my Ram is sick...

Question
I had that particular Ram for like 6 months. Could she really have had a
parasite for that long and not shown any signs of it at all?

I think she got sick from something in the water that my Otocinclus came in.

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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Nope, none of the fish have been picking on her. Plus I have had the dwarf
puffer for over a year and he has not caused any problems.

She ended up having a parasite. She has all the symptoms of having an
internal parasite. She died last night.

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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
I have a tank with 2 Ram's, a Dwarf Puffer, and 2 Cory's. They have been
perfectly fine together over the past 6 months.

Recently, out of nowhere, my Ram started acting funny. She has darkened in
color, has not really been eating, started to breathe heavy, and doesn't swim
around anymore. She just sits on the bottom of the tank and moves every
once in a while.

I did add an Otocinclus to the tank recently, who is healthy and gets along
with all the other fish. But, is it possible that there could have been a parasite
in the pet store water he came in? When I introduced him into the tank, some
of the pet store water was let into my tank. Could my female Ram gotten sick
from that?

I have checked the pH levels, nitrite, ammonia, etc and everything seems to
be perfectly fine. And none of my other fish have any of these symptoms.

She does NOT have any signs of any fungus or slime; just the symptoms I
talked about earlier. I checked out some websites that talk about fish
sickness and it seems she might have the symptoms of possibly having a
parasite. What do you think?
-----Answer-----
Hi Mandy,
Is it possible that your fish is being picked on by another fish? Also, if there
aren't enough hiding places it could be stressed. Sometimes, another fish or
even the other Ram could be picking on your fish even though things have
been going well for 6 months.  Could the Puffer be causing the fish to be
stressed? If a fish is stressed they will sometimes turn a darker or lighter
color than  their normal color. Here is a website on Dwarf Puffers that I
thought you might want to see just in case he could be causing your Ram to
have problems from being picked on.http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/
setup4.htm
Just observe to make sure that no other fish could be causing a problem.
Sometimes, fish will even cause problems after the lights go out at night.
It could always be a parasite but I would try to be sure that the other
tankmates are not causing a problem first before I would think about
medicating for any type of disease.
Hope this helps,
Karen
-----Answer-----
Hi Mandy,
So sorry to hear about your Ram. I was hoping it wasn't a parasite. I know that
is it hard to treat  sometimes especially if it is internal. Sometimes rams can
be sensitive to certains conditions and could have had it even before you got
him. I had the same problem with a fish of mine and he would not eat any
medicated food which would have helped. He had it before I got him and it
just took awhile before it manifested in obvious illness.
Once again I'm so sorry you lost you fish,
Karen

Answer
Hi Mandy,
It is always a possibility that a new fish added to your aquarium could have caused your fish to get sick. That is why it is always best to have a quarantine tank set up whenever you purchase fish and the new fish goes in there for at least a couple of weeks just to be sure that nothing is transmitted to your healthy tank.   
Rams can be sensitive and perhaps the other fish were not as susceptible to whatever parasite that he was exposed to. Fish are somewhat like people. Some will get sick while others remain immune to certain illnesses. Maybe that is what happened in your situation. Next time just be sure to quarantine any new fish before adding to your tank. I finally realized that I have to do the same thing since many times fish appear healthy when you buy them and then they get sick later and can get your fish sick. It is true that the water from the fish store can have contaminants in it so be careful from now on and try to net out the fish so water from the bag can be kept to a minimum.
Some internal parasites do take awhile to show up. Usually you will notice that their poop is more stringy and white instead of the regular color. The fish may seem normal for quite a while and then little by little they start to show more signs of illness.  Then it is alot harder to treat them and takes a long time to get any results. Sometimes it doesn't work. I've had this happen with an Oscar.
Hopefully, you won't have this happen again. It is a little tricky treating fish for certain diseases and you don't want to treat them unless you are very sure since chemicals are really hard on them and alot of the fish medications are extremely hard on fish.
Hope the rest of your fish remain healthy. Just keep observing them to be sure there is no more illness.
Best of luck,
Karen