Has My Geophagus Steindachneri Got Itchy Skin?

[the biffster]

ammonia and nitrite should be at zero nitrate 15 or under what is your PH

sorry to correct, but nitrate can certainly be over 15 and be fine. Mine comes out the tap around 20 and others on here have up to 50 in their tap water. Some Fish can apparently tolerate up to 400ppm, but obviously the lower you can get it, the better.

that's what i was meaning i was just setting that as
a bench mark or an example it was the ammonia and nitrite i was worried
about and the ph been on high or low sides

 

[plaskotki]

Tkanks everybody. It seems as I need to replace gravel with sand. But what would be the best way to do it? and later how to use the syphon to get rid of the debries, poo etc?

 

[ZoddyZod]

Tkanks everybody. It seems as I need to replace gravel with sand. But what would be the best way to do it? and later how to use the syphon to get rid of the debries, poo etc?

if you want to replace the substrate, the best way would be to put all the fish in a holding tank/container and place the filter and heater in there as well.

for cleanig sand, the method is to hover your siphon about an inch above it and gyrate the end creating a little 'swirl'. This should disloge the poop and allow it to be sucked up with the minimum amount of sand.

 

[hamfist]

if you want to replace the substrate, the best way would be to put all the fish in a holding tank/container and place the filter and heater in there as well.

Not really necessary. I have changed substrate many times by merely syphoning up the old substrate using a largish bore tube, and then putting the new (washed) substrate in using a large bowl. Leaving all the fish in the tank. Works fine. Which ever way you do it, there will be a small amount of stress for the fish, but doing it as I described is no more stressful than any other way, and is definately the easiest way that I have tried.
Going back to the OP's original question, I would very much doubt that your gravel is the cause of the flicking. MUCH more likely is a low level ich (or other skin parasite) infection.

 

[plaskotki]

Thanks hamfist for your reply. Your idea about gravel sounds good. In term of the infection, there is no sign of any skin changes. No spots, no wounds etc... What action would you advice? I don't want to lose them as my son would be very upset. They are his favourite.

 

[snowflake311]

How often do they "Flash"? My fish will Flash after a large WC because my PH drops over time in my tank and when I fill it with fresh water from the tap the ph is a bit higher and I will sometimes see them flash then but its only a few times and they stop and don't do it again. Could something have gotten in the water? chemicals and other stuff can irritate the fish fish. To me if you see them flash everyday it Sounds like Parasites.

There are lots of parasties that can cause this not all are easy to see of know what it is. Ich can stay out of site and only be in the gills at first but if left untreated and if the fish gets stressed it will sped and be seen on the body. Velvet is a parasite that is like ICH but can only be seen if you look very close with a Flash light. It will look like the fish has gold dust on them. Flukes can be on the fish and never seen. What is the fish Breathing like Fast, slow, or normal? any extra slime on the fish?

When was the last time you added a new fish to the tank or to another tank? Because these parasite can be brought from one tank to another pretty easy by just a drop of water. Even New plants can bring in parasites.

 

[hamfist]

In term of the infection, there is no sign of any skin changes. No spots, no wounds etc... What action would you advice?

If it were me, I would treat with flubendazole. If you are in the UK, you can buy it online as "discus wormer". It is great at killing all sorts of external parasites as well as, clearly, being effective at deworming. You can also buy it at some LFS. I have a preparation made for pond fish, which is exactly the same thing, but cheaper ! Make sure it is FLUbendazole not FENbendazole.

Be aware that the effective treatment concentrations of the stuff are quite close to a toxic concentration so do not overdose, and be aware that the stuff stays active in the water for many, many days. so one treatment is all that is generally required. Some fish are a bit more sensitive than others, so if some of your fish start "gasping" at all or look off colour, then just do a 30% water change to reduce the concentration a bit. This may all sound rather worrying, but it is really good stuff !

