Ram Problem, URGENT, Appears to be Dying, need help!

[Silver Crescent]

He can't swim, he's lying on his back, everytime he tries to right himself he does a flip, what's wrong?! Every other fish is FINE I'm so confused

 

[tankboy_taylor]

hate to sound negative but its probally too late by the sounds of it. if its a german blue ram those are delicate to begin with might check tank parameters just to be safe

 

[devder1]

nitrate above 5ppm will kill rams in 2 months
you think they are fine and then all of the sudden they die

 

[Silver Crescent]

He's a balloon bodied...seemed fine until today, so I did a water change...I feel so bad, I just want to off myself for this >_<

 

[devder1]

ya i decided that i am done with angels/rams util i set up a south american biotope
they are just too hard too keep in a community

 

[Silver Crescent]

Angels are easy for me now, five years of practice, but I got them right... I just feel so bad for the little guy, he was so cute.. v.v

 

[c01251978]

dont feal bad happens to the best of us !!!

 

[devder1]

dont feal bad happens to the best of us !!!

fo sho

 

[c01251978]

why is this thing calling me a fat head minnow

 

[japes]

nitrate above 5ppm will kill rams in 2 months
you think they are fine and then all of the sudden they die

Above 5ppm? I don't think so, most tap water is going to read higher than that. Blue Rams need well maintained water yes, but there's no magical nitrate number. They also prefer higher temperatures much like Discus.

They are a fairly difficult fish to keep properly, yes, but I think the real problem here is that the fish is (was?) a 'balloon' morph.