Re: Blue Ram deaths, Suggestions?

["S. Bunch" <sherryb@hpcisp.com>]

----- Original Message -----
From: <IDMiamiBob@aol.com>
To: <apisto@admin.listbox.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 09, 1999 4:49 PM
Subject: Re: Blue Ram deaths, Suggestions?


I've read the other posts so far, and I would make the following comments.
As always, YMMV

Sherry writes:

<snip>> Plans for new fish:
>      Use different tank to keep from infection from last batch.

If it was ich, it won't matter.  Ich is everywhere, and is opportunistic in
it's appearance.  If it was something else, then this is probably wise.


I'm not sure if that is the only problem or not. Between me and all of the
replies I got on the mail-list, we've diagnosed Ich and Hexamitas, but I'm
still not sure about the cause of the deaths of a couple of them that showed
no signs of either except for heavy breathing before they died. Only one was
doing this at first, but before it was over, all of them showed this
behavior even the ones who showed no spots from Ich.

>      Dose with ich med. immediately after acclimation.
>      Feed antibiotic food as before.

Abuse of anti-biotics leads to anti-biotics that don't work.  I would avoid
using the ich medication without a reason.  Since rams like warm water
(85º-87ºF) and ich fades away in this range, that is a better approach than
just dumping it in there just in case.  IMHO medicated foods aimed at
parasites are more appropriate than those for bacteria when quarantining new
fish.

Okay, I'll hold off on the antibiotic food, but I can't find any medicated
food aimed towards parasites. I usually order from Pet Warehouse, and they
don't seem to carry it. Any suggestions on where to find it? Or would the
use of a medication such as Clout be okay instead of the medicated food?
Yes, I'll also increase the temperature a bit more than the 84F that I had
it at before.

>      Water changes as before.

That water change schedule was pretty aggressive, and may have contributed
to
the stress the fish were experiencing, and which tend to give opportunistic
infections the opportunity they need.


Actually, I had been doing the water changes so frequently due to the
necessity to re-dose with the Ich medicine quite a few times, but I had seen
where some people do small water changes each day. I thought that the 3-day
routine would be a happy medium. Not a good idea though, huh.

>      Keep PH approx. 6.0

That sounds okay.

I would advise you try to otain juvenuile specimens from a local
breeder/club
auction.  They will be less stressed from shipping and will certainly not be
the low-quality stuff that often comes from Asia.

Bob Dixon

For Bob & Daryl,

I have no idea where to find a breeder, and this town is too small to
support any club that I have found (only 40,000 people in the whole County!)
The next largest town in the next county is a college town, where half the
population goes home for the summer. Not much chance of finding a regular
club in the area. Also, the LFS said he would have to get them from his
supplier in Chicago, quite a distance from here. I know he gets his
angelfish from a local breeder, but obviously he doesn't know of any local
Ram breeders. One of his workers say that he has never heard of anyone
locally having any luck at being able to even breed them!

Thanks,
Sherry

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