Fish scratching on rocks and sand

[tinyfish]

Fish have no visible parasites. They look very healthy and are eating well and have been for a month. I am unsure what to do if anything.

 

[hottuna]

probably flukes...and theres a very resistant type going around now...praziquantel-not that effective against it either...

 

[Gwynhidwy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15661728#post15661728 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hottuna
probably flukes

+1

When I see persistent scratching with no obvious cause, ie ich spots, I look at flukes as a cause. If you haven't you might read this thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1260067

 

[tinyfish]

Someone told me that just because people scratch does not mean they have athlete's foot fungus and just because fish scratch does not mean they have some parasite.

I thought it an interesting analogy.

 

[Kieth71]

People dont let athletes foot just go..normally you would go to the drug store and get something to cure it.Also if your fish has flukes(I have no idea if it does or not) It is notsomething you want to just let go.Fish do not normally scratch on a reg basis unless something is wrong.

 

[tinyfish]

To treat the fish do I remove them to a hospital tank or should I treat the entire display aquarium?

I don't want to treat my shrimp, snails, crabs, coral, or clams do I?

Do I use Prazipro, Melafix, or Pimafix? And how long do I treat the fish?

 

[tinyfish]

I looked up flukes on the internet. I did not realize that flukes were tiny, had hooks, and infested the gills of fish. No wonder I cannot see anything on the outside.

Since I did not get an answer to how to dose I added PraziPro to the display tank at the recommended dosage.

I did look more closely at their behavior and when the fish scratch, they rub their gill cover/flap.

I hope this clears the problem.

Thank you for trying to steer me in the right direction.

 

[Kieth71]

Its hard to say exactly what your fish has.Scratching like that could mean ich as well since even if you cant see it ich is in the gills as well.Fluke behavior as i have seen it in fish usually has them shaking their head back and forth and acting real strange.I myself have not had fish with flukes scratching as much as jerking motions and such.To me it sounds more like ich but its tough to say over the internet without actually seeing the behavior.Prazipro can be used in your display just make sure you turn off your skimmer while treating as it will remove the medicine.I would recommend at least 2 treatments.Prazipro can kill other things in your tank like featherdusters and worms although some people have reported no problems.If however your problem is not flukes and is ich prazipro will donothing for that and that should be treated in a qt tank HTH -Kieth