2 Dead Rams, How Did They Die? :(

[RaechalLee]

I had three german blue rams, 2 male 1 female.
 
 
About a week ago I noticed my female ram had a little white mark on the top of her head, near her eye.
 

 
It looked a lot like that (it was hard to get a good picture)
 
Then her eye started swelling pretty bad and she died within the next couple days.
 
I noticed one of the male rams also had a little white spot on his head that looked like a wound or like the scales were missing. It started getting lighter and healing up but he died yesterday. He started floating on his side and his body was kind of bent.
 
My other ram (the alpha ram) is perfectly fine. No wounds, no white spots, regular poo, eating, swimming fine. All of my fish look perfectly fine and I tested my water yesterday - Ammonia-0 Nitrite-0 Nitrate-10
 
So I did a 25% water change and my fish seem perfectly fine today.
 
I don't want my other ram or any of my other fish to die.
 
Is there something I am missing here? Is it possible that they died from injuries from the bigger alpha male? They were fighting a lot (over the female) but whenever I would add more females, they would end up dead within a couple days. I think my rams that paired up were killing the smaller female rams every time they would breed and protect their eggs. Or possibly my angelfish.
 
Right now they are in a planted 75 gallon
4 angelfish
1 german blue ram
1 albino bristlenose pleco
1 gold gourami
1 guppy
1 yellow spiny eel
 

 

[nic1]

It could be a case of bullying.... Smaller fish were getting picked on, the white fuzz could be from a cut, and consequently died from stress.
If you've seen them fighting and there's no other symptoms then you've hit the nail on the head...,

Her cut could of become infected resulting in the swelling, and not being able to fight infection because of her high stress levels.

Just watch for more fighting, maybe try and add more hiding spaces, rearrange the tank, add something new... Just because fish have their own territories and once taken out of the equation they will settle down.... Or you could re home him- I never like this option, I couldn't give anything away!
Love the look of your tank btw

 

[RaechalLee]

It could be a case of bullying.... Smaller fish were getting picked on, the white fuzz could be from a cut, and consequently died from stress.
If you've seen them fighting and there's no other symptoms then you've hit the nail on the head...,

Her cut could of become infected resulting in the swelling, and not being able to fight infection because of her high stress levels.

Just watch for more fighting, maybe try and add more hiding spaces, rearrange the tank, add something new... Just because fish have their own territories and once taken out of the equation they will settle down.... Or you could re home him- I never like this option, I couldn't give anything away!
Love the look of your tank btw

Thanks. I will be picking up a few more plants so I can add more hiding spaces and change things around a bit.
 
I recently changed things around and they didn't fight for like a week and then the alpha male kept bullying the other two all the time.
 
I want to get more rams but now I am scared because if he is killing them I don't want to keep buying them

 

[AeonMapa]

Try keeping your dominant male ram by himself in a 5 gallon for a month, while you allow 4-5 young rams to establish themselves in your tank. Put him back when at least one pair has been formed, if he is the problem fish this might sort it out

 

[RaechalLee]

Try keeping your dominant male ram by himself in a 5 gallon for a month, while you allow 4-5 young rams to establish themselves in your tank. Put him back when at least one pair has been formed, if he is the problem fish this might sort it out

Hey that is a great idea, thanks!

 

[mark4785]

If you plan on keeping several pairs of rams, you definitely need to provide a plethora of hiding spaces. I currently have 2 GBR's that have paired up and they are taking it in turns to watch over their fertilised eggs. My other female GBR, which has been outcasted, doesn't get too stressed as it as least 15 leaves and some bog wood pieces to hide behind. It would seem that the front of your aquarium is quite open (i.e. one ram would be able to see the other if it looked length wise across the aquarium). It is open areas like this that I think you should be looking to fill up with plants/wood/stone so as to create a buffer between your rams.
 
With regards to the white spots, I would hazard a guess that a much larger GBR or other larger fish (I don't know what the temperament of Angelfish is like) as bit the ram's head pictured in picture 1 and a bacterial infection had took hold.
Picture 2 looks more like a case of hexamita / hole-in-the-head as one of the white spots is in the centre of it's head, a typical sign of HITH syndrome.