German Blue Ram Sudden Death

[DrSlackBladder]

I have neglected this forum for several months after getting some great help about a year ago when setting up my tropical community tank.  Touch wood, everything has gone very well, with the only losses being a few neons very shortly after adding a group several months ago.  But I'm back on here due to a sad loss of one of my German Blue Rams, which only yesterday I was admiring and trying to decide if it was male or female.  It's a 100 litre tank, with inhabitants listed in my signature.  All healthy and doing well until this evening when I found one of the rams floating, with fury mold like stuff around its head and both eyes missing.  I keep excellent water quality, with regular API checks and 30% water changes each week.  Temperature is 25-26C, ammonia zero, nitrite zero, nitrate around 20-40ppm and pH around 7.5.  The only major change in several months has been only 4 days ago when I added three new neons to take my shoal back up to 7, thinking that 4 was too few for these shoaling shy fish.  They were acclimatised slowly and added with only very little of the water that came from the LFS, and are doing well.  I'll keep a close eye on everything, but have read that Blue Rams suffer Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS), so am worried for the remaining one.  Any advice welcomed!

 

[ech0o]

First, I almost never add any water that comes with the fish from the pet store.   Fish stores have the tendency to have parasite carrying fish, It is not as uncommon as you would hope, and as well as residing in the fish, nearly all of the "bad" bacterias and parasites show up in the water column.    While fish sudden death is certainly not unheard of, it generally is accompanied by some kind of disease or infection (blue rams are the exception with more sudden death cases happening with them then most).
 
THAT BEING SAID, these blue rams seem incredibly finnicky, as I have seen many many people come through these forums with perfect water conditions and issues with ram death.   I believe the water quality parameters go a bit deeper than the basics with rams, into total dissolved solids and other like measurements that these guys prefer.   The fact that both eyes were missing could mean a couple things, they popped out from whatever disease took the fish, or that after the fish died it was eaten by the other fish.  The white stuff is fungus and it is not uncommon to form on dead life in the tank.

 

[KittyKat]

What size was the fish and what size was it when you bought it?

 

[DrSlackBladder]

Both rams were bought together, and were probably around 20mm long (not including tail) when bought about 6 months ago.  They both got to about 30 mm long now; just checked the remaining one and it likes very happy and healthy.
 
The amount of water from the LFS added when I added the 3 new neons would have been absolutely tiny, I take a couple of hours floating the bag of new fish in the tank then add remove about half the bag water and add the same amount of tank water, then do this every 15 mins or so about 6 or 7 times, then tip all the water from the bag away except just enough to cover the fish, then add to the tank.

 

[Electric Warrior]

A few things that came to mind immediately are the temp for one.  I know that some sites will say that 25.5-26C is okay for rams, but I would say that is the absolute minimum.  I find that mine don't seem anywhere near as happy as they do when the temp is at least 28.  Also, 40 nitrate is a bit high for rams!  That could be something to do with it.  Like with discus, you want to aim to keep nitrate between 10-20 max for rams.  I know that a 40 reading might not kill them right away, but long term it may significantly shorten their lifespan.  Yeah, sounds like fungus, just hopefully not columnaris!  Did you get a picture of the dead ram?  There is a chance that the new additions stressed them and then caused an outbreak of fungus on one?  I pour the bag water through a net with new fish, and then take the netted fish and put into the tank.  I'd rather the fish get a little freaked for three seconds rather than introduce a pathogen of some sort from the water in the bag, personally.  It only takes a few drops, because if there is something in there, it might not affect the fish in the bag that you bring home, but could infect someone already in the tank if they are more susceptible...

 

[mark4785]

I have neglected this forum for several months after getting some great help about a year ago when setting up my tropical community tank.  Touch wood, everything has gone very well, with the only losses being a few neons very shortly after adding a group several months ago.  But I'm back on here due to a sad loss of one of my German Blue Rams, which only yesterday I was admiring and trying to decide if it was male or female.  It's a 100 litre tank, with inhabitants listed in my signature.  All healthy and doing well until this evening when I found one of the rams floating, with fury mold like stuff around its head and both eyes missing.  I keep excellent water quality, with regular API checks and 30% water changes each week.  Temperature is 25-26C, ammonia zero, nitrite zero, nitrate around 20-40ppm and pH around 7.5.  The only major change in several months has been only 4 days ago when I added three new neons to take my shoal back up to 7, thinking that 4 was too few for these shoaling shy fish.  They were acclimatised slowly and added with only very little of the water that came from the LFS, and are doing well.  I'll keep a close eye on everything, but have read that Blue Rams suffer Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS), so am worried for the remaining one.  Any advice welcomed!

 
I've kept many GBR's over the past 4 years and with experience can say that GBR's succumb to disease where other fish do not during transition periods (i.e. when transferring the fish from one place to another) and when any sort of stressor is present.
 
Taking into account everything in your original post among other postulations, I think the GBR could have died due to one of the following:
 
1. The fish was insufficiently acclimatised to your aquarium which may have had significant pH, KH, GH and temperature readings to the LFS aquarium
2. Your pH level of 7.5 may be rising even higher which may be giving rise to skin irritation on the ram which can literally stress it to death.
3. The fish may have had a bacterial pop-eye infection, which for rams, usually comes about secondary to hole-in-the-head syndrome. If this is the reason, you would have witnessed, for an extensive period of 2-3 months, white faeces and the fish spitting out processed foods.
4. Your group of corydoras may have stressed it out if it was trying to compete for any sinking pellets which you presumably add. You may be thinking this is a farfetched explanation; but when it comes to GBR's remember that everything is opposites!
5. Large water changes are prevalent for upsetting GBR's. They prefer consistency, particularly when it comes to KH and GH. The KH and GH concentration are actively utilised to oxidise ammonia by the filters/plants so your tank will always have less KH/GH in it comparative to the source of the tank water. For this reason, smaller water changes of about 15% of the tank capacity are preferred if you have Rams. Your other fish probably couldn't care less.
 
I don't think your temperature of 25-26 degrees C would constitute a problem for GBR providing you reached that temperature over a VERY SLOW graduated period. GBR's, in the rainy season of their native Venezuelan river basins, will experience temperature dips which signifies the start of the breeding season for them. So this should be seen as a welcoming change providing it's a slow transition. You should be aiming for a temperature of 27 degrees C in a tank containing GBR's and other fish which require lower temperatures.