# Sick German Blue Ram - Help Urgently Needed



## mark4785 (11 Jul 2011)

Hi,

I introduced a female GBR to my aquarium about 2 months ago and after she spawns the male I paired her with eats all of the eggs she lays and then becomes quite aggressive towards her. While the eggs are visible, they get a long very well and the female actually shows more aggression towards the male.

Typically he will swim after her very quickly and chase her to the back of the aquarium. She started to hide behind a rock and lose her colours and each time she dared to come out she was chased back behind the rock by the male. Due to this, it was very hard to get her to eat anything so I have transferred her into a separate community aquarium.

At the moment she is spitting her flake food out (which she normally enjoyed) and she has a white spot on her head which I am unable to distinguish from other ailments. Here are some pics of the white spot:

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The most concerning thing about the spot is that it sinks very slightly into the GBR's head. I have transferred the GBR to a 20 litre quarantine tank and I am treating the water with Waterlife Myaxin as though the spot is some sort of bacterial infection.

IMO, the spot doesn't resemble hole in the head of fungus but why is the spot sinking ever so slightly into the skin?


Thank you,

Mark.


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## howanic (12 Jul 2011)

sorry to hear about your GBR. I can't really offer any advice, I think you are doing all you can. 

i too have experienced this aggression with GBR and other dwarf cichlids. I had one chase the female completely out of the tank. I have a male krib atm that is chasing the female. I think it happens when one is ready to spawn again and the other is not. They seem to get their mojo's out of sync. Ideally you have a large tank so the female can get away, but you can also plant heavily and add tither fish to maybe share some of the males attention.

The egg eating, although extremely frustrating, is common. Probably they either just need more practice or they don't feel safe enough. Providing the female pulls through, just leave them at it and hopefully with time they will get the hang of it.

Can you get the female to eat live food, if she is spitting flake now? 

Also could the spot be an ulcer?

Hope you have caught whatever it is in time


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## Fred Dulley (12 Jul 2011)

I agree about the aggression towards her from the male. Stress not good.
The white mark on her head looks like a bite. Best thing to do is keep water clean and try prevent an infection.
Not that it applies here but with GBRs, it's best to start on the right foot, and by that I mean getting them from a really good supplier. Best places are Germany, Holland and Czech. If the shop gets them from Middle_East or Singapore then they don't last long.


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## mark4785 (12 Jul 2011)

Fred Dulley said:
			
		

> I agree about the aggression towards her from the male. Stress not good.
> The white mark on her head looks like a bite. Best thing to do is keep water clean and try prevent an infection.
> Not that it applies here but with GBRs, it's best to start on the right foot, and by that I mean getting them from a really good supplier. Best places are Germany, Holland and Czech. If the shop gets them from Middle_East or Singapore then they don't last long.



Am I doing all I can by applying Myaxin anti-bacterial treatment? That should prevent an infection right?

I have an NTlabs medical kit that is designed for disinfecting and encapsulating ulcers but that is designed for larger cold water fish.

I purchase all my tropical fish from Wharf Aquatics in Nottinghamshire. The male GBR that I've spoken of his very healthy; he has a bright red/orange nose and his colours are spectacular. I'm sure I asked an employee at Wharf where they source their fish and I believe they assured me that it's from a reliable source.


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## mark4785 (12 Jul 2011)

howanic said:
			
		

> Can you get the female to eat live food, if she is spitting flake now?
> 
> Also could the spot be an ulcer?



She will eat blood worm (I dip it in Waterlife Vitazin which is a multi-vitamin supplement) but the blood worm itself predominately comprises moisture and something like 5% protein which is not ideal.

It looks like an ulcer but the fact that it sinks slightly made me suspect something else.


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## Fred Dulley (12 Jul 2011)

mark4785 said:
			
		

> Fred Dulley said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Sounds good to me.



			
				mark4785 said:
			
		

> Fred Dulley said:
> 
> 
> 
> > I purchase all my tropical fish from Wharf Aquatics in Nottinghamshire.



Ah, you're probably fine then. The guys at Wharf Aquatics are brilliant.


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## mark4785 (1 Aug 2011)

Unfortunately the female GBR seems to have lost her appetite again. She has gone a pale colour and sometimes the water current looks as though it's moving her; from experience, healthy fish are able to easily fight against a moderate current.

I am clueless as to what is wrong with her. I consulted one of my fish disease books which stated that a parasite named 'Trichodina' is both an internal and external parasite which can cause a fish to completely go off food, rub against objects and cause white spots to appear (this was the initially problem that I wanted to discuss in this thread). There is no longer any rubbing but the appetite is still non-existent.

It states that Trichodina is likely to occur where the fish is stressed, especially by sudden fluctuations in temperature. This strikes a cord since I've had to continually transfer her out of my largest tank to a smaller one due to the fact that a male Ram became overly aggressive towards her. I've treated the female Ram with one course of WaterLife Protozin which specifically eradicates this type of parasite. When I transfer a fish I always try to acclimatise them to their new environment so the fluctuations wouldn't have been large.

Despite my efforts, she is still spitting out flake food (the stuff that contains all the vitamins and minerals she needs to survive!) and has now gone all pale.

Any ideas what I should do or is it inevitable that she will die?


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