Flowerhorn twitching and flashing

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Rtc/tsn

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Apr 22, 2021
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kno4te kno4te is there any reason why my flowerhorn would have started suddenly flashing a lot more often and twitching before during and after flashing. It looks like he’s trying to turn his head but isn’t able to. Water changes have been 70% two times a week. I haven’t changed the feeding other than once a week I’ll mix epsom salt with distilled water with 4 cichlid gold pellets. His stomach has also become white and it’s starting to climb up his sides a little bit. He’s became a lot more active and aggressive since I started feeding with epsom salt and on several occasions had white poo but recently it’s all looked healthy.
 
Could be brought on by the large water changes.
 
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Could be brought on by the large water changes.
Would once a week 60% water change or 2x weekly 40% be better? I do realize that I have been overdoing it with the water changes. Should I also stop feeding epsom salt soaked pellets? I also have a spotted Raphael in the tank who’s about 1.5” now but he doesn’t seem to ever have any problems with clear poo or flashing.
 
You can't really overdo the water replacements unless the source water is contaminated or different in some way from the tank water (like pH). So something may be up with your source water if the water replacements are causing this.
 
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You can't really overdo the water replacements unless the source water is contaminated or different in some way from the tank water (like pH). So something may be up with your source water if the water replacements are causing this.
Now that I think of It last week I did buy flourish excel and aqueon leafy green for my plants in all tanks. Could that affect the flowerhorn?
 
If it's CO2, possibly. Some fish don't do well with the dosed CO2 that planted tanks need.
 
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I'd say so. Siamese fighting fish are air breathers, so CO2 in water doesn't usually present an issue to them.
 
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