# Sick bolivian rams



## winn0923 (Oct 8, 2008)

Hi all,

I have 3 bolivian rams (2f/1m) that have been in the tank for 2 months now. One of them (female) started hiding among the plants and stopped eating, moving around about 5 days ago. Now the male also showing the same symptoms, hiding, not touching the food, and breathing heavily,. The other female appear to be fine. Water quality is fine, nitrate is at <5 ppm. I did a partial water change (50%) every 2 days ever since the first female got sick. I had 2 bolivians before that die with the same symptoms. All the other fishes in the tank is fine (pristella tetra and cories, had these for close to 5 months and nothing ever happen to them). What is going on, maybe intestinal parasite or I might just get bad stock from the LFS?


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

What are the exact water parameters on the tank?

What kind of test kits are you using - strips or liquid reagent?

It sounds like you might be dealing with an internal parasite, but I'd also take a close look at the water, since this has happened to you before.

For rams, I would treat the tank with Jungle Parasite Clear rather than go with Clout or one of the more harsh meds. You'll need to do 3 full treatments, spaced 48 hours apart, with a 25% water change prior to the 2nd and 3rd treatment. Make sure to remove all carbon that is less than 2 weeks old from the filtration while treating, and don't feed until the treatment is complete, unless you feed them medicated food.


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## winn0923 (Oct 8, 2008)

I'm using API liquid test kit. Water parameter is 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, <5 nitrate. I mix 1/3 RO and 2/3 tap to soften the water and the pH is at 6.5 I was thinking dosing jungle parasite clear too but my tank is heavily planted (more than 80% ground cover), and I know it has acraflavin as an ingredient so will it harm my plants? The label said it won't harm the palnts but I've read several sources that acraflavin will kill plant, and will kill it fast. And another thing, since it is a parasite problem, should I treat the entire tank vs. using hospital tank (and it would be tough to even try and net one of the rams out since the tank is so heavily planted) since the other fishes most likely already house the bugs in their body.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I've never used it on a planted tank, so I just can't say.

But I can tell you that if you're dealing with internal parasites, they will kill the fish, so you really need to treat, even if you have to move them to a hospital tank to do so. The problem is, it's hard to vacuum a planted tank as well as you can a non planted tank, so you might be leaving infected feces behind for the rams to pick back up when you put them back in their tank.

I would treat the main tank and take my chances with the plants.


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## winn0923 (Oct 8, 2008)

So I talked to the guy at the LFS who is fairly knowledgeable on plants and he said the acraflavin in jungle parasite clear will definitely turn the plants to mush so he recommended metrodinazole instead, dosing it with the same direction that you gave. We will see how this will turn out. Hopefully they will be ok. He also said that I should take out the blue filter pads on my emperor 280 (I'm using 2 blue pads in there instead of 1 pad + carbon catridge) even though the carbon in the pad is over 4 weeks old. What is your opinion on this?


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I only remove carbon from my filtration if it's less than 2 weeks in use. If it's over a month old, I wouldn't worry about it!


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## winn0923 (Oct 8, 2008)

Looks like metrondinazole did wonder. The two rams who were laying around and hiding actually started swimming around today after 1 dose of the med. Hopefully this will get risk of this pesky parasite.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Good for you and your rams!

Continue the treatment...


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## winn0923 (Oct 8, 2008)

I'm on my 3rd dose of metrodinazole today. Out of the two sick rams, one is still have trouble moving around, the other one is moving around but still shows reclusive behavior. What should I do? The whole tank has been off food for about 5 days now. When should I start re feeding them? Should I continue to dose metro and hold food for the whole tank until they show sign of improvement? I think they have improved a little bit but I would not say that they are healthy. I've been turning the lights off for these past 5 days to reduce stress too and all the rams' colors are great, they are not pale or anything. Temp was at 76 originally but I lower it down to 72-74 to slow the spread of the disease. The 3rd ram (the one that never got sick) is very healthy and she would come beg for food everytime I pass the tank. Normally all 3 of them would do it but now only the healthy female would do it... Any thoughts? I really do not know what to do...


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## winn0923 (Oct 8, 2008)

OK so one of the bolivians died and after puilling it out and inspecting it thoroughly i saw that it has a red anus with worm potruding out ... I'm pretty sure it is camallanus, how will I treat it now?


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

You need to find a medication with levamisole in it.

You can also try picking up some of the Jungle medicated food that has levamisole. You'll need to soak it in tank water for 20-30 minutes and mush it with your fingers a bit, and don't offer any other foods.

Here is a link with more information on this:

http://www.plecofanatics.com/articles/s ... .php?e=337


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