Ichy fishies

[canis_lupus]

one of my gouramis and my silver molly can b seen rubbing on things such as glass and plants..........is this ich? i don't c any spots and my molly has been doing this for some time now....it goes away and comes back....is this maybe high nitrates......i don't have a test yet.....i think i can get 1 tomorrow...is the only way to bring the nitrates down w/c 's? how do i keep em down.......

 

[Lithril]

As far as I'm aware of W/Cs are the easiest way of bringing down the nitrates, alot of chemicals/sponges etc can lead to high phosphates in the tank, especially if you've got hard water. You could always add a load of live plants??

 

[canis_lupus]

heh......thanks......i'll do a water change tomorrow! i have live plants.....maybe i should c if we have hard water.......thanks again

 

[yhbae]

My young platy does this as well, although she is the only one who does this in the whole tank... Should I be concerned? I also have tonnes of other fishes in the same tank...

Oh and my nitrates are only 5ppm (never goes above this level)...

 

[Lithril]

Keep an eye on here but I wouldn't worry too much if only one fish is doing it. Just to be on the safeside keep an eye out for ich in case its a warning but normally you get more than one fish doing it .

 

[yhbae]

Would raising the temperature of the tank by few degrees help? I dunno if I want to "wait until it appears" approach very much...

This tank has mixes of platies, otos, blue rams, panda cories, albino bristlenoses, harlequin rasboras, and some ghost shrimps....

 

[Lithril]

It probably wouldn't hurt to turn the tank up slowly by a couple of degrees, but definately keep an eye out for more fish doing it.

 

[yhbae]

Arrgg...

I just saw a grown-up female platy do the same - rub her sides against leaves and driftwood... I've watched for about 10 minutes, and only the platies are doing this. Are you sure that this is the sign of ick? I just turned up the temperature of the tank from 77F (my normal tank temp) to 79F...

I do have both Ick Guard (by Jungle) and Quick Cure (by AP) and a separate 5.5g tank for treating fishes...

Apprecaite some help!

 

[Lithril]

I'll give someone a shout on this, not too sure as I've very little experience in this field and don't want to give you wrong advice