Ick Or What?

[Twobeards]

About 1/2 my fish in my 55 gal. are doing what the lfs calls flicking off of things in the tank, kind of like they are itching but there is no evidence of white spot or white dots like Ick. I did a water test yesterday and my Nitrites were 0.25 and nitratres were 160 so I immediately did a 50% water change and will continue to do 30% changes daily until I can get back to normal parameters. Could the spike in the nitrates be causeing them to flick off of objects? Also could this spike be due to over feeding as I caught my grand daughter dumping fish flakes in the 55 and she admits to doing this for a few days. I have since explained that she could kill the fish by over feeding and she decided that grandpa can feed the fish from now on. I should also mention that my ammonia is at 0 and ph is 7.4. Any help in this would be greatly appreciated. Jimmy

 

[WILDER]

I would do another water change with having a nitrite reading, it could be poor water quality causing the fish to flick, but also the stress could cause them to come down with whitespot, so look for grains of salt on the fish.
Also the nitrate readings want's fetching down with daily water changes as it high.

 

[Angel Lady]

I wouldnt change that water that fast and bring the nitrates down to fast either. That will cause them trouble also.. I have shocked my fish bringing down the nitrates that fast...Just something to think about...I would do 25 percent water changes daily until I got it down.

 

[Twobeards]

Thank you Wilder and Angel Lady I just did another sample and my water parameters are
PH-7.4
Nitrites-0
Nitrates-80
ammo-0
I will continue with the water changes daily until I can get the nitrates down to acceptable levels. My tap water parameters are
PH-7.4
Nitrites-0
Nitrates-10
ammo-0.10
I dont know if that helps any. I have a 350 gph hob filter and just added a Fluval 404 last night.
Again Thank you very much!!!!

 

[WILDER]

Yes it's coming down nicely now, are the fish happy not flicking as much.

 

[Twobeards]

Yes it's coming down nicely now, are the fish happy not flicking as much.

Yes the fish are much more lively and even the feather fin cats are out which I never see them! The flicking is almost totally stopped. Thanks so much!!!! Jimmy