Sick Dutch Ram

Question
I have had a pair of Dutch Rams for around a week and they have been fine
until a partial water change, since the water change one has been lethargic
and mainly sinks to the bottom not swimming very much and has gone a very
dark color, i still tries to eat but I'm worried if its got anything it could harm
my other fish as my tank is only 48 litres.
thank you :)

Answer
Hi Paul,
Its possible the new water may have had a different pH level than your aquarium's...Especially if the aquarium has been without a water for a while (pH naturally drops over time due to decaying organics producing acids). Therefore a pH change could have occurred causing stress on your little fellas and there's not much you can do but hope they can fight through it.

Another scary possibility is the tap water may have ammonia in it. So when you do the water change you could unknowingly be adding ammonia into your tank. Ammonia is also a by-product of chloramines and when water conditioners neutralize chloramine, they break the chloramine's bond with ammonia and leave the ammonia in the water. Using a water conditioner that neutralizes ammonia as well as chlorine and chloramine can help solve this problem.

But that's not all. Tap water can also have nitrites and nitrates in it. So the best thing for you to do is investigate your source water and test it if at all possible. Test the pH, ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. And compare to your aquarium's.

Hope your rams make it through OK.

Best of luck and I hope this helps!
Karen~