What are symptoms of stress?

[Greg Menke]

Yesterday I got a male Blue Ram to keep the female company. Had a rough time coming from the store- bag got dropped (argh!!!). He's in the quarantine tank now (do several small changes a day, siphoning from the main tank- so the water should be OK). PH is about 7, temp is between 78-80F, nitrates well below 5ppm.

So he's vaguely swimming around, only his pectoral fins and the tail end of his dorsal fin are doing much. His respiration has slowed down ( I get the impression he's relaxing a little at least) and he's sitting more level than he was (tail angled down). I turned off the filter since the current seemed to agitate him and push him around. Tried to feed him a bit but no interest so I scooped the food out.

He also seems kind of confused by the tank, occasionally restlessly flipping one way then the other up near the glass.

Is there anything much more to be done for him- other than to minimize disturbances and keep the water stable and clean?

Thanks,

Greg

[fins_n_fur]

1. Make sure the filter is back on. Monitor your parameters for a couple of days to be sure the water is good, unless you had the filter off for only a short while
2. If you have lights on the tank, leave them off for a day. He's stressed and just needs a day or so to adjust.

If his colouring is pale or very dark, it should colour up once he feel comfortable.

[MrDrums]

some extra stress coat couldn't hurt.....keep things calm around the tank. I like to add a bit of aquarriumn salt with a water change for fish that seem stressed.....it seems to help as far as what I observe (though some say it isn't necessary).

[jules]

I agree with all the above. Keep away from the tank too - let it really get used to the new surroundings. Unless the fish is somewhat starved, give it a day or two of no food too. It may or may not eat, but you don't want the added stress of doing water changes, or slowly decaying uneaten food.

[Greg Menke]

Thanks all.

The water changes are stress-free as I have a small siphon line that trickles into the tank, and another to drain so to keep the tank from overflowing. So I just run the siphon in for a few minutes a few times a day to keep his water fresh and thats it. I think he smells the fish in the main tank or something though, he starts looking around when I bring in the new water.

The main tank water has a bit of salt in it. I added a light stress-coat dose when I first put him in.

Regards,

Greg