Ram fish breathing heavy

Question
Hi Ron,  Thank you for helping me.  No I watched my ram no other fish are chasing him.  I moved him to my 10 gallon to mellow him out(only rummy nose tetras in there and baby mollies I bought at the store), and he went right to the bottom.  A couple of times he tried to swim up towards the top of the water for air.  He looks very weak. He was trying to fight to stay at the top of the tank for air.  There is a filter and bubbler in both aquariums and they are cycled for many months now.  And, yes I do 20 percent water changes a week and vaccuum. I know that rams can be very hard to keep.  I have had him for about 6 months from a very good fish store.  It looks like he needs to be in a breathing chamber.  His color is also starting to fade.  Please let me know if you have any more ideas.  

Thank you!

Diane
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Followup To

Question -
Hi there,
I have a blue ram who has been breathing heavy the last 3 days, and is not as active as he used to be.  I think he is sick but I don't know what to do for him.  He is in a 45 gallon tank with 1 angel fish, 4 diamond tetras, 4 glass fish, 1 krib, 2 rainbows, 2 red minors, 1 guppy, 3 lemon tetras.  They all get along very well.  I'm very good at changing water and keeping it vaccumed.  Do you what I can do?  Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.  I'm a mom and don't like to see my babies sick(yes fish, dogs, hamster).  My filter is a penguin 200 bio wheel filter.

Diane


Answer -
Hi Dianne,
 Is it possible that he is being chased by the angel or the krib?   Both angels and kribs can get quite fiesty.

  When you say "good at changing water", I assume that you mean that you are changing about 20% of the water once a week, every week?

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


Answer
Hi Diane,
 Unfortunately, I don't know of any simple things.  It sounds like you have been treating him very well.  Two possibilities come to mind and neither is good... 1. He could be getting old.  
2. He could have a gill infection.  There are some rare parasites that attack the gills and make it very hard for a fish to get enough oxygen.

However, if that were the case, usually all your fish would get it.  Similarly, if there were some sort of toxin in the water, most likely the other fish would show it as well.

Sorry, I don't have any more ideas.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>