African knifefish rubbing against plants

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Irecruitfish

Irecruitfish

Dovii
MFK Member
Feb 18, 2016
985
368
102
Chicago area
I have a 125 gallon with a few fish thrashing their bodies against anubias leaves(African knifefish, 1 syno catfish, 1 tiger barb and 1 black skirt tetra).

This has been going on for over over a month with the tiger barb and tetra but today I just noticed the knifefish. The syno catfish was thrashing its body in the quarantine tank when I first got it but then it stopped. It stayed in the quarantine for 5 weeks. The tiger barb and black skirt tetra have been thrashing here and there before the syno catfish were put into the 125 gallon tank.

I've only seen one tiger barb with white/normal poop hanging from it. All else seems normal.

I do 50% weekly water changes and water parameters are good. I have a Fluval FX6 for the filtration.

Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrites 0ppm
Nitrates 20ppm
pH 8.0

I dose seachem flourish, iron, potassium, trace, and nitrogen during the water changes. I also dose seachem excel about 4-5 days a week.

There is no signs of ich so I'm at a loss here. I've dealt with ich several times in the past when I didnt have a quarantine tank in other tanks and the behavior is similar however no white spots.

All fish eat normal and aggressively.

Is there a med I can use? I'm guessing this is difficult to diagnose. I know I have to be careful with the scaleless fish.
 
Forgot to mention my stock.

1 senegal bichir 6 inches
8 tiger barbs
5 black skirt tetras
1 electric blue acara 4 inches
1 opaline gourami 4 inches
1 African knifefish
3 Synodontis petricola
 
Hard to say without real signs. But the other thing is I know some keepers with planted tanks and using excel there some problems with their fish. It seemed to bother the fish.

Maybe hold off on the excel for several days and see what happens.

Just my suggestion.
 
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kno4te said:
Hard to say without real signs. But the other thing is I know some keepers with planted tanks and using excel there some problems with their fish. It seemed to bother the fish.

Maybe hold off on the excel for several days and see what happens.

Just my suggestion.
Click to expand...
Great idea. I've been dosing 10 ml during normal days and 15 ml of excel during water changes. I'll see how it goes. Thanks.
 
Stopped the excel dosing. I've been thinking this thru. The tiger barbs and the black skirt tetras were transferred from a 56 gallon tank I had to the 125 back in December 2016. They were in a planted tank where I doses excel accordingly.

The one new product I introduced to all my tanks were frozen bloodworms. I got this for my bichir but every fish loves it. I can't pinpoint the timing exactly but I want to say this rubbing etc. happened after introducing frozen bloodworms.

Can frozen bloodworms cause parasites or this itching behavior? The brand is San Francisco bay area brand Sallys Frozen bloodworms.
 
No excel and the behavior is still there. What concerns me is one black skirt tetra is hiding behind plants near the bottom of the tank. The 4 others swim towards the mid to upper level. So I'm beginning to believe there must be an internal parasite issue.

What medication can I use that's safe with the African knifefish? API General Cure?
 
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