Ithcy Fish?

[foxie]

just noticed a bit of "flashing" going on. couple of guppies and one of the corys keep rubbing themselves on surfaces within the tank, or rubbing/flicking their side on the sand.

water stats good. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5 nitrate, ph8.

added a pair of dwarf gouramis last week, they seem ok. Any ideas?

had a danio with suspected swimbladder issues, but the pea treatment sorted him (thanks wilder).

 

[blackbat]

yeah I am having a similar problem with my gourami but one has done it for a while now. they did have whitespot last week but thats sorted now. strange days

 

[Tommy Gunnz]

As a precaution, I would get yourself some aquarium salt and add about a tablespoon or so for every five gallons (I think, read the directions on the salt to make sure) and then turn up your heater to between 80 to 82 degrees. This will speed up the Ich's (whitespot) lifecycle and you will be able to tell if this is the true problem. I have also had this happen to a few livebearers in the past and it turned out to be 'velvet' or Ich and I just stuck with the salt and heat method. Takes a bit longer than some meds, but you are not going to risk killing fish or dying your tank with the Ich medications.

 

[zoekin8yg]

the symptoms you describe can be the sign of parasites, so maybe a general anti parasite treatment would be a good idea. Could be ich if they have white salt grain like spots on them?

 

[blackbat]

there is no spots now on mine the temp is still high in the tank and they have been back in for 2 days now. there is no other visable sign of parasite no patches or any other odd behaviour than the shimmying and flicking their colours r bright and they are eating and swimming about all alert. Funny thing is I have never seen them so active and happy fins are up etc. I can't add salt due to the plec. Mind you they seem to be rubbing etc less today than yesterday. I will keep awatch.

 

[Tommy Gunnz]

Salt is ok to add regardless of pleco or not, just dont go over board and dont do it constantly, which while treating using the salt and heat method is not and will only go on for a short time. Plecos especially are adept at acclimating to salt. I would be more worried about the cory's but even they can handle salt over the short term as well.

Some flashing could be a territory thing as well, which is not too common in livebearers but not unheard of. If it just seems to go away, then it goes away, no harm.

I might, just to be sure, retest your water and maybe with a different test kit entirely to make sure that your stats are correct. This could be a water quality issue amnd maybe ammonia burning or something that makes the fish want to scratch themselves. In any case, if this goes on for too long, the chances that your fish get wounds or scratches increases, opening the road to secondary infections.

 

[blackbat]

thanks for that I will add a lil salt tomorrow if the gourami are still itchy. Hope your fish get sorted too foxie