Clownfish flashing

[Polkman]

I'm so confused and baffled right now. I just completed the 12 day ttm today. I gave the clownfish a formalin bath for 50 mins and a 4 min fresh water dip before putting her into the new clean QT. After 5 mins I see her flashing against the glass bottom. She has no ich spots, and I didn't notice her flashing in the prior tank.

I thought the ttm will eliminate ich, and the formalin baths will also take care of the flukes. I also do have prazi pro so I'm not sure if I should dose it. Help!

 

[SoloGarth]

Flashing might be from something else. If you performed the TT process right no Ich should be left. I always treat with prazipro. It is gentle and inexpensive.

 

[Polkman]

That's why I'm stumped. I've done 5 formalin baths for brook/flukes, just finished the 12 day ttm where as I did 6 transfers. I dosed prazi on the 4th transfer and just dosed again on the 6th. I don't see any of my other fish flashing except for the clown. She's driving me crazy. And what blows my mind is I haven't seen her flash during the whole ttm from what I've seen, except for now, once I put her in the final tank transfer.

 

[Nina51]

is he flashing constantly or just once in a while? my yellow wrasse and my female clown do this occasionally and have for probably close to a year. i think they're just scratching an itch.

 

[SoloGarth]

Clownfish flashing

Double post

 

[Deinonych]

My male clownfish did this after being treated for an active crypto infection via TTM. He would go nuts flashing against a PVC elbow (but not more often than once every few days). I kept him under observation for a full six weeks post-TTM and never saw any other signs. He hasn't done it since moving into the DT over a year ago. My hypothesis is that his gills were still healing from the infection and were causing some intermittent itching.

 

[Polkman]

Thanks everyone for the reassuring words. Going to probably do one more tank transfer for good measure, and will watch/observe for however long my DT finishes the 72 day fallow period.

 

[Polkman]

So I put them into a clean tank yesterday and maybe slightly over fed them, since the last tank had prazi in it and figured I try to get them to eat as much as possible. Today however I saw both my clownfish and yellow tang rubbing themselves against the pcv elbow. From what I saw the tang was rubbing 5-6 times back to back. Then maybe not even an hour later he seems to rub himself again another 3-4 times. So far it's been 3 hours and he hasn't flashed. The clownfish seems to flash the same time the yellow tang does. Both fish do not have any spots. Am I just worrying too much about it? Or is there something that's actually wrong?

 

[Nina51]

if you're seeing this much flashing, and because you are dealing with a yellow tang, i would probably re-do ttm just to be on the safe side.

are you sure everything was 110% dry each time you transferred the fish? even one drop of water can harbor ich. probably not likely but certainly possible.

 

[Polkman]

Yeah I made sure I washed the tanks, wiped the tank and equipment down with a towel and pointed a fan directly inside the tank to dry for 24-36 hours. Any idea how long it takes for ich spots to appear? I'm thinking of just transferring them tonight into the qt and just observe and wait to see if any spots appear before redoing ttm. At this point I'm just hoping its flukes, and if that's the case I'll just do another 2 weeks of dosing.

 

[Nina51]

it isn't just the tank that needs to be completely dry. everything else associated with a ttm tank has to be dry, as well. i.e., heaters, hob filters, power heads. if you are using an air stone, it MUST be replaced with each transfer, not just dried.

 

[Polkman]

Yeah that's what I did. I only used the air stone, and replaced each stone and hose for each tank. I washed the ammonia badge, nori holder and even the acrylic top cover. After washing them I also hand dried them with a towel and put them inside the same washed tank to air dry with a fan pointing inside the tank. I also even washed/dried the fish net as well for 24-36 hours.

For each transfer I did a formalin bath in between, which then I took out the fish to put into a freshwater dip for 3 mins in a cup. I used my hand to scoop up the fish and slide them into the new transfer tank. I made sure to mitigate as much freshwater from the cup into the tank. Keep in mind I did pretty much did 7 tank transfers over the course of 15 days. Never exceeding 72 hours.



I think I did the ttm correctly. Maybe ich is gone and it's the fluke symptoms that are showing?

They will be in the qt tonight for further observation. Hopefully I won't lose my head if it does happen to be ich.

 

[Deinonych]

Seems like you did TTM correctly. I think you should treat for flukes and continue to monitor the fish.

 

[Mishri]

I had hook worms, took awhile for me to see them, just saw flashing and couldn't figure out why till I physically saw one... only thing that finally got rid of them was skunk cleaner shrimp(Prazipro did nothing).. took about a month to fully clean him up... So could be a lot of things... fish flash for anything irritating them.

 

[Polkman]

Thanks for the replies! The fishes went into the QT and dosed prazipro. So far I haven't noticed any flashing from anyone. The yellow tang however seems to be breathing faster (would also have a slight pause and then continue to breath rapidly). I also noticed slightly inflamed gills, as I could actually see the pink/red gills when at a certain angle. He seems to be swimming around fine and eating nori/mysis. Also so far no white spots, although I did get a scare when some small micro bubbles got stuck onto the tang.

I do have a cleaner shrimp that's currently in the DT. He's in there while my tank is going through the fallow period. What is interesting is the yellow tang will go up to my chromis and show his side as if wanting to be cleaned.

I'll update if anything pops up! Thanks again for the tips guys.

 

[microlady]

Thanks for the replies! The fishes went into the QT and dosed prazipro. So far I haven't noticed any flashing from anyone. The yellow tang however seems to be breathing faster (would also have a slight pause and then continue to breath rapidly). I also noticed slightly inflamed gills, as I could actually see the pink/red gills when at a certain angle. He seems to be swimming around fine and eating nori/mysis. Also so far no white spots, although I did get a scare when some small micro bubbles got stuck onto the tang.

I do have a cleaner shrimp that's currently in the DT. He's in there while my tank is going through the fallow period. What is interesting is the yellow tang will go up to my chromis and show his side as if wanting to be cleaned.

I'll update if anything pops up! Thanks again for the tips guys.

Parasites can cause a lot of damage to the skin and gills. They could be healing, or scar tissue could be left that is causing inflammation.

 

[Louis Z]

I wouldn't put them in the DT until absolutely sure they have nothing to pass. I keep fish isolated up to 3 months before going in DT . Imagine starting the fallow period all over again. .

 

[Polkman]

The fish are still in the qt, as I still have about a month left till the 72 days. So far the fish seem fine, no white spots, eating well. I don't really see my fish flashing much anymore. Maybe once every few days. I did 3 rounds of prazi and I hope it took out all the flukes. Hopefully no new symptoms come up.

 

[Louis Z]

The skunk cleaner shrimp is not a bad idea. Without using more meds this is a good passive way to treat. I am starting to develop second tank for my inverts. Peppermint shrimp .emerald crab, sixlinewrasse, hermit crabs as a pest remover crew. Also thinking of a yellow clown goby

 

[Polkman]

So it may seem that the flukes are back. My last dose was 2 weeks ago which I did 3 doses 5 days apart. I was watching them go at it on the pvc. And the yellow tang seems to keep going up to my chromis as if it wants to be cleaned. I dosed again just now with prazi. Somehow it makes me wonder if these flukes that my fish have are resistant to prazi. It's also been about 3 weeks since ttm and so far still no white spots have appeared. Everyone seems to pass the eye test and are all eating very healthy. The only thing that comes to mind is that it has to be flukes.