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German ram - parasite/worm?

Note that as 5-nitroimadazole compounds, both Dimetridazole and Metronidazole are photosensitive and more stable at acidic pH
(So keep the lights off, maybe add dark paper to tank back and sides if there is considerable ambient light, eg sunlight or bright room light illuminating tank; obviously you can brighten the tank for water changes etc)

Assuming your tap water is hard and alkaline (re pH 7.9), you might consider moving the male ram to a hospital tank and adding in RO water - do this gradually so as not to stress an already ill fish

Levamisol is also more effective in softer, more neutral water (IIRC suggested range is ~ pH 6 - pH 7.4)
 
Sammy Islam said:
Can i get medicated foods from LFS?
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I prefer to make up my own medicated foods
Seachem Focus is indispensable when making medicated food as it binds the active ingredient to the food (I choose frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp as my fish consider these the most palatable foods - almost all medications will reduce food palatability) and retains this link for some time under aquarium conditions (sorry I don’t recall the specifics but decent over the 10-20min I expect fish to consume the medicated food, without a binding agent, most medications release very quickly under aquarium conditions)

Open the Directions subsection 😉

- note my fish didn’t care for Garlic Guard or Entice (so I no longer use these)
- some fish were fine with stored or frozen medicated foods, others much preferred the freshly prepared versions and very few significantly ill fish will consume sufficient food within the 1minute guideline (so often used when feeding fish)
- some medications are much less palatable than others, eg if treating Altum angels, I could soak metronidazole~food up to 60 minutes, but levamisole (crystalline pharmaceutical grade levamisole HCl)~food was DIRT if I forgot and allowed it to soak for 60 min (10min was acceptable, 20min was almost edible)

I found Hikari freeze dried foods to be very refractive to my soaking attempts, most commercial pellet foods were either equally resistant or became mush (and it’s often difficult to convince a sick fish to eat sufficient amounts of unfamiliar foods), Hikari frozen foods were voted most palatable (& thus effective) by the fish

As there are more (& more) restraints on obtaining medications for ornamental fish, but fish farms continue to have significant disease issues, it’s a pretty dim future for hobbyist fish that become ill
While maintaining optimum water quality will always benefit fish, some diseases will continue to overwhelm individual fish
I recommend quarantine tanks for any new purchases, and hospital tanks for any fish that show signs of illness - if you can “catch” first symptoms (eg accelerated respiration in ich infected fish) rather than infestation (visible white spots on ich infected fish), recovery chances are much better
 
Thanks for the very informative and quick replies! Really appreciated it! Will monitor over the next couple of days after the prazi treatment, and have ordered eSha ndx and octazin. Really don't like using loads of courses of meds, but i have to try and save him!
 
He died :thumbdown::banghead: couldn't see him earlier all day so i had to remove stuff from the tank to find the body! The female is still doing good so will just keep an eye on her.
 
So sorry to read this

While it’s possible that using some of the suggested remedies sooner, may have helped, there’s really no way to predict
(I suggest having the levamisole eSHa ndx as part of your fish medical kit, just store everything in a cool dark place, while some medications store well in the freezer, others begin to breakdown from the moisture)

When I observe a fish with signs of illness - often the first symptoms are reduced activity, especially a reluctance to be up front and forward (except this behaviour can also develop for other various reasons ... which is the issue when determining fish health, ie, most observed “symptoms” may have several explanations) - I begin with a white spot treatment (which usually treats a number of external parasites, ich just being the most common)
If there’s is no improvement after 2-3 daily doses (preceded by 70-80% water change), then move on to a different type of disease possibility

If fish has a food response, but is then reluctant to eat, internal parasites (various sorts) is a likely guess
Metronidazole, Praziquantel, Fenbedazoles, Levamisole are all contenders - some knowledge of “most likely” species pathogens is a helpful guide in choosing which medication to start with

Fish with internal bacterial infections are usually advanced before fish begin to refuse food - at this stage it may sometimes be kinder just to euthanize, rather than playing the guessing game, as recovery via bath medication (at this late stage) is unlikely. It is further unlikely that randomly guessed antibacterials will be effective.
(Most of the broad spectrum antibacterials have limited efficacy as baths, even when the particular pathogen is one that responds to bath medication)

Fish with viral or Iridovirus infections are generally terminal - supportive care, minimal stress environment is the “treatment” ..... and very occasionally, a fish may recover

The rapid respiration, stillness, lack of food response, brilliant colors is observed in M ramirezi with Iridovirus (which is rarely transmitted to other fish species in the community tank, especially when optimum water quality etc are maintained)
If the female ram is from the same source as the male, it’s more likely she may also develop the condition
As it’s not treatable with any hobbyist available medications, I would not subject her to any sort of treatments, just maintain great water quality, good care & feeding

As M ramirezi is not a long lived fish, even wild caught fish kept in excellent conditions: it’s recommended to purchase obviously juvenile fish. Most commercial bred fish will live 1-3 years, inbred fish such as the balloon form, extreme long fin form, hormone treated fish will seldom make the 2-3 year mark
 
Thanks you, this is very helpful. I've got the meds in my stash now so i am definitely more prepared if anything happens in the future.
 
Hi all,
mrsajun05 said:
I suggest you use a water conditioner to control this parasite.
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What exactly do you mean by "water conditioner"? I'd recommend <"Fenbendazole"> for control of some "pests", but I'm not sure it works against Camallanus, <"Levamisole HCl"> does.

Unfortunately the OP's fish died.

cheers Darrel
 
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