Clown Scratching

[michfish5]

I have had an Ocellaris Clown and a Blue Green Chromis in my 20 gal. QT for a week today. Extremely active fish, eating like pigs. But today I saw the clown scratch a few times against the PVC. It has no outwardly apparent signs of ich - no salt like spots, no heavy respiration. Just flashing. The chromis seems unaffected. The last time this happened to me was two months ago with my first fish -a new Royal Gramma and PJ Cardinal. The Royal Gramma also had no outward signs of ich but was scratching quite a bit. The PJ Cardinal showed no sign of anything ever but I ran hypo for two months. The RG was scratching for a few days and then seemed fine for awhile but got reinfected again even though I maintained the 1.009 vigilantly throughout. The Royal Gramma died about three weeks into hypo. The Cardinal made it out ok after 8 weeks and is now in the DT. Never saw a spot on the Royal Gramma, was advised that it might be in the gills. But I wondered if it really WAS ich at all. Could be my diagnosis was off but without any other symptoms other than scratching it was hard to tell.

So now I am undecided how to handle the clown. Should I try hypo again? I do have copper and copper test kit on hand but I would rather not go that route if I don't have to. What else could be causing the flashing? I know clowns are susceptible to Brooklynella but there is nothing on his body that looks odd. His color is vibrant, he swims around like crazy, and eats well. Water parameters are temp 79.3, pH 8.1, no ammonia products, SG 1.021 (LFS kept it at 1.020 and I was waiting to see how the fish did before I went up or down). What else could be causing the flashing? Any advice would be appreciated. I would hate to lose this fish.

 

[Mrscribbled]

I would first treat the fish with prazi pro (for flukes) then treat with cupramine @ .4ppm. These fish will handle it well, just raise the copper slowly over the course of a week. If signs of ich appear sooner than later then copper will need to be administered asap.

 

[michfish5]

Thank you. I was about to dose Prazipro anyway as per BNUMAIRS recommendation for QT practice before I noticed the clown flashing. Today the chromis is flashing as well but still no spots, white or black, nor film on body. Still super active and eating well.

Let me ask you this though, would flukes cause the flashing behavior as well? And should I raise the SG from the 1.021 it is now before administering Prazi or just leave it where it is?

 

[Mrscribbled]

Leave s.g., yes flukes can cause flashing. Typically to the gill area.