Guppies Flicking Off The Sand

[nehpets81]

Ever since I purchased my guppies a couple of weeks ago (2m, 4f) I noticed that one of the males kind of flicked himself off the sand substrate. Over the last week or so, the other male and now one female have been flicking off the substrate. It's like they have some sort of irritation. They never flick off the rocks or anything else in the tank, but the male who originally started flicking has been swimming a bit wonky, and sometimes seems to kind of hover in one place.

I think the gill areas seem to be a bit pinkish and also the fish have a kind of bronze shiny colouration over some of their bodies. This may be their normal colouration but I'm not sure.

Am I worrying unnecessarily? I am finding myself to be a bit of a hypercondriac as far as the fish are concerned, the fish don't seem to have problems breathing and they are voratious feaders. Or could this be the start of some sort of parasitic infection - flukes or velvet or somethig? There are no white spots so I've discounted that.

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 20-40ppm, which also happens to be the ambient tap nitrate.
PH: 7.6
V. Hard Water
Planted tank with sand substrate
Temp: 26

 

[fluttermoth]

How often do you think they're doing the flicking, on average? If it's only once or twice a day, there's almost certainly no problem; fish do get itchy and have to scratch, same as humans.

If it's a lot more often than that; multiple times per hour, then a course of an anti-parasitic medicine would be best.

 

[nehpets81]

Thanks for getting back to me, I would say the three that are flicking are probably doing it a couple of times an hour - it is also noticably only three of the guppies that are doing it which makes me think it's not normal behaviour - at first I thought it might be just a male guppy thing but after the female started I discounted this idea.

So... any recommendations for suitable meds? I also have 6 x Sterbai Cories in the tank.

 

[This Old Spouse]

It sounds like a symptom of ich, maybe early stages. Check out the ich section in the beginning of the Tropical Fish Emergencies section about dosing. I think you need to dose at half strength when there are other critters in question.

First thing you should do is a humongous water change, then raise the temp, which will accelerate the life cycle of the parasites.

 

[fluttermoth]

Are you in the UK?

Sterazin is safe for cories (most meds are; it's the 'scaless fish, lke loach, that are the ones you need to worry about), or Paragon, if you have shrimps or snails.

 

[nehpets81]

It sounds like a symptom of ich, maybe early stages. Check out the ich section in the beginning of the Tropical Fish Emergencies section about dosing. I think you need to dose at half strength when there are other critters in question.

First thing you should do is a humongous water change, then raise the temp, which will accelerate the life cycle of the parasites.

Yeah. I did consider ich to start with but discounted it as one fish has been flicking for over 2 weeks and I have not seen any obvious ich signs, I think my tank temp is high enough to have shown the whole life cycle by now?

 

[This Old Spouse]

Well, as I said, a huge water change would be on my to-do list right away. See if their symptoms change at all once you do that. Worst case is that you'd have some clean water.

 

[nehpets81]

Are you in the UK?

Sterazin is safe for cories (most meds are; it's the 'scaless fish, lke loach, that are the ones you need to worry about), or Paragon, if you have shrimps or snails.

I am yes, I'll have a look for some Sterazin as I don't have any crustaceans. Well, I have one or two snail hangers on but wouldn't really miss them! I presume it's safe for the filter etc?

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes, it's fine for your filter.