I have some fish scratching themselves with there tails and on the substrate and sometimes appear to cough, or something is bothering their gills. I am thinking maybe some parasites or ich, but I have no signs of either. All fish are eating well and look great. What do you think could be causing this and the best method of treatment? Thanks.
Fish scratching themselves?
- Thread starter ultimatejay
- Start date
Depending on the fish that can also be a sign of aggression/threat display
I would just keep a close eye on them
I would just keep a close eye on them
A newly introduced wild fish with an improper quarantine could cause this type of thing.. You see alot of strange disease in wild fish. Just because you can't visibly see the parasite, dosn't mean it isn't present. Ich often attacks the gill region first, and is undetectable when doing so.. Coughing could be a definate sign of this, also watch to see if they are breathing heavily. It could also be some sort of parasite that infects the gills. Before attempting to medicate or anything, I would make sure your water quality is up to par.. After that, I would narrow down which fish are sick and prepare a smaller quarantine tank so it dosn't cost a fortune to medicate..
Good Luck bro.
Good Luck bro.
If there is no sign of ich than it could be gill flukes. First as Miles suggests chck your water for ph, ammonnia, and residual chlorine and chloramine. Then take a real good look for ich as it often attacks gill tissue first, if you see even one spot treat for that. Finally check the gill tissue of one of the fish that shows symptoms using a strong magnifier if you can, if not just treat the water with praziquantel as it does not hurt your biofilter and will kill off gill flukes. They are tiny flatworms that are hard to spot, They live on the gill tissue and are contagious but die quickly when treated with prazi.
Thanks for the reply's everyone. I will check the water and then look the fish over real well. I have looked pretty good and don't see any ich spots on any of my fish yet. I bought a new datnoid about 3 weeks ago and he had ich. I treated the tank with a little over one tablespoon per 5 gallons and put the heat up to 80-82 as I have some catfish in the tank. The dat had very few signs of ich and none of the other fish showed any signs. The dat now is clear of any white spots but sometimes will scratch himself on substrate and one of my catfish- albino ompok will scratch his tail with his face. I have not lowered the temp yet and the salt is at the same level and this has been going for three weeks. Do you think that I may still have some small ich levels as I know with this temp. and salt level will take longer to get rid of?
Still probably a mild case of Ich in the tank, and they can hide in the tank for a week or two in the 'dormant' stage.. Always treat for a few extra weeks. I would say up the salt dosage. Have you done any water changes since you added salt? You should do extra water changes with good gravel vacuums (ich can lay dormant in the substrate), and keep adding salt to compensate for any water changed..
Yes I have done about 30% water changes every week and vacuum the gravel really well. I also add salt to the water that is put back in. One thing though I have a lot of gravel. Probably about 3-3.5"s all the way around. Do you think it would help to get rid of some of the gravel? I'm running an undergavel filter with a hang on filter.
The gravel depth won't matter, at that salt level you will have survivors and hearing this it is almost certainly ich, I would go ahead and double that salt content as that will still be only a shade more than a teaspoon per gallon (about 1/2 usually used for ich), I would also get that temperature up another 3-4 degrees. Other than the dat what fish do you have? Pangasius cats tolerate salt quite well as do plecos. Add some airstones or a powerhead if you can.
guppy said:
Guppy, on my undergravel filters I am using the old airpump method and am using a huge airpump so I have plenty of 02. In the tank I have two ATF's, one odoe pike, one albino ompok catfish(possible wallago leeri), redtail catfish, and a baby pima. All fish are under 4". The only fish that I think would not like the salt is the catfish. What do you think? Thanks for the quick responses and help too by the way.