so, i am really concerned. i don't know about the rest of you, but i absolutely love my fish. i name them. i talk to them. i sing to them at feeding time. (my clown loaches have a song where they go "nom nom nom!" ) and i really go all-out taking care of them. 3 different nets (one for normal conditions, one for unknown ailments, one for ich) for each of my four tanks, seperate gravel vacs for each tank, always have a stock of malafix, maracyn. aquarium salt, ich attack (shut up, it works! it really does!!),check the water quality regularly, do regular water changes (about 30% weekly) regular filter maintenance, extra airstones and pumps JIC, everything i can imagine i have extra. in fact, my spare bedroom is literally full of extra fish stuff.
anyway, my fish are scratching. a lot. like, one clown loach has deep lines all over his sides. i can find no apparent cause whatsoever. no water issues (i'll retest the water and post params in a couple hours), temperature is right where it should be (78-79), no ich in the tank (lost two shoals of clowns last year and now i obsessively check the tank for ich. like i spent 15 minutes a day checking each fish for ich). i can't find anything wrong with them at all. the only thing i can possibly think of is that my water is slightly hard, but otherwise i can't think of anything. what should i do? i hate to see them scratch. i am so afraid they'll get really hurt. also, i just pulled my 3.5 inch green terror out and put him in a hospital tank because my chocolate cichlid (yes, i said chocolate cichlid) was beating the omega one super color right out of him. seriously. his fins look awful. i also noticed he has little black dots all over his body. on his lips, his side, near his face, etc) but no one else has this (i once saw it on my cobalt blue zebra in another tank) but i have no idea what it is or how they got it.
does anyone have any idea what might be going on? and sorry for the absurdity of my post. but you should really sing to your fish. it's really fun to make up songs for them.
anyway, my fish are scratching. a lot. like, one clown loach has deep lines all over his sides. i can find no apparent cause whatsoever. no water issues (i'll retest the water and post params in a couple hours), temperature is right where it should be (78-79), no ich in the tank (lost two shoals of clowns last year and now i obsessively check the tank for ich. like i spent 15 minutes a day checking each fish for ich). i can't find anything wrong with them at all. the only thing i can possibly think of is that my water is slightly hard, but otherwise i can't think of anything. what should i do? i hate to see them scratch. i am so afraid they'll get really hurt. also, i just pulled my 3.5 inch green terror out and put him in a hospital tank because my chocolate cichlid (yes, i said chocolate cichlid) was beating the omega one super color right out of him. seriously. his fins look awful. i also noticed he has little black dots all over his body. on his lips, his side, near his face, etc) but no one else has this (i once saw it on my cobalt blue zebra in another tank) but i have no idea what it is or how they got it.
does anyone have any idea what might be going on? and sorry for the absurdity of my post. but you should really sing to your fish. it's really fun to make up songs for them.