 

[plaskotki]

How often do they "Flash"? My fish will Flash after a large WC because my PH drops over time in my tank and when I fill it with fresh water from the tap the ph is a bit higher and I will sometimes see them flash then but its only a few times and they stop and don't do it again. Could something have gotten in the water? chemicals and other stuff can irritate the fish fish. To me if you see them flash everyday it Sounds like Parasites.

There are lots of parasties that can cause this not all are easy to see of know what it is. Ich can stay out of site and only be in the gills at first but if left untreated and if the fish gets stressed it will sped and be seen on the body. Velvet is a parasite that is like ICH but can only be seen if you look very close with a Flash light. It will look like the fish has gold dust on them. Flukes can be on the fish and never seen. What is the fish Breathing like Fast, slow, or normal? any extra slime on the fish?

When was the last time you added a new fish to the tank or to another tank? Because these parasite can be brought from one tank to another pretty easy by just a drop of water. Even New plants can bring in parasites.

Thanks for your reply. The fish that are "flashing" are the new additions. I have both the pair of eartheaters and sevs from the same shop on the same day. Can't remember 100% byt they might have come back from the same tank. It is only the eartheaters that display this behaviour. I have to get the ph testing kit

 

[snowflake311]

They are new fish 1 -2 weeks ? Then it's parasites and very well could be ich. At first you will just see them rub and in a week or so the fish gets infected and the ich is seen on the body. Right now it sounds like it's just in the gills out of sight. If this itching and not swimming around is a common thing treat asap.

 

[plaskotki]

Hi snowflake311,
Thanks for your reply. I think it is ich as I noticed white spots on my clown loach. I did some research on the net and found this article:
white spot treatment
Has anybody tried getting rid of white spot by increasing water temp and adding aquarium salt? It seems to be the most natural way of dealing with ich, but is it effective? If not, what would you recommend? I looked on the web for discus wormer but somwhere on this forum people were not too happy about how successful the treatment was for flukes. Does anybody used it for ich/white spot? My redhumps seem to be less flashing now, but the clown loach is doing it a lot and her gill movements are pretty rapid...

 

[hamfist]

Flubedazole is not great for ich. Raising the temp is the best method. SHouldn't need to add salt. Make sure your tank is well aerated if you have a high temp for a while, as warmer water holds less oxygen. Keep it raised for at least 5 days after the last spots are seen.
Clown loaches are very difficult to cure from ich using the normal treatments. Temp rasing is by far the best method for them.

 

[snowflake311]

Yeah I have used just heat it works. The salt helps kill it fast. What I do is for one week I use heat and coppersafe then after a week I do a huge wc and keep my temp at 89F this works like a charm every time with little stress on my fish.

Go with just heat first but it needs to be over 83F higher is better. Also do a huge water change and clean everything. This will help get free swimmers out and some eggs. Keeping the parasite load lower.

 

[plaskotki]

thank you very much guys. I have increased the temp up to 27C, which I see is not enough. I will go up to 30C which is about 86F this evening. Now, the O2 levels. I have a twin pump with airstones on all the time plus the filter doing some surface disturbance. Do you think guys this should suffice?

 

[star4]

Have you an external filter? if so raise the spray bar above the water level, this gets o2 into the water more efficient than just airpumps, you will need to leave the temp at 30 for at least 2 weeks, clown loach are notoriously difficult to clear of ich. Its why I said to check them over first they would be the first ones with the spots.

 

[plaskotki]

Have you an external filter? if so raise the spray bar above the water level, this gets o2 into the water more efficient than just airpumps, you will need to leave the temp at 30 for at least 2 weeks, clown loach are notoriously difficult to clear of ich. Its why I said to check them over first they would be the first ones with the spots.

No, I have the internal filter that came with my juwel rio 180. I have the nozzle facing upwords, but as the water level is above it, it does not do much of the water surface disturbance. I could get rid of some of water, but maybe it is not necessary with the air pump. What would be your advice?