Hi! It's the first time i post on this website. I'm a fish keeper for more than 25 years, i have around 20 tanks in my fish room, from 20 to 180 gal. I only do African Cichlids, mostly Tanganyikan.
I have a 120 gal Fatboy with a breeding colony of Frontosa 7 stripes in it. I got them about 2 years ago when they were about 1 inch. I have one big male ("4ish) and four females (more or less "3).
Recently, about a month ago, i noticed my male flashing from time to time, i thought he was just showing off since he's about to be ready for breeding now. But this last couple of weeks, the 5 of them are doing the same thing, like one flashing per minute if not more.
No particular behavior beside that, no white spots, no red gills, nothing really alarming, their color is fine (the male tends to look washed up when there's a female nearby but that's normal i guess). But they keep flashing again and again and it's getting unbearable to see them doing that.
Here's what i've tried so far, i know by experience that if it was a parasite, it should have been cleared for now but... :
1) big water changes: i have changed 50% of the water every two days for about a week
2) Salt (i usually never use salt)
3) Seachem Paraguard (3 doses in 3 days - i didn't want to keep medicated more)
4) UV Sterilizer running for about 3 days (i assumed that it was enough to clear everything up)
5) no feeding/no light for about 3 days
Nothing worked. Water parameters are normal, the GH is a little bit over the top due to the salt but otherwise, nothing bad. PH is about 8ish, i don't have any heater, my room temperature is about 78 and the water temp keeps stable around 79 all the time. I haven't added any new rock/sand/something else in the tank for months, so i doubt this is something to consider. None of my other tank is showing flashing, only the frontosas.
My regular maintenance is pretty weird but i do that for years with all of my big tanks: i do 5% WC everyday, my fish are used to it and the water keeps stable without any major changes. I use Safe and baking soda.
If anybody has any idea about what's going on, that would be really appreciated! Thanx!
I have a 120 gal Fatboy with a breeding colony of Frontosa 7 stripes in it. I got them about 2 years ago when they were about 1 inch. I have one big male ("4ish) and four females (more or less "3).
Recently, about a month ago, i noticed my male flashing from time to time, i thought he was just showing off since he's about to be ready for breeding now. But this last couple of weeks, the 5 of them are doing the same thing, like one flashing per minute if not more.
No particular behavior beside that, no white spots, no red gills, nothing really alarming, their color is fine (the male tends to look washed up when there's a female nearby but that's normal i guess). But they keep flashing again and again and it's getting unbearable to see them doing that.
Here's what i've tried so far, i know by experience that if it was a parasite, it should have been cleared for now but... :
1) big water changes: i have changed 50% of the water every two days for about a week
2) Salt (i usually never use salt)
3) Seachem Paraguard (3 doses in 3 days - i didn't want to keep medicated more)
4) UV Sterilizer running for about 3 days (i assumed that it was enough to clear everything up)
5) no feeding/no light for about 3 days
Nothing worked. Water parameters are normal, the GH is a little bit over the top due to the salt but otherwise, nothing bad. PH is about 8ish, i don't have any heater, my room temperature is about 78 and the water temp keeps stable around 79 all the time. I haven't added any new rock/sand/something else in the tank for months, so i doubt this is something to consider. None of my other tank is showing flashing, only the frontosas.
My regular maintenance is pretty weird but i do that for years with all of my big tanks: i do 5% WC everyday, my fish are used to it and the water keeps stable without any major changes. I use Safe and baking soda.
If anybody has any idea about what's going on, that would be really appreciated! Thanx!