German blue ram - problem

[alzak]

Hi

I do bought some time ago few rams and 1 of them died yesterday today I notice that next one has similar symptoms it keeps hiding between plants and do not eat anything ... there is nothing wrong with other fish is just GBR I do not add anything other than usually ... is there anything what I can do to save this fish ??

 

[somethingfishy]

Where they paired ? I lost one of a pair and the second soon followed

Are there no other visible symptoms? When you added them did you add anything like melifix to give them a boost? The first couple of weeks can be sketchy, I have found gbr quite tricky fish to keep.

 

[roadmaster]

Were fish bought from breeder ,or local fish store?
I have kept these fish and more than a few seemed prone to Mycobacterium despite my effort's at providing them with soft,warm water and varied diet.
Water in fish store tank's loaded with fish is often high in total dissolved solids and these fish did better for me if i bypassed the fish store and bought fish from breeder (not very many of these).
Farmed fish,are maybe being raised / swimming,, in water with low TDS, and possibly rich in antibiotic's that when removed from,,begin's to take toll on these little fish (ie) shipping,accliamtion from shipping water, to dealer's water , and then to your water or mine but this is only speculation,rumor.
I usually purchased these fish four or five at a time quite small ,drab looking,as opposed to adult fish that may possibly be tired old breeder's that have reached close to life expectancy (3 yrs).
Temp that I kept fish at was 82 degree's F ,with twice weekly water change of 30 percent rather than one larger water change each week.
Fish did well in mature tank's but out of the four or five fish,,I would often lose three.
They do make very good tankmates with Discus, and brought me same joy and worry that the Discus did when strange behaivor's or water parameter shift's were noted.

 

[Gill]

I have had the same problem. Been fine for a while, then hid and dead.

 

[Timms2011]

Same story for me, I bought 2 GBR from my LFS they were fine for 3 days then the female showed the sighs and behaviour your describing, she then past away, followed by the male 4 days later. I followed all the Fish stores exact instructions, and doubled checked them on-line on several sights to ensure they were correct. I was really upset as they looked so healthy when i first introduced them into my Tank. I've kept and bred Golden Rams for many years with tremendous success, don't think i'll buy the GBR again.... what a shame!

 

[Ed Seeley]

I agree with most of the posts above - get good quality stock from a breeder or some well conditioned wild fish and they will do well. Poor quality imports will often waste away.

Once estalished and recovered from the trauma the best Rams I've ever seen were wild caught ones. They looked amazing.