my fish is itchy but its not ick?

Question

my fish is scraching its body on rough surfaces but i dont see white spots on their bodys

can anyone tell me what wrong with them
and how to treat it?

Answer 1

Ick is only one of several parasites that can be on your fish. Some of these are hard if not immpossible to see. I would bet your fish have some parasite other than ick. Pick up a bottle of a parasite medication that have Malachite Green as an active ingredient and follow the dosing instructions carfully. that will remove ick and most other skin parasites. CAUTION: Malachite Green is a known cancer causing agent, be careful not to get it on your skin!

That should solve the itchy fish problems :)

Best of luck

MM

Answer 2

Yes. When was the last time you did a water change/gravel cleaning? You need to remove some of the water to reduce the obvious build up of ammonia that your fish are irritated from.

Aquarists should do anywhere from a 10% up to 30% water change weekly for their tanks.

Using an aquarium vacuum (glorified syphon) will allow you to also clean the gravel. The way you do that is to stick the wide part of the vac into the gravel.
You are drawing the water through the gravel and picking up the solid waste that has settled there. I use a 2 1/2 gallon bucket to catch the old water. Then I lug the bucket to the sink or toilet and pour it out. Then I fill up the same bucket with tepid water from the faucet, put a few drops of water conditioner/dechlorinator in it and pour that back into the tank.

You can also add live plants to your tank to keep the cycle balanced. This cycle that so many new aquarists don't know about allows the ammonia to change to a harmless chemical that the plants love.

Also, make sure that your filtration system is adequate and has something more substantial than the gloss or fluff that it comes with. I rarely use the charcoal cartridges that come with the waterfall filter boxes I like to use. I buy netted plastic or stone (very small) pieces and a filter sponge.

If you have an undergravel filter, that makes it very important for you to routinely clean the gravel, since the gravel is your filtration media.
Here is a great website I like to visit. http://www.aquahobby.com/e_home.php

Answer 3

Well it could be the early staes of ich. Often ich hits the gills 1st and isn't visible. Velvet is good 2nd canidate. It's most easly seen in a darkened room with a flash light.
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/velvet.htm

Ich, and velvet respond to most of the same meds. Things like copper sulphate, and malachite green work well. Heat, and salt generally only work well if you have fish which tak take a lot of them. For example a betta can easy survive temp 90F which will kill ich, velvet, and most fish. Like wise 3-4 teaspoons of salt with kill ich, velvet, and a fair number of fish. On the other hand molly, guppy, platy, and swordtail would enjoy the salt.

Answer 4

What you are describing is known as "flashing". This is usually a sign of some type of parasite, but not necessarily ich. See the info on the links below. These will help you with the reason for the flashing & possible treatments.

http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/stressdisease.shtml
http://thegab.org/Articles/GoldfishIllness.html

Good luck!

Answer 5

They may be just rubbing dead scales off of their bodies. Some people even speculate that fish, even whales, get pleasure out of rubbing themselves against rough surfaces such as rock and such.

Just to be safe, I'd call up your local pet shop and tell them about it and see what they reccommend.

Answer 6

It can be a parasite, but if it is infrequent it is usually nothing. Add non iodized table salt about a teaspoon per 10 gallons and see if it works. If not try meds.

Answer 7

It could also be nitrite poisoning. Try testing your water.