Fish Keep Flicking And I Can't Find Out Why

[onidrase]

All of my fish, for one reason or another for the past few weeks tend to flick a lot. Every time I see it I watch them extra closely for signs of disease, there are none. I test the water perimiters with an API test master kit, always 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 20 nitrate. I perform a big 20-50% water change, no help. The pH usually rests between 7.6-7.8. I'm going to be adding a lot of driftwood in order to help a bit in lowering this. The temperature is 78 degrees, steady.

The stocking is 10 tiger barbs, 1 firemouth, 5 upside down catfish. 37 gallon tank.

I used to dechlorinate the water with "Top Fin Tap Water Dechlorinator" but today I picked up API Stress Coat + under the idea that maybe the top fin stuff is not quite doing its job.

I added the Stress Coat + at full dosage without doing a water change after picking it up, which didn't seem to help.

Other factors, I have play sand substrate, lots of plastic decorations, filtered with a 75 gallon cycled filter (but sorta newly cycled)

I'll also be adding a lot of real plants in place of the plastic ones.

Does anyone know what else causes fish to flick other than diseases and bad ammonia and nitrite? Is there something in the tap water that my test kits aren't picking up? Will the use of stress coat + instead of top fin dechlorinator help at all?

I'm getting worried that there's something going on that I just cannot see. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Hermithall]

It's hard to say for sure what's causing the flicking from your description, but you're right to be concerned because it's certainly a sign of irritation.
What do you mean by the "sorta newly cycled" filter? While your water test results are good now, do you think your fish could be showing symptoms of ammonia poisoning from a previous time?
Double check that all your decor is intended for aquarium use, and make sure the brand of children's play sand you used for substrate did not contain anti-fungal agents.
Perhaps you can check on the internet for a breakdown on your local tap water chemistry - many water authorities make this info available online, and you could research anything you suspect might be affexting your fish from there.
I can't think what else it could be; possibly a parasitic problem.
Keep up the good work with dechlorinated water changes meantime - stress coat also locks ammonia, not sure about top fin. I hope things settle down soon

 

[Akasha72]

I have the same problem, even the new fish I got last week have started doing it in the last couple of days. Everything looks fine, water is okay etc I just don't know why they do it so I'll be following this thread to see if I can get some answers too

 

[onidrase]

It's hard to say for sure what's causing the flicking from your description, but you're right to be concerned because it's certainly a sign of irritation.
What do you mean by the "sorta newly cycled" filter? While your water test results are good now, do you think your fish could be showing symptoms of ammonia poisoning from a previous time?
Double check that all your decor is intended for aquarium use, and make sure the brand of children's play sand you used for substrate did not contain anti-fungal agents.
Perhaps you can check on the internet for a breakdown on your local tap water chemistry - many water authorities make this info available online, and you could research anything you suspect might be affexting your fish from there.
I can't think what else it could be; possibly a parasitic problem.
Keep up the good work with dechlorinated water changes meantime - stress coat also locks ammonia, not sure about top fin. I hope things settle down soon

I got all these decorations from the aquarium section of the lfs, so they are for aquarium use.

The filter is newly cycled meaning it's only been ran for about a month, I cycled it by seeding media from my other tanks, so it does keep the nitrites and ammonia at 0 but it's not what I'd call a mature filter

This tank has yet to have any ammonia problems, so if they are showing problems from ammonia in the past, it wasn't from when they were in my possession

I'm just gonna keep running the stress coat stuff for a while and hope it helps, maybe change the water a few times

the top fin stuff doesn't do anything but remove chlorine and metals, or so it says. I have a hard time trusting that brand these days

The playsand is made by quikrete, and a few other people on the forums had said they use it too without any issues. I also recently switched to it, there was flicking when I was using regular aquarium sand from the LFS too

 

[onidrase]

All the fish look and act healthily besides the flicking, and it's been going on for quite a while, so I'm doubting on parasites. I was honestly hoping that it was going to be something that would just go away, but it's not.

Other things I recently noticed with my tap water, if you run the heat on high with the utility sink, the water has kind of a milky white tint to it. not fully blown white, but just a bit. It goes away after the water settles, so I didn't think much of it. Is there anything particular that would cause the water to do that? I usually use a small mix of warm water with cold water in my changes, with the utility sink as it's much quicker and more convenient, but the water I use in the changes always runs clear, as it's not full hot water. I'm trying to give as much info on this stuff as I can, I really wanna know what's causing the irritation. Any other things that might be causing it?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Gill flukes? Link.

 

[onidrase]

Gill flukes? Link.

It's been going on for a while with no signs of lethargy. The fish are still very active, they just seem to flash now and then. So I doubt it, but I guess it's possible. I'd hate to try and treat it without being sure.

I went and did double the dose of stress coat plus after a 30% water change, and there is no flicking as of yet, but I'll be keeping an eye out.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The flicking is symptom one, followed by the lethargy. Hopefully that won't set in. Honestly, gill flukes are something that I hope to never encounter.

 

[onidrase]

The flicking is symptom one, followed by the lethargy. Hopefully that won't set in. Honestly, gill flukes are something that I hope to never encounter.

Wouldn't step 2 already have set in, though? Like I said, the flicking has been happening for weeks now.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I don't know I think it would depend on the severity of the infestation (assuming that's what it is in the first place). If it is still just a minor irritant, then flicking would probably be all the signs you would see, but if the infestation got worse, then the symptoms would worsen as well.


Personally, I'd probably start increasing my water change frequency to try to give them cleaner water to swim in and hope that the problem can be dealt with by the fish. Nice big, frequent water changes are a tonic for almost every problem related to fish. Clean water helps to allow the fish's own immune system take care of things.

 

[onidrase]

I don't know I think it would depend on the severity of the infestation (assuming that's what it is in the first place). If it is still just a minor irritant, then flicking would probably be all the signs you would see, but if the infestation got worse, then the symptoms would worsen as well.


Personally, I'd probably start increasing my water change frequency to try to give them cleaner water to swim in and hope that the problem can be dealt with by the fish. Nice big, frequent water changes are a tonic for almost every problem related to fish. Clean water helps to allow the fish's own immune system take care of things.

Well, I've been doing water changes every 3 or so days since I noticed the flicking. But it never seemed to help. Today I did the water change with stress coat instead of top fin, and I haven't seen any flicking yet. I think the top fin was just leaving something in the water the fish didn't like.

 

[alihar]

It would depend on the extent of infestation. Adult fish can cope with a certain amount of flukes it's when they get an infestation it becomes a problem.
My fish were flicking for 3 months constantly with no lethargy or loss of appetite.
Do you use any sprays or plug in air fresheners around the tank?

 

[onidrase]

It would depend on the extent of infestation. Adult fish can cope with a certain amount of flukes it's when they get an infestation it becomes a problem.
My fish were flicking for 3 months constantly with no lethargy or loss of appetite.
Do you use any sprays or plug in air fresheners around the tank?

Nope. And none of my fish are adults, either. most of the tiger barbs are about half adult size if that, the firemouth is the same size as the barbs, and the catfish are all an inch long.

 

[alihar]

I would stick with extra water changes, stress coat and frequently wiping down aquarium glass and filter with a sponge.
If flicking is minimal so see how things go over the next few weeks.

 

[onidrase]

Will do. What do do if the problem persists? Some websites are saying to treat it with a rather small dose of "potassium permanganate" but that sounds kinda severe. I guess that might just be me since it's a big scary scientific name that I've never heard of.