Fish are flashing, what do you test for?

[mskvarenina]

I've got a 93g tank with a decent amount of fish. A few of them are flashing against the gravel and rocks a few times an hour. They are eating well and there is no visible ick or oodinium.

Water parameters are good, no copper, no ammonia or nitrite. Ph is good. Nitrate is only about 40 which should be OK for a FO tank.

Are there other things you test for in a FO tank to check the overall water quality?

 

[julie180]

If they are flashing, they most likely have some parasite. Ich can infect the gills before you see visible signs. I am not sure about velvet.

I would start getting a plan for treatment. For me, the tank transfer method worked very well for ich. I have 6 more weeks of running my DT fallow. It sucks having to do this, but its a lesson I will NEVER forget. QT QT QT

 

[jbvdhp]

If they are flashing, they most likely have some parasite. Ich can infect the gills before you see visible signs. I am not sure about velvet.

I would start getting a plan for treatment. For me, the tank transfer method worked very well for ich. I have 6 more weeks of running my DT fallow. It sucks having to do this, but its a lesson I will NEVER forget. QT QT QT

Julie youre a veteran on this board. How did you get ich into your tank?

 

[julie180]

I got some corals and a blenny from a local reefer and did not qt. Irony is I was in the process of setting up a QT for anything I got from the LFS.

Just a stupid on my part!!

 

[snorvich]

I got some corals and a blenny from a local reefer and did not qt. Irony is I was in the process of setting up a QT for anything I got from the LFS.

Just a stupid on my part!!

But that is how you got to be a seasoned veteran. Screwing up is unpleasant but it is a great teacher. All of us have gone through that.

:celeb2:

 

[jbvdhp]

But that is how you got to be a seasoned veteran. Screwing up is unpleasant but it is a great teacher. All of us have gone through that.



:celeb2:

Live and learn, agreed.

Mistakes all make us better.

I don't want to make mistakes ever again. Long 10 weeks!!!!

 

[sticky polyps]

if it is fish only than u could use a medical treatment no? like quick cure.. no dout it is an ectoparisite...

 

[FraggledRock]

time to QT, good luck!

 

[snorvich]

if it is fish only than u could use a medical treatment no? like quick cure.. no dout it is an ectoparisite...

The treatments for ich that work are:

+tank transfer
+copper
+chloroquine phosphate
+hyposalinity

There are many others that claim to work.

 

[A sea K]

Could very well be flukes. Can usually be treated in the display if needed

 

[julie180]

Live and learn, agreed.

Mistakes all make us better.

I don't want to make mistakes ever again. Long 10 weeks!!!!

Boy ain't that the truth.

 

[mskvarenina]

Just a quick update, still a little bit of flashing by a few of the fish. The niger trigger has been flashing on one side of his body and I noticed his eye is a little cloudy.

Looking above I remember using chloroquine phosphate way in the past. Maybe I should give this a try to the DT. I cannot setup a QT.

It appears Dr. G Anti-parasitic Caviar is chloroquine phosphate. Anyone have any experience using this? Maybe I'd soak some pellets in this then feed to the tank?

 

[Sk8r]

First check your alkalinity: s/b about 8.3. Sometimes fish will do this in very, very low alk. But it is likely ich, and the likely carrier is the blenny.

 

[mskvarenina]

I doubt it's ick as I would have infected all the fish by now. And I don't have a blenny

 

[Compliance]

Cool Mike Oldfield Avatar!

That is all....

 

[Sk8r]

Lol, ah, it's Julia that had the blenny. Thank you, OP. I WOULD check the alkalinity, just in case. Also you aren't having any sort of bacterial film incident are you? Occasionally you can get a mucus-like pest film on some surfaces: dosing vinegar, eg, can bring it on...harmless, generally, unless it affects oxygenation; and sometimes fish will get into a bit of it. If everybody's eating well, I'd just cross fingers and watch them all carefully, particularly to see if any interior gill tissue is protruding, indicating swelling, etc, which might be a gill parasite at work.

 

[julie180]

Cloudy eye could be flukes. Go over to the fish disease forum and read about them.

 

[mskvarenina]

Cool Mike Oldfield Avatar!

Yes, major fan if MO here...

 

[mskvarenina]

Well, still no change here. The cloudy eye has cleared up and the flashing is only once in a while. I was thinking about trying the Dr. G Anti-parasitic Caviar as a precautionary measure. Any reason not to do this?

 

[1MP3R1AL]

My clowns first started what I thought was flashing around a year ago. Would do it in the same place over and over randomly behind a rock. After they moved enough sand to see the tanks glass, they stopped. They just like to chill there every now and then. Also thats where the fat one sleeps. Sometimes they even fight over the spot. Weird.