Perfect water, planted aquarium, flashing

[Planted-Pete™]

Hello, I am new here, I have a 36 gallon heavily planted, well established aquarium with a COMPLETE nitrogen cycle. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite & 0 nitrate at all times. I've accomplished this by oversizing my filter and using biohome ultra media to establish anaerobic bacteria as well as using an extremely thick (approx 4") substrate. Temp around 71-72 at all times, dkh 3, pH 5.9 everything very stable. It seems everyone flashes from time to time. There's no signs of ich, or any other disease.Everyone seems super healthy and happy. I feed them a varied diet of high quality foods. I'm concerned about flukes or ich, but I've observed this behavior for months, with no progression. I see it every day, They are all so healthy and vibrant, I'd think if they had parasites they'd exhibit some other type of symptoms. I'm no expert by any means, this is my first serious aquarium, so any feedback would be appreciated. Anybody got any idea how I can prevent or reduce all these "aerial" (aquatic?) roots? It's super overgrown and needs a trim, I know!

12 harlequin rasbora
14 forktailed rainbow fish (I know they're supposed to like alkaline)
12 neon tetra
1 celestial pearl danio
5 otocinclus
6 panda cory
60+ assorted shrimp (ammano, neo, ghost)
6 adult guppies + 18 assorted babies amongst the floater or hunting infusoria in the mosses.
20 assassin snails and God knows how many babies hiding in the substrate

 

[PheonixKingZ]

There’s really no way to prevent the roots from sprouting out like that. I would just trim all the roots off if they are annoying you.

 

[Colin_T]

Any chance of a picture and short 60 second video of the fish rubbing?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

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Shine a torch on the fish after the lights are turned off and see if any have a yellow or gold sheen over their body. If they do, then they have velvet. The safest treatment for velvet is heat, raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for at least 2 weeks.

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Chemicals and poor water quality can also irritate the fish and cause them to rub on objects. Don't add any plant fertiliser or anything else for a couple of weeks and do a couple of big water changes, see if it helps.

 

[itiwhetu]

pH below six is not recommended, It would be an idea to try and get it to sit closer to 7 but still acid.

 

[carligraceee]

Any chance of a picture and short 60 second video of the fish rubbing?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

------------------
Shine a torch on the fish after the lights are turned off and see if any have a yellow or gold sheen over their body. If they do, then they have velvet. The safest treatment for velvet is heat, raise the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keep it there for at least 2 weeks.

------------------
Chemicals and poor water quality can also irritate the fish and cause them to rub on objects. Don't add any plant fertiliser or anything else for a couple of weeks and do a couple of big water changes, see if it helps.

Torch? I am having a similar problem as the OP, do you mean a flashlight?

 

[Colin_T]

For the American members, a torch is what the rest of the world calls a flash light, and is not to be confused with something you carry at night when in a lynch mob hunting vampires.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

I agree with itiwhetu.
Low pH or acidic water probably may cause some discomfort to their skin and especially if there is other chemical in the water.

Some other causes are the presence flukes (skin flukes or gill flukes).