Cichlid flashing

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Stefan3289

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So I have a 75 gallon tank with...
2 Blue Acaras
2 EBAs
2 Severums
1 Synodontis

All the fish are juveniles except the catfish.

I noticed about two weeks ago that two of my Acaras would occasionally flash on the floor or rocks, so I did a general cure for parasitic infection (APA) and everything seemed fine until just now I noticed one of the acaras from either was flashing on the floor.

They all eat well, swim around fine, and the water conditions are good since I did a water change yesterday.

Should this be concerning or is it just something that can't be explained?
 
Do really large water changes. My fish started flashing a lot when a missed a few water changes
 
It will be a little hard to get a video or picture until this weekend since I’m busy but I’ll try my best.

I also do about 25/30 percent water changes every weekend. Should I increase this?
 
It will be a little hard to get a video or picture until this weekend since I’m busy but I’ll try my best.

I also do about 25/30 percent water changes every weekend. Should I increase this?
Yes, at least until the problem is fixed. Do 50 percent water change daily or every other day of you cant manage daily
 
I agree that more water changes can help; this could be a water-related issue, what are the test results for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, and what is the GH and pH?

Going forward, on a normal regular basis you should change 50-70% of the tank volume at one time, once each week. This does make a significant difference to all fish, and especially here with the cichlids.
 
Here is an image of him just swimming and I will try to get one of him scratching.

I will definitely start doing bigger water changes, but it just seems strange to me he is the only one that flashes.

Also, the levels are...
Ammonia - .15/.20 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 0 ppm
PH - 7.2/7.4
I’m not sure what GH is as my kit does not have that
 

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Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, and other chemicals in the water can irritate a fish's skin and cause them to rub.

You need to do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until the ammonia and nitrite levels are 0, and the nitrate is less than 20ppm.

When the tank lights are off, shine a torch on the fish and see if any of them have a yellow sheen on their bodies. If they do, they have velvet (Oodinium).
 
Given your test results posted, and the other information, I would suspect either ich or velvet, and probably ich. Ich first attacks fish in the gills, hence the flashing. Ich is now believed to be present in many of our aquariums, and fish that are healthy are easily able to fight it off. The occasional flash shows it is there. Clean water is key, and avoiding stress. Fish only come down with life-threatening ich when under stress.

The ammonia at such low numbers turns up in several different threads. This might bee due to chloramine if that is added to your city water.

It is a natural reaction for most of us to turn to a "medications/treatment" at the first sign of something like this. This usually if not always only makes things worse. Clean water and reducing stress is the best treatment. Every substance added to the tank water gets inside the fish, entering the bloodstream and internal organs, and this causes stress at the very least. When the fish are dealing with something like ich, avoiding additional stress along with clean water is essential.
 
Thank you everyone to has been helping me!

I will definitely start doing larger water changes and more often when I have time.

I shined a light on them and none of them appear to have any yellow sheen, which is good.
I also don’t believe they have ich as none of the other fish have any symptoms and he only has flashing. I also treated them for ich a few months ago since the first tank I had got a leak and they got super stressed when I kept them in a 10 gallon for a day.

I think that maybe he could just be more sensitive then the others to the water conditions and with the water changes he should be better.

Also, I have another questions regarding one of my acaras about another topic, should I start a new thread or could I ask it here?
 
Thank you everyone to has been helping me!

I will definitely start doing larger water changes and more often when I have time.

I shined a light on them and none of them appear to have any yellow sheen, which is good.
I also don’t believe they have ich as none of the other fish have any symptoms and he only has flashing. I also treated them for ich a few months ago since the first tank I had got a leak and they got super stressed when I kept them in a 10 gallon for a day.

I think that maybe he could just be more sensitive then the others to the water conditions and with the water changes he should be better.

Also, I have another questions regarding one of my acaras about another topic, should I start a new thread or could I ask it here?
Start a new thread
 
start it here so we have the background and history of the tank already.
if you want to start a new thread, copy and paste the link from this thread in the new one.
 
I agree on the new thread, but will comment here on this:

I also don’t believe they have ich as none of the other fish have any symptoms and he only has flashing. I also treated them for ich a few months ago since the first tank I had got a leak and they got super stressed when I kept them in a 10 gallon for a day.

Ich can be present without there being any external spots. Ich first attacks fish in the gills, which is why they flash. If healthy and not stressed, they can usually fight it off. It can only be one fish, or maybe a second. Many believe ich is always present but if fish are not stressed they can deal with it. The significant water changes, providing a proper environment (water parameters, numbers of fish, other species, aquascape) reduces stress significantly.

Moving fish from tank to tank is extreme stress, as you said. This in itself can cause ich to become more prevalent, but again, if fish are healthy and the stress is reduced, they shold be able to fight it off.
 

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