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A bit of a strangeness,

here's my tank:

29g
2 angelfish
1 german ram
6 corydoras aeneas
3 botia modesta
1 bristlenose pleco

oh and two baby female borelli cichlids

pH 7-7.5
gH soft
Ammonia/NO2 = 0
N03 = 10-15ppm

Problem is, the ram isn't eating anything. She acts totally normally right down to a pretty decent appetite, but she doesn't swallow any of the food that she takes into her mouth. She'll take a big chunk of food like normal, chew it up, and spit it out, sometimes doing this to the same piece over and over. I think she's losing err.. mass .. too, the stomach is bit on the skinny side.

She gets picked on every once in a while by the angels when they decide to spawn, but not too much, since it only usually lasts 1 day, and she had lymphocystis when she was a baby, from which she recovered beautifully. Pah.

Recent additions to the tank are the pleco and borellis who came from my sister's tank and we've exchanged fish before, so.

I was thinking it might be hexamita or some such thing, but I don't really know. I haven't seen the ram poop in ages, although the angels poop just fine, but don't have any other suggestions.

Anybody with more ram or general disease experience out there who can suggest something?

Thanks in advance.

I'm not especially good at this, but my inexperience 2 cents:

Some kind of internal parasite. Often, they'll stop eating when this happens. If anyone has any suggestions for working medication for internal parasites, please do tell me, because I've lost many fish to the symptoms being described.

Stress, also, may be the case with the addition of the new fish. Any changes in the water conditions from their addition might've made the ram angry, since I know that mine is very prissy about his water conditions.

I hope the best for your german ram...they're really beautiful, spunky fish.

I remember reading that Rams can't swallow big chunks of food so they chew and then spit it and all over again until it's the right size for them. I see my Rams doing it sometimes with the bigger chunkes of food, but they eventually get to eat it. Perhaps this is the problem? Have you tried live food? I have never seen a fish say no to a nice bloodworm. I would, however, stay away from Tubifex worms. I have fed my fish Tubifex only once, when my local shop didn't have bloodworms, then all my fish got internal worms (some were so badly infested that their anus, with the worms hanging out of it, was so big it was about the size of their eyes!). It took me about two months to get rid of the worms and have everything back to normal.

Smantzer: if by internal parasites you mean worms, you can treat them with Levamisole Hydrochloride. It's basically a dewormer for cattle (in the UK it's sold under the brandname of Levacide and does not require a prescription). The dose might change between products, mine was a 3% solution, so I added 1ml of Levacide for every 3 litres. After 24 hours you should do a 70%-100% water change and no more worms. You shouldn't feed in those 24 hours as the fish are not interested in food. Other people claim that their fish were behaving normally (bar eating, of course), but some of my fish were very stressed for those 24 hours, but I've not lost any of them during those 24 hours (that was before I had the rams). My problems started after treating the fish. Due to the large amount of worms they had, once all the worms died and left their bodies, they sunk in the gravel and started rotting, and within two days, my ammonia levels soared to over 8 mg/l and I had to move my fish and clean the tank real good. At that point, I lost one fish. This only happened in one tank, though. The other tank worked very well, but it had less fish which were not as badly infested.

Hope any of this can help...

You can try "Parasite Clear", a favorite of many hobbyists to treat internal and external parasites...

Your trop is being eaten up by internal parasites so time is of the essence here.

Follow product directions.

--garyroland.

Last edited by garyroland at 09-Jan-2005 11:36

heh, thanks for the replies all.

The thing is, the ram used to eat bigger pieces of food just fine, but I know what you mean untitled.

I can try some powder form Levamisole, although mine might be expired. I think Levamisole is mostly for nematode-type worms though.

Water has been rather troublesome lately with some power outtages, but the problem started before this so I don't think that it's the culprit.

I will definitely try to get my hand son some Parasite Clear though.

Thanks again.

As far as I know, Levamisole helps against worms in general, but if the problem is not worms, then I wouldn't treat them with it. I've noticed that my rams don't like even the tiny bit of chemicals in the water, so I wouldn't treat them with Levamisole unless it was a matter of life or death...