Strange Platy Behaviour

[msasa19]

i dont know if this is normal, ive never seen him do it before and ive had him around 4 months, i was just looking in my tank and saw my platy sort of rubbing itself on the filter, he has been doing it on the heater aswell, i then saw my other platy do it.there doesnt seem to be any wrong with anyone i have sat for 20 mins watching and checking everyone out.


in my tank i have 3 male platys, 6 neon tetras and 1 apple snail, i did a water change yesterday, all levels are normal, nitrates are about 40-80, cant seem to keep them down this was straight after a water change, my tap water alone is nearly 40, i always treat the water, the tank is 80-90L, temp 24C ish.

video of his behaviour:
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEQpxmpa8dU&feature=youtu.be

 

[msasa19]

someone please set my mind at rest?!

 

[msasa19]

right i am treating them for ick as they have all now been doing it, and i dont want an outbreak!

 

[the_lock_man]

Basically, he's scratching himself, cos he's got an itch. Next question is what's causing that itch, and it could be a number of things.

Ich (or whitespot) is one of the more common causes.

 

[msasa19]

im sure it must be ich, the 3 platies have now been seen doing it, and a neon, ive never seen them do it before, ever, so im going to treat them and hope thats it, better to be safe than sorry!

 

[msasa19]

so im going to do a 50% water change, then treat the tank, turn on the air pump and create some airation

 

[the_lock_man]

im sure it must be ich, the 3 platies have now been seen doing it, and a neon, ive never seen them do it before, ever, so im going to treat them and hope thats it, better to be safe than sorry!

Let's hope!

 

[msasa19]

help me!! should i treat for ich or not? will i make things worse if i treat them for it if nothing is wrong?

 

[techen]

help me!! should i treat for ich or not? will i make things worse if i treat them for it if nothing is wrong?

If more than one fish is flashing/ grinding themself on the filter then treat for ich? Try to see if they have any whitespots anyway.

 

[msasa19]

yes 3 are doing it, well they were last night, im gunna go sit and look at them for a while, see if they are still doing it

 

[msasa19]

it was still happening, so ive changed about 40% of the water, and put in the medication, its rather blue tho...... should the filter sort that out, as i need to put some more in on day 4 and my water is gunna be dark blue by then......

 

[MrsM]

have the fish got white spots?
flashing can be caused by a number of things, if the meds are copper based you may want to check your snail is still alive,even the smallest amount of copper will kill a snail..

 

[msasa19]

No they don't have white spots, and the snail is still alive so I'm guessing its ok, it said not to use it with elephant nose fish, and that's it. They are still flashing, I've done a water change, no difference

 

[msasa19]

ive searched the bottle,box and instuctions, no mention of copper, should i take the snail out? how long would it be before he died, i treated water at about 5.30, its been 6 hrs......

 

[the_lock_man]

The blue will fade.

Any improvement today?