]

I lighten and increase the contrast of one of the photos - if you think this is helpful i can do some of the others just let me know. I made the mistake of photographing the fish on white paper and the auto thingy balanced for the paper:

 

[MacZ]

Doesn't help anything, sorry. Can't diagnose just from a picture. Will stay a mystery unless you get it labtested at a vet.

 

[anewbie]

Doesn't help anything, sorry. Can't diagnose just from a picture. Will stay a mystery unless you get it labtested at a vet.

Even if i had wanted to there is no one here that does that sort of thing. This isn't Europe; but backwards southeast USA.

In either case the fish is gone bye bye to that great fertilizer in the sky.

 

[MacZ]

Even if i had wanted to there is no one here that does that sort of thing. This isn't Europe; but backwards southeast USA.

In either case the fish is gone bye bye to that great fertilizer in the sky.

You won't believe it, but I'd have to send the fish to a vet in Berlin, that's 500km from me.

 

[anewbie]

You won't believe it, but I'd have to send the fish to a vet in Berlin, that's 500km from me.

Not worth the cost At least 500km is driveable; though in europe i have no clue how the rails run...

 

[MacZ]

Not worth the cost At least 500km is driveable; though in europe i have no clue how the rails run..

Considering that I don't have a car and railway tickets are pricey, 500km are to me what 1500 miles would be to you, so basically: Not an option and definitely not worth the cost.