Itchy gills

[Zac]

Got a cockatoo cichlid with itchy gills for the past 2-3 days. Ammonia is at 0 and nitrites are at .25 (recovering from a spike). He has been acting a bit more aggressive towards my other cockatoo. He is still very active and always wants to eat. I have 5 lemon tetras, 8 ember tetras, 4 Pygmy corys, and a clown pleco and none of them are experiencing any issues. Is it possible this is due to the nitrite spike? I posted a picture and perfectly healthy from what I can see and I’d hate to run unnecessary meds. What should I do 

[Fish Folk]

Beautiful fish. What are your current Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate readings? When you change water, do you use Fritz Complete?

[Zac]

On 10/11/2021 at 2:52 PM, Fish Folk said:

Beautiful fish. What are your current Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate readings? When you change water, do you use Fritz Complete?

Ammonia is almost 0 and nitrite is .25 and going down. I just had a nitrite spike so it’s much better than where it was. Nitrate is 5-10ppm. I use prime conditioner when I change water and change it whenever the nitrates go above 20 or if something else spikes 

[Fish Folk]

On 10/11/2021 at 3:24 PM, Zac said:

Ammonia is almost 0 and nitrite is .25 and going down. I just had a nitrite spike so it’s much better than where it was. Nitrate is 5-10ppm. I use prime conditioner when I change water and change it whenever the nitrates go above 20 or if something else spikes 

How long has the tank been set up? What size is it? And what sort of filtration are you using? 

[Zac]

It’s been up for about a month so it’s nearing the very end of its cycling and it’s been very stable up until I swapped my filter. I used to have a marine penguin filter but it had backflow issues so I switched to a tidal 35. The restart in filtration is what caused my spike and my guess is that the fish could just be stressed because of it. I quarantine each batch of fish I get for 1 week and I have had no fish loss so far. The size is 29 gallons. I have one more group of 6 blue tetras waiting in the quarantine before I complete my tank stocking. I don’t want to add them yet until I know everything is good. None of my other fish are experiencing issues and I know apistos tend to be more sensitive to spikes and whatnot 

[Colu]

Nitrites can cause flashing I would increase water changes and add prime ever 24hr till your nitries read zero  if he's still flashing after a couple days of your nitries being at zero then I would treat with paracleanse as it come be gill flukes

[Fish Folk]

On 10/11/2021 at 3:31 PM, Zac said:

It’s been up for about a month so it’s nearing the very end of its cycling and it’s been very stable up until I swapped my filter. I used to have a marine penguin filter but it had backflow issues so I switched to a tidal 35. The restart in filtration is what caused my spike and my guess is that the fish could just be stressed because of it. I quarantine each batch of fish I get for 1 week and I have had no fish loss so far. The size is 29 gallons. I have one more group of 6 blue tetras waiting in the quarantine before I complete my tank stocking. I don’t want to add them yet until I know everything is good. None of my other fish are experiencing issues and I know apistos tend to be more sensitive to spikes and whatnot 

I think it’s possible that your transition of filters knocked out your beneficial bacterial colony.

I would call your LFSs, and ask, “Do you run sponge filters in any of your freshwater tanks?” If yes, ask if they’d allow you to buy a _new_ sponge off the shelf, swap it for their cycled sponge, and take that home.

Alternatively, FritzZyme 7 may help boost beneficial bacteria. 

Edited October 11, 2021 by Fish Folk

[Zac]

On 10/11/2021 at 3:41 PM, Fish Folk said:

I think it’s possible that your transition of filters knocked out your beneficial bacterial colony.

I would call your LFSs, and ask, “Do you run sponge filters in any of your freshwater tanks?” If yes, ask if they’d allow you to buy a _new_ sponge off the shelf, swap it for their cycled sponge, and take that home.

Alternatively, FritzZyme 7 may help boost beneficial bacteria. 

That’s exactly what I was thinking. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t dealing with any disease. I’d much rather deal with a spike than disease. I’ll probably add some fritzyme to my tank because I have some left over from my initial setup and see where what happens from there. Thanks!