Ram going dark

[Ali Day]

Hi,
I know a couple of you have Rams (Bolivian / ramirezi) so a quick question.
Two nights ago I noticed that one of my rams looked a bit dark round the
head area. He was eating fine, looked OK maybe a bit thinner than the other
one, but nothing too out of the ordinary. I lost a discus a while back where
it went into hiding went really dark then died, and wondering if this is a
cichlid disease or something else I should be aware of. Any ideas or just
seasonal change?

On a side note, I had a quick look last night before I went to rugby
training, and the healthy one has now gone missing, didn't look too long but
I'll look again tonight, there's alot of places for them to hide.

Cheers

A

[Gill Passman]

Ali Day wrote:
> Hi,
> I know a couple of you have Rams (Bolivian / ramirezi) so a quick question.
> Two nights ago I noticed that one of my rams looked a bit dark round the
> head area. He was eating fine, looked OK maybe a bit thinner than the other
> one, but nothing too out of the ordinary. I lost a discus a while back where
> it went into hiding went really dark then died, and wondering if this is a
> cichlid disease or something else I should be aware of. Any ideas or just
> seasonal change?
>
> On a side note, I had a quick look last night before I went to rugby
> training, and the healthy one has now gone missing, didn't look too long but
> I'll look again tonight, there's alot of places for them to hide.
>
> Cheers
>
> A
>
>
>
Sorry for the lack of response...I was hoping someone would jump in with
something positive. I've tried on numerous occassions to keep Dutch Rams
with very little success. The max period I've achieved is 6 months. My
current Ram, having lost his two companions, is now 2 months on and
still healthy. With the ones that I've lost I saw much the same symptoms
that you are/did - including two dying within hours of going in the tank
around a year ago with no tangeable cause - other than new fish getting
stressed. After a lot of research I now put it down to issues with my
water - I have a high pH and hard water - Rams prefer a lower pH and
soft water. My LFS assures me that the fish are acclimitised but does
admit that there are probably more issues with Rams than most - either
they do great or die quite quickly...and the most likely cause is the
water parameters...

I hope you had a happy ending and sorry again for length of time to respond.

Gill

[Ali Day]

"Gill Passman" > wrote in message
.. .
> Sorry for the lack of response...I was hoping someone would jump in with
> something positive. I've tried on numerous occassions to keep Dutch Rams
> with very little success. The max period I've achieved is 6 months. My
> current Ram, having lost his two companions, is now 2 months on and still
> healthy. With the ones that I've lost I saw much the same symptoms that
> you are/did - including two dying within hours of going in the tank around
> a year ago with no tangeable cause - other than new fish getting stressed.
> After a lot of research I now put it down to issues with my water - I have
> a high pH and hard water - Rams prefer a lower pH and soft water. My LFS
> assures me that the fish are acclimitised but does admit that there are
> probably more issues with Rams than most - either they do great or die
> quite quickly...and the most likely cause is the water parameters...


No probs at all, and thanks for the response. Well I did find the other Ram,
after about 4 days of it being a recluse. One is looking fine, but I noticed
it has a habit now of sitting balanced on it's fins just surveying the world
around it. The other just looks helluva lot darker and myabe a tad thinner,
but both of them are feeding OK, when I come towards the tank they both are
still curious enough to want to know what's going on. They've been in the
tank about 4 months now, and apart from one guppy dying out of 80 odd fish I
have to suspect it's something to do with specifically them. All of my water
chemistry looks spot on, so we'll just wait and see.

Cheers

A