Has My Geophagus Steindachneri Got Itchy Skin?

[plaskotki]

Hi Guys,
I got a pair of Geophagus steindachneri a few weeks ago. Recently they started to "brush" against gravel and stones. Sometimes they also tend to rest motionless on the bottom of the tank. I tested water for Nitrate, ammonia, they are both fine. I changed 40% of water, but if anything the frequency of this strange behaviour increased. Has anybody who keeps earth eaters confirm if this is their normal behaviour or something's wrong The tank is well established, other fish seem fine. I used API water treatment when changing water. Any ideas?

 

[the biffster]

what are the stats on your tank
at the moment

 

[KittyKat]

what substrate do you use?

 

[plaskotki]

what are the stats on your tank
at the moment

1 golden gourami
1 sucking loach
1 dwarf pleco
1 pepper cory
1 clown loach (10cm/4")
2 juvenile Heros efasciatus (male and female I believe)
2 redhumps (male and female)

I use medium size gravel

 

[the biffster]

water stats i was on about

 

[KittyKat]

Ignoring the questionable stocking, I think the biffster was referring to the pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings as well as temperature.

Standard pea gravel? Not dyed, not crushed coral?

 

[plaskotki]

Ignoring the questionable stocking, I think the biffster was referring to the pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings as well as temperature.

Standard pea gravel? Not dyed, not crushed coral?

Standard pea gravel, yes. Water temp 25C
When I tested the ammonia and nitrate using API kits, they were both at the minimum leles on the colour scale included in the box. Kits are new. I have juwel rio 180.

 

[the biffster]

Ignoring the questionable stocking, I think the biffster was referring to the pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings as well as temperature.

Standard pea gravel? Not dyed, not crushed coral?

Standard pea gravel, yes. Water temp 25C
When I tested the ammonia and nitrate using API kits, they were both at the minimum leles on the colour scale included in the box. Kits are new. I have juwel rio 180.

ammonia and nitrite should be at zero nitrate 15 or under what is your PH

 

[plaskotki]

Ignoring the questionable stocking, I think the biffster was referring to the pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings as well as temperature.

Standard pea gravel? Not dyed, not crushed coral?

Ammonia was 0. I tested yesterday. and Nitrate-the colour of the liquid in the testing tube was light blue. Standard pea gravel, yes. Water temp 25C
When I tested the ammonia and nitrate using API kits, they were both at the minimum leles on the colour scale included in the box. Kits are new. I have juwel rio 180.

ammonia and nitrite should be at zero nitrate 15 or under what is your PH

I have not tested it. I used to test it when I first set op the tank 4 years ago and then I stopped it as the ph was always ok. I have not replaced the kit. I was adviced by the guy at Maiden Aquatics who kept cichlids himself that both sevs and redhumps are quite hardy fish and I should not worry about ph as they can tolerate usual ph swings.

 

[star4]

Any sign of ich, flicking and rubbing is usually a sign of it. Check the clown loach, you will most likely see it on that one, with eartheaters because they sift the gravel it could be in the gills. You need a very fine smooth gravel or sand for eartheaters and normal pea gravel can get stuck in the gills and cause problems damaging the gills if it is sharp. I would advice a bigger tank.

 

[plaskotki]

Hi star4. The gravel I have is round not sharp. Do you think that this flicking and rubbing can be the result of my gravel? what sort of gravel would you recommend? Could you post a link, please? The other thing I just remembered was that usually I used Tetra Aquasafe. This was the first time I used this API water conditioner. Maybe it does not agree with them?

 

[star4]

If its smooth gravel then you should be ok, The sengal or zambezi on this site are a nice gravel/sand great for geo's
http/www.aquaessentials.co.uk/gravel-sand-sand-c-414_102_280.html

If the geo's are newish to the tank I would suspect ich if they have not been quaranteened. Are they just flicking after a wc?, mine tend to do that sometimes.

 

[plaskotki]

I've had them for about 3wks now. This flickin started about a week ago. The freequency seems to have increased since the water change. They are eating fine, they mostly swim around, but sometimes just rest at the bottom of the tank.

 

[KittyKat]

what sort of gravel would you recommend?

Play sand, 50p per 25 litres when I last bought it in Tesco. Most sand requires much more washing than gravel before use.

So, check for signs of ich? Unlikely, but most likely candidate.

Also as mentioned above, your ammonia should be at 0. It does irritate gills, so that could be causing it. If it really is above 0, then there is some other underlying problem with the tank. Do you clean filter media in old tank water and everything like that?

 

[ZoddyZod]

ammonia and nitrite should be at zero nitrate 15 or under what is your PH

sorry to correct, but nitrate can certainly be over 15 and be fine. Mine comes out the tap around 20 and others on here have up to 50 in their tap water. Some Fish can apparently tolerate up to 400ppm, but obviously the lower you can get it, the better.