Rubbing on Rocks

jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Several of the fish in my 180 CA/SA community tank will occasionally rub up against rocks/driftwood in the tank. The worst of them is my synspilum, who has actually scraped several scales loose from the side of his head. At first I thought this may be ich coming back (I had a pretty bad case several months ago), but there are no signs other than the rubbing. Everyone is acting normally and eating well. This has been going on for several weeks, so if it was ich, the white bumps would have shown up by now. Any ideas? I was thinking of doing a salt treatment to the tank just as a precaution. Could this hurt?

Water parameters -
pH 7.2
temp 81
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 15

I perform a 30%-40% water change weekly.

Thanks
Jon
 
iamzrad

iamzrad

Members
Bump up another water change to knock out the nitrate level back to 0. It could be something else in the water or on the fish themselves (internally). But as you say, there are no clear signs and everything is acting normally.
Also, fish do scratch occasionally, just like us! So that is always normal. You could do a salt treatment and bump up the temperature a bit, then finish with a healthy water change.

I would isolate the synspilum in another tank and look out after him and see if his signs worsen.
 
Lively

Lively

Members
My male Dempsey does the same thing from time to time - normally it is just before they pair mate.
 
T

TheWire

Members
Its pretty normal for fish to rub against the rock once a while, unless you are seeing excessive rubbing, it's not a problem.

Try some sea salt during water change. Keep an eye on their behavior. If they are gasping for air, hiding out all the time, etc then you should considered medication.
 
DiscusnAfricans

DiscusnAfricans

Past President
You may want to remove the driftwood or sand it down so it doesn't have such a sharp edge. It might be a territoriality display, so you may not be able to prevent the behavior. If hes rubbing scales off you may want to treat with melafix to prevent infection. Definitely keep a close eye on appetite though, it could be an internal parasite. More water changes and salt treatment never hurt.
 
UNCLERUCKUS

UNCLERUCKUS

"THE ALL POWERFUL Q !!
F8LBITE said:
my fish do this right after a WC but then they stop.
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ditto jose mine too. i think everyone has given you pretty good advice especially the salt and melafix. the isolation wouldnt hurt either but like discus said it could be territorial since no other fish display any signs. good call on the carbon but id bet he has none and is using a wet dry on that 180g. then again he may have a hob somewhere with some in there.keep us posted and good luck man.;)
 
jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Thanks for all the replies. I think that I will do another w/c tonight then treat with salt. If if medicate carbon isn't an issue. I'm filtering with multiple cannisters instead of a sump, as the tank isn't drilled, and I just wasn't comfortable with the thought of flooding the living room.

There isn't any symptoms besides the rubbing, so hopefully it is just fish being fish. I'll keep you posted.

Jon
 
jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
I did not see any of the rubbing after doing a w/c over a week ago, so I did not do the previous salt treatment. Rubbing started again yesterday, so I did a 50% w/c today, then treated with 1 tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons this afternoon. I tested the water, and ammonia, nitrites at 0, nitrates less than 10. Tonight, everything in the tank is extremely skittish, so much so that just walking by the tank sends them all scrambling. I've not treated with salt in the past, so is this a normal reaction to changing the salinity of the water? I'm freaking out on this one, as I thought I was helping, but now they seem worse than before.
 
T

TheWire

Members
first off, what kind of salt you used? I hope you use some sort of sea salt or aquarium salt? ..just want to make sure ;)
 
jonclark96

jonclark96

Past CCA President
I used the API aquarium salt from the LFS. I tried to dissolve it in tank water first, but there were some crystals left when I poured the water into the tank. They dissolved shortly after being in the tank.

The fish were less jumpy last night, but still not normal. All were eating regularly, so I decided against a water change for at least one more day. If things are not noticably better today, I will do a w/c tonight when I get home. I just don't have any experience with salt treatments, so I'm not sure if this is a somewhat normal reaction to the change in water chemistry.
 
T

TheWire

Members
jonclark96 said:
I used the API aquarium salt from the LFS. I tried to dissolve it in tank water first, but there were some crystals left when I poured the water into the tank. They dissolved shortly after being in the tank.

The fish were less jumpy last night, but still not normal. All were eating regularly, so I decided against a water change for at least one more day. If things are not noticably better today, I will do a w/c tonight when I get home. I just don't have any experience with salt treatments, so I'm not sure if this is a somewhat normal reaction to the change in water chemistry.
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at least they are eating. They is a better sign. Keep an eye on them. Sometimes if they are rubbing every now and then, it's normal.
 
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