fish acting weird

[Apisto Joe]

the last few days my pair of rams has been hiding a lot almost never leaving the refuge of the plants and now today the male is out but is extremely pale almost white and looks extremely week. have any of yall ever had this problem?
Joe

 

[coltiger]

Could be anything to be honest...

Has there been any changes in the water ie temperature, pH, hardness etc?

It could be ammonia, have you tested your water lately?

or maybe even a broken heater...I suggest testing your water first it sounds water quality related

 

[Apisto Joe]

just did a water change actually, added some R/O water (25% change) and then lowered the ph about .8 but it has levelled out since then. That was several days ago. Heater works great i have a thermometer monitoring the tank so it know its right. I am baffled...

 

[LindaMC]

Has any other fish been chasing them? One of my rams used to hide and not come out even to eat, he was pale and very thin, but another ram was putting a huge scare into him which was keeping him in hiding. I removed the ram from that paricular tank and placed him in my 10 gallon QT tank and now he's starting to look a lot better, he's eating and color is beginning to come back. Just a thought! Hope you get to the bottom of this soon!

Good luck!
Linda

 

[fishgeek]

do you know where the rams have come from
there is a suggestion that a lot of rams suffer from a viral afflication(i am cynical about viral diagnosis - always seems a simple excuse) that cause's lots of deaths with vague signs similar to what you are seeing
not my experience yet

they are sensitive to nitrite's
any other signs appetite, feacal quality,respiration rate and movement


andrew

 

[tjudy]

Rams are also very susceptible to fluke infestations. I have seen a group of rams doing 'fine' one day, and the next they look and behave somewhat ill... followed shortly thereafter by deaths. If the fish are scraping or gasping at all, I suggest to treat with a fluke medication (I use Proxi-Pro).

 

[Apisto Joe]

Rams are also very susceptible to fluke infestations. I have seen a group of rams doing 'fine' one day, and the next they look and behave somewhat ill... followed shortly thereafter by deaths. If the fish are scraping or gasping at all, I suggest to treat with a fluke medication (I use Proxi-Pro).

I am pretty sure that is what it is, i am going to treat them today for so we shall see. unfortunately my beautiful male passed away yesterday so hopefully i can save hte female.
thanks for the advice
Joe
p.s My nitrites spiked in hte last 2 days also would a water change be recommended to solve that or another method?

 

[BIG_CICHLID]

Any other fish in the tank? Are they acting similarly? Sounds as if you adding RO water is a good thing. But perhaps you may have been a bit ambitious. Dropping .8 PH in one go sounds a bit excessive. You should change water chemistry slowly. They need to acclimitise to new water conditions very slowly and gradually even if they are soft and acidic species that don't appreciate hard and alkaline conditions they currently exist in. Your nitirites may be what killed your rams. I would suggest another water change. But try not to change the chemistry. Just want to drop the nitrites this time and get things back to normal. Be sure you need to treat your fish for flukes before treating the whole tank as fish medicines aren't very good for fish. They just kill bacteria before it kills your fish hopefully. Best of Luck and keep us informed!

BC