Ok im about into week 3 into my trek into a cichlid tank. The past week I have randomly noticed seeing a random fish kind of scratch the side of himself some against a rock or decoration. Every time i see them do it its once or twice and then the next time its a different fish. Water parameters are looking great 0's across the board except No3 at .25. I never owned cichlids before so is this normal? I have seen this as a symptom of Ich but i don't see any salt like grains or any other different in appearance and this is a few different occasions over a weeks period on a different fish each time.
Cichlids scratching?
- Thread starter cemster
- Start date
Could be a lot of things, most of which can be fixed by adding some salt to the water. Most common thing I've seen cause them to scratch like that is gill flukes, salt will fix it right up.
The tanks been set up for only three weeks? .25ppm Nitrate is awfully low, even after having done a 90% water change. If you're using an API test kit (the two bottles and counting drops) make sure you shake the bottles VERY vigorously before doing your test or it will be inaccurate. Doubt parameters have much to do with the rubbing, mine have done it as well with nothing significant coming of it, but that number just seems off to me.
OK I have added some salt this week so lets see if they stop or if it is just nothing -
The tank has held cichlids for about 3 weeks but it was an established tank with a 12 inch Bowfin in it prior to them and also planted lots of biomedia in the filters too so the numbers aren't too surprising ( even tho i do sometimes wonder ) I use an API kit and shake the bottles and wash the test tubes with tap then aquarium water prior to testing
The tank has held cichlids for about 3 weeks but it was an established tank with a 12 inch Bowfin in it prior to them and also planted lots of biomedia in the filters too so the numbers aren't too surprising ( even tho i do sometimes wonder ) I use an API kit and shake the bottles and wash the test tubes with tap then aquarium water prior to testing
Yeah I bet it's no big deal. Just watch them to make sure they don't start banging themselves up from it. Any pics of your tank?
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Sweet all makes sense. For precaution ill up the temp a lil and keep up with the salt with water changes ( I make at least 1 small WC aside from the usual 35% ish one over the weekend. The flashing over territory sounds possible to I guess since they are territorial. Thanks for all the input everyone I have added some slate rocks to my tank I have to post some pics up when I get the camera back tomorrow