What are these "lumps" in my blue ram?

[dukk]

I have 2 juvenile German Blue Ram's and I just noticed one of them has these "lumps" inside of it and I have no idea what they are.

I don't have a hospital tank setup at the moment but I'm thinking I may need to get one...

 

[slimbolen99]

First thing I ask people when they are having difficulty with disease, or perceived disease, is what your water parameters are...pH, temp, water hardness, ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites. Also knowing what you're feeding can help.

That being said, I can't say I've seen those types of splotches before. The pic is a little blurry, so it's hard to say for sure.

Is that a lace rock / live rock in the background there? If it is, I would recommend removing it. Not only are they sharp (could be causing cuts on your fish), but they also raise pH and the dissolved minerals in the water...both are detrimental to rams which prefer softer water and a lower pH.

Good luck! I am sure someone here will be more insightful than I.

 

[gerald]

Those are yellow-grub flukes, and have nothing to do with pH, temp, water hardness, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites or what you're feeding.

The fish were probably infected before you got them, or from infected snails. Yellow grubs cannot spread from fish to fish (as long as you're careful to keep herons, kingfishers and loons out of your house). The grubs just sit there waiting to be eaten by a bird, where they complete their life cycle (bird to snail to fish).

If there's just a few in muscle tissue and not interfering with vital organs, the fish can live and breed just fine with them. Not worth treating unless there's a heavy infestation or their causing problems in organs, eyes, etc.

 

[dukk]

Well that’s good to know, I don't have any birds in my house but I did recently get an outbreak of these crappy little snails that where hiding in some java moss. I also had a heater go out and try to cook my tank that I think contributed to me getting spot algae.

This ram is quite active and I haven't seen these in any of my other fish so maybe I'm ok.

I think I already got my answer but here are my water parameters anyway: pH = 6.4, nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia are all 0 ppm. I don't remember my hardness off the top of my head but I believe it was in the realm of "soft". I do have quite a bit of lace rock in my tank but I also have about the same amount of drift wood so they seem to cancel each other out as far as pH goes.

 

[Mike Wise]

There are 2 different rocks used as lace rock. One is a calcium based rock, popular with rift lake cichlid keepers, that will harden the water. The other is a rough volcanic ash rock (tufa) that is more inert in water.

I've seen the same worms, mostly on livebearers raised in open air ponds. I guess that your rams are pond raised, too. It is possible to remove the worms that live just under the skin with a dissecting needle, with very little harm to the fish. Just prick the top of the blister and scrape out the worm. Then put the fish in very clean water to heal.