I have a few Cichlids that do this. They dive onto the gravel to scratch their sides.Why is this?
fish scraping their sides on gravel...
- Thread starter sc2dave
- Start date
If theyre are not doing it too regularly, it is probably just normal since most fish will occasionally scratch themselves. However if they are doing it more than normal it is possible that they may have an external parasite such as ich.
If theyre doing it quite a bit, it sounds like ich. If so, waterchange, slowly raise temp 2 to 4 degrees, and add salt. like1 rounded tbs for every 5 gallons of water
It could be ich but people seem to not realize there are a lot of other external parasites and even bacterial infections that cause fish to "flash" (that's the name of the behavior you're describing) without the characteristic white spots you see with ich. Healthy non stressed fish can carry parasites and keep their numbers low enough so there isnt a full outbreak, but they are still there.
It's called flashing and it's basically them trying to scratch themselves. Generally a precursor to ich if excessive, but it also could be your water conditioner. I used stresscoat for awhile and had to stop because all my fish reacted by excessive flashing. Switched to Prime and they stopped.
My salvini and firemouth flash alot after they fight. If I look closely, I can usually see very small abrasions on their skin. I usually add small doses of either melafix or..... go ahead and laugh..... Stresscoat.... Lol and feed an anti bacterial food and it clears up in a few days... Although if I add the stresscoat everybody flashes a bit.
If it is ich, I've found that heat(88-90) and salt seems to work the best for me. I started quarantining all new fish with this combo and have had no ich since I started this method. I also feed qt fish antibacterial food as well.
My salvini and firemouth flash alot after they fight. If I look closely, I can usually see very small abrasions on their skin. I usually add small doses of either melafix or..... go ahead and laugh..... Stresscoat.... Lol and feed an anti bacterial food and it clears up in a few days... Although if I add the stresscoat everybody flashes a bit.
If it is ich, I've found that heat(88-90) and salt seems to work the best for me. I started quarantining all new fish with this combo and have had no ich since I started this method. I also feed qt fish antibacterial food as well.
fishhooked;4745330; said:
Not necessarily. For example, Columnaris flexibacter, a bacterial infection, that will cause a fish to flash, is actually made worse if you raise the temp. Raising the temp and adding salt is not a cure-all.