Fish Rubbing Themselves Against Plants!

[craigieboy01]

Hi all, after Fishless cycling my tank for nearly 4 months, I have recently added 5 Guppies, they seem to be doing fine but are rubbing themselves against my plants, I think i heard on a previous thread that it was called "Itch" Can you tell me how to cure this?? Dont want to lose any fish right away. Thanks

 

[mattlee]

if fish are flicking/rubbing/scratching themselves against objects then something is annoying them. have you tested the water for ammonia and nitrites? this is the first thing to do if not.

ich makes the fish come out in very small white spots almost like they have been sprinkled in white powder can you see any spots?

it could also be gill flukes that causes the fish to do this but without examining the fishes gills its hard to say its this....

velvet can also cause fish to do this but with this comes yellow spots....

before treating with any meds or pointing towards a disease i would do a large water change and clean the substrate as best you can at the same time and see how they are after. if no visible spots or abnormalities can be seen then its most likely water quality.

how often do you do water changes and how much?

 

[craigieboy01]

if fish are flicking/rubbing/scratching themselves against objects then something is annoying them. have you tested the water for ammonia and nitrites? this is the first thing to do if not.

ich makes the fish come out in very small white spots almost like they have been sprinkled in white powder can you see any spots?

it could also be gill flukes that causes the fish to do this but without examining the fishes gills its hard to say its this....

velvet can also cause fish to do this but with this comes yellow spots....

before treating with any meds or pointing towards a disease i would do a large water change and clean the substrate as best you can at the same time and see how they are after. if no visible spots or abnormalities can be seen then its most likely water quality.

how often do you do water changes and how much?

Hi Mattlee, I just finished my Fishless Cycle last week, done the qualifying week to, done a 90% water change and added Declor to the water, not done another water change yet, doing it at the wkend. Just checked the water, Ammonia 0.25ppm, Nitrite 0ppm, P.h 7.6, think everything seems ok their. Had a closer look at 1 of the Guppies, it looks like very small white spots but not clearly visible and doesnt seem to be on all fish. Any ideas??

 

[didz04]

It could be white spots on them. The way I cured mine was to put the temperature up to around 28-30 degrees and within 4 days I didn't see any fish itch. I saw some white spots on my loach before the temp raise and he was itching all over the rocks badly and then it got to my other cichlids but not so bad. After the itch had stopped I still saw white spots but then I just realized it was just my white sand on them as it used to stick on them for a while lol. People were given me other options and said raising the temp might not always work but I thought I might as well try this idea first, and it worked really well within a few days. Do you have male & female guppies because raising the temp might also trigger them spawning.

 

[craigieboy01]

It could be white spots on them. The way I cured mine was to put the temperature up to around 28-30 degrees and within 4 days I didn't see any fish itch. I saw some white spots on my loach before the temp raise and he was itching all over the rocks badly and then it got to my other cichlids but not so bad. After the itch had stopped I still saw white spots but then I just realized it was just my white sand on them as it used to stick on them for a while lol. People were given me other options and said raising the temp might not always work but I thought I might as well try this idea first, and it worked really well within a few days. Do you have male & female guppies because raising the temp might also trigger them spawning.

Hi didz04, My temp is at 26-27 at the moment, its all males in a Fluval Edge 23 litre tank.

 

[mattlee]

if you have 0.25 ppm ammonia then a 50% water change is required this may well be why the fish are flicking. do the water change tonight and see if they stop.

if you can see very small white spots on the fish that werent there before then it could be ich but a water change is essential if you have any amount of ammonia

 

[craigieboy01]

if you have 0.25 ppm ammonia then a 50% water change is required this may well be why the fish are flicking. do the water change tonight and see if they stop.

if you can see very small white spots on the fish that werent there before then it could be ich but a water change is essential if you have any amount of ammonia

Will do water change now, how will i treat "Ich" if it doesnt go away?

 

[mattlee]

if its 100$ ich then turn the heat up to 30 degrees and keep doing daily water changes including good substrate cleans as the ich will be in the water and also in the substrate as well as on the fish. the higher temps speed up the life cycle of the ich and the water changes will remove some free swimming ich and some from the substrate.

if this doesnt clear it within a few days then look to find a decent medicine, ive never had ich before so cant suggest any that do the job 100%

try the best you can to remove without meds if poss its better for the fish and tank. dont just rush in and chuck meds in if not 100% of the problem. ich should be very obvious

 

[craigieboy01]

if its 100$ ich then turn the heat up to 30 degrees and keep doing daily water changes including good substrate cleans as the ich will be in the water and also in the substrate as well as on the fish. the higher temps speed up the life cycle of the ich and the water changes will remove some free swimming ich and some from the substrate.

if this doesnt clear it within a few days then look to find a decent medicine, ive never had ich before so cant suggest any that do the job 100%

try the best you can to remove without meds if poss its better for the fish and tank. dont just rush in and chuck meds in if not 100% of the problem. ich should be very obvious

Defo not that clear on the fish, will crank up the heating and do some daily water changes, very easy in a 23litre tank, lol

 

[mattlee]

if its 100$ ich then turn the heat up to 30 degrees and keep doing daily water changes including good substrate cleans as the ich will be in the water and also in the substrate as well as on the fish. the higher temps speed up the life cycle of the ich and the water changes will remove some free swimming ich and some from the substrate.

if this doesnt clear it within a few days then look to find a decent medicine, ive never had ich before so cant suggest any that do the job 100%

try the best you can to remove without meds if poss its better for the fish and tank. dont just rush in and chuck meds in if not 100% of the problem. ich should be very obvious

Defo not that clear on the fish, will crank up the heating and do some daily water changes, very easy in a 23litre tank, lol

if the ich isnt obvious then i would just do a big water change to get the ammonia down to 0. dont crank the temp up as this may stress the fish further unless the ich is obvious. see how it goes and keep an eye on the water stats for a few days and if all is good and the fish still flick then it needs further investigation. usually diseases etc can be quite obvious.

 

[didz04]

Actually craigieboy01 if it helps I did do a 40% water change just before I raised my temperature up but not whilst the heat was up for them few days, because I thought that it will just affect the temperature, going up and down. Like mattlee said about waterchanges it could hav helped getting rid of these ich parasites

 

[craigieboy01]

Actually craigieboy01 if it helps I did do a 40% water change just before I raised my temperature up but not whilst the heat was up for them few days, because I thought that it will just affect the temperature, going up and down. Like mattlee said about waterchanges it could hav helped getting rid of these ich parasites

They still seem to swimming about fine, will check stats and do another 50% water change, In was tempted to get some remedy from my LFS.

 

[craigieboy01]

Done another 50% water change, can defo see a lot of tiny white/yellow spots on a few of the Black Guppies, do you think if i keep doing 50% water changes every day it will cure it? I have increased the temp to 28/29.

 

[didz04]

In my opinion and experience I think you should just leave it now to make sure that it stays to around 28-30 degrees because doing water changes might just drop them temp again. Its mainly the temperature that will kill off the white spots and since you have done big water changes, that should be enough for now. I think the best thing to do now is wait. Thats what I did with mine and it just slowly died off and no fish itching them selves

 

[mattlee]

as long as you match the temp with the new water then water changes will do no harm at all. i would up the temp to 30 degrees and take it that bit higher.

are the spots yellow or white?

where are they on the fish?

how many on each fish?